INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. 7 



the literature has been much neglected, and the treatment which one 

 of our public collections of specimens has received is simply dis- 

 graceful. In the British Museum such things as internal parasites 

 are stowed away in the crypts as though they were unworthy of ex- 

 posure to the light of day. To some extent I have sought to remedy 

 the evils of which I speak. Thus in a recently published volume — 

 of the defects of which no one can be more conscious than myself 

 — I have sought to supply a tolerably exhaustive bibliography, 

 and as regards public collections, I have, at intervals, contributed 

 more or less largely to the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, 

 to the Edinburgh Anatomical Museum (during the period of my 

 curatorship), to the department of the Oxford Museum under Pro- 

 fessor Rolleston's care, and also to many smaller collections, 

 including those of the Middlesex Hospital Medical College, the 

 Catholic College Museum lately under Professor Mivart's care, and 

 also, more especially, to the Museum of the Royal Veterinary 

 College, where, for teaching purposes rather than display, we are in 

 possession of materials of the choicest kind in illustration of the 

 parasites and parasitic diseases of the domesticated animals. Of 

 course, these little efforts have left my private collection in a very 

 mutilated condition ; but still, should any members of the Club be 

 disposed to take up the subject, I may be able to render them some 

 slight assistance. I am speaking exclusively of the internal 

 parasites ; for as regards the external ones I cannot pretend to have 

 any special knowledge. The Club, indeed, already possesses a tolerably 

 extensive series of external parasites, beautifully mounted on slides ; 

 but comparatively few of them are scientifically named. The prin- 

 cipal specimens have been contributed by Messrs. Cocken, Beaulah, 

 Michael, Bramhall, Quick, White, Curties, Bockett, Collins, Free- 

 man, and Green, and by Drs. Dickson, Gray, and M. C. Cooke. 

 A considerable number of slides have also been purchased. As 

 regards the entozoa, it is eminently fitting that some steps should 

 be taken towards the formation of an helminthological series. The 

 renowned microscopist, whose name this Club honours as a founder, 

 studied the entozoa. A little closer acquaintance with parasites 

 can do no harm to the Club, provided the creatures are not brought 

 here in a living state, and let loose with a view of demonstrating 

 their wonderful powers of propagation. I have often been amused 

 at the nervousness which some persons display when they first handle 

 or even look at dead specimens of entozoa ; but here, in the case 



