X PEOCEEDOfOS OF THE 



of Alg«." By H. C. Sorby, Esq., F.E.S., F.L.S., Pres. E. Micr. 



Soc, &c. 



May 24th, 1875. 



• Anniversary Meeting. 



Prof. ALLMAif, M.D., LL.D., F.E.S., President, in the Chair. 



This day, the Anniversary of the Birth of Linnaeus, and the day 

 appointed by the Charter for the Election of Council and Officers, 

 the President opened the business of the Meeting with the fol- 

 lowing Address : — 



Gentlemen, 



I BELIEVE that the object contemplated by the Addresses which it 

 has been the custom for your Presidents to deliver year after year 

 to the Fellows of the Linnean Society will be best fulfilled by 

 making them as much as possible the exponent of recent progress 

 in Biological Science. The admirable Addresses with which my 

 distinguished predecessor has, during his long tenure of ofl&ce, so 

 greatly enriched our Journal afford an example as regards the ex- 

 position of botanical research, which may well be followed in Biology 

 generally. The field, however, which thus offers itself is so wide, 

 the activity in almost every department so intense, that the neces- 

 sity of restricting the exposition within a limited area becomes im- 

 perative if it be expected to produce any thing like a definite picture 

 instead of a vast assemblage of images, confused and ill-defined by 

 their very multiplicity, and by the condensation which would be 

 inseparable from their treatment. 



"While thus imposing on myself these necessary hmits it is almost 

 at random that I have chosen for this year's Address some account 

 of the progress which has recently been made in our knowledge of 

 the CiLiATE Infusoria — a group of organisms whose very low 

 position in the Animal Kingdom in no way lessens their interest for 

 the philosophic biologist, or their significance in relation to general 

 morphological laws. 



To enable you to form a correct estimate of the value of recent 

 researches, it may be well to bring before you in the first place, as 

 shortly as possible, the chief steps which have led up to the present 

 standpoint of our knowledge of these organisms. 



