Journal 



OF THE 



NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 



Vol. V. JANUARY, 1889. No. 1. 



THE SPONTANEOUS GENERATION THEORY, AND 



ITS RELATION TO THE GENERAL THEORY 



OF EVOLUTION. 



ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT, CHARLES F. COX. 

 {Read January i\th, 1889.) 



It has been the privilege of our generation to witness another 

 Renaissance. From a deadly subserviency to dogmatic author- 

 ity, the human intellect — this time in the domain of natural 

 science — has arisen to a new dispensation of freedom. Like 

 the literary and artistic revival of the fifteenth century, the pres- 

 ent awakening is accompanied by a reformation of ethics and 

 philosophy, and by an earnest search for a sure and substantial 

 basis of truth. It is not to be presumed that in this case, any 

 more than in the former, the ultimate foundations of all thought 

 have been laid : but at least there has been established a safe 

 basis upon which to erect a new wing of the great temple of 

 knowledge. The structure will of course be enlarged by gen- 

 erations yet to come, and doubtless future architects will even 

 modify and improve the design of what is now building ; never- 

 theless I think we may feel assured that the work we see going 

 on is accomplishing results which, in the main, will prove to be 

 satisfactory and permanent. 



The part which the followers of Darwin and Spencer are con- 

 tributing to this magnificent embodiment of scientific learning 

 certainly displays in itself attractive symmetry and consistency, 

 which appeal strongly to our aesthetic sense of proportion and 

 grace, but which, we must confess, somewhat prepossess us in 

 its favor without regard to the question of its relative fitness or 



