1891.] NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 87 



If I seem to have reduced the new matter in Mr. Smith's obser- 

 vations to a minimum, I should not do justice to my sense of the 

 real value of his work unless I add that enough remains to make 

 it, in my judgment, a very important and interesting step in the 

 investigation of diatom-structure. It is also full of promise that 

 still further results may be attained by pursuing the investigation 

 on the same line. I am confident, therefore, that the Society will 

 join with me in expressing a sincere sense of obligation to him for 

 communicating the results of his observations, and especially for 

 the valuable aid ia understanding them which is given by his 

 beautiful series of lantern slides and prints. 



THE WORK OF THE MICROSCOPE. 



ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT, P. H. DUDLEY, C E. 

 {Rt ad January \bth, 1891.) 



At no period in the history of the microscope have the results 

 of its researches received as much attention as at the present 

 time. The importance of the investigations in recent years, by its 

 means, of many of the causes affecting the health and comfort of 

 mankind, is just being recognized by the efficacy of the remedies 

 which have been suggested from a knowledge of the causes. 

 The indications of a new remedy are daily flashed from conti- 

 nent to continent by that unseen agency, electricity, its messages 

 multiplied by the press in all languages and distributed through 

 the land by steam's swiftest trains. These three great inventions 

 of communication and diffusion of knowledge of to-day have 

 carried the tidings to the peoples of all nations, and there is a 

 common interest and thought upon the subject. History does not 

 record a grander spectacle than that of the entire civilized world, 

 brought into sympathy and interest by the investigations of the 

 microscope, in search of relief for thousands of its sufferers from 

 some of the occult conditions incident to life. 



Animal or plant life, either of the highest or lowest orders, is 

 surrounded by conditions, some favorable to growth, others un- 

 favorable; and whether an animal or plant will survive or perish, 

 aside from the inherent vitality, depends upon the preponderance 

 of the favorable or the unfavorable conditions of environment. 



