10 
that a costly microscope is not absolutely necessary. The 
great Ehrenberg, Leeuwenhoek, and others made their obser- 
vations and discoveries with object glasses far inferior to those 
sold by our opticians with their cheap ‘‘ Students’ Micros- 
copes ;” and, therefore, as a soidier’s prowess in warfare de- 
pends not so much on the size of his weapon as on his stout- 
ness of heart, coolness of head, and strength of arm, your pro- 
gress in science will depend less on the perfection of your 
instruments than on your patience in research and your 
power of observation. It will greatly add to your own pleasure 
and knowledge, as well as to the public benefit, if, without dis- 
carding objects of general interest, you devote your attention 
to some particular subject, and I hope that we may, in this 
way, contribute to a systematic knowledge of the Natural 
History of the district. I shall be able to say more to you on 
this topic when I have become better acquainted with your 
individual tastes and predilections :— 
To him whe, in the love of Nature, holds 
Communion with her visible furms, she speaks 
A various language ; 
—and each of you will quickly be led, almost unconsciously, 
in a different direction ; but I can promise you from experience 
that as, armed with your microscopes, you pass into the 
hitherto Unseen Kingdom of the infinitely little, no matter 
by what road you enter it, you will find yourselves in a land of 
surpassing beauty ; and, as you become acquainted with its 
nations and tribes, and see in their construction and in that 
of their habitations all the contrivances of the human engineer 
anticipated and excelled, you will be constrained to admit 
that One Great Architect of the Universe planned and 
designed and made them all ; and as the astronomer bows his 
head in reverence before the sublime majesty of Him who 
created and maintained worlds beyond worlds, and systems 
beyond systems, dimly seen in the far distances of space, you, 
as microscopists, will recognise Him as being ‘‘ Maximus in 
minimis”; greatest in His smallest works. 
Mr. Lee having introduced the visitors, — 
Dr. Bowersank, F.R.S., assured the meeting that he 
considered it to be a very high honour to be permitted to be 
present on such an occasion as this. He had never attended 
an inauguration of a new Natural History or a new Micro- 
scopical Society, where there was such a goodly show of 
members as he now saw before him. And when he looked 
back as far as the year 1828 and recollected that at that 
period there were only four achromatic microscopes in ex- 
istence, and but one of those was accessible to scientific men, 
and that one was in his possession; when he contrasted the 
