25 
trust exclusively to the mummies in balsam which fill our cabinets ; 
We must, instead,—as students of Nature,—follow her home and 
watch her ways patiently, as far as we can. 
Nothing can be known of the protozoa, or rotatoria, unless 
we examine them in life. Cyclosis in vegetable cells must in like 
manner be seen in life to be seen at all. The generation of the 
eyrtogams would be really hidden if the germination of their 
spores had not been a subject of unwearied attention. 
The structure of the Foraminifersze was not demonstrated by 
Carpenter without systematic work. The discovery of the alterna- 
tion of generations was due to careful study, and the knowledge 
of the fact of the Polyps of our shores having other existences as 
free swimming Medusz considerably modified our previcus ideas 
respecting them. The well-known sections of insects, by Dr, 
Hallifax, show the viscera and nervous system undisturbed, and— 
better still—the advantage to others, as well as to ourselves, of well 
directed work. 
As a concluding illustration, the stupendous tale of past life, 
read by the microscope in our chalk cliffs, would have been in- 
complete without that systematic comparison with the bottom of 
the present ocean, which has proved the persistence through ages, 
not only of the laws of Nature, but of the forms of life. 
Our interest must increase with well-directed study, and 
numberless facts, which we at first pass by unnoticed, may 
eventually teach lessons cf lasting use. 
We can all make some advance to such knowledge by the 
systematic study of recent things, and by our work justify the 
formation of this section of our Society. 
The meeting then resolved itself into a Conversazione, at 
which the following gentlemen exhibited microscopic objects :— 
Mr. J. Dennant exhibited sections of fossil teeth from the 
coal measures. 
Dr. Hatiirax showed some of his sections of insects, in 
which the internal parts were displayed in situ, one of the most 
striking being the lady-bird. 
