The Council was much indebted to Mr. Henry Willett for 

 securing the services of his friend, Mr. (now Sir William) 

 Martin Conway, the great Himalayan traveller, whose lecture on 

 his exploration of these mountains was one of the most notable 

 attractions of the Soiree. The slides shown by the members of 

 the Photographic Section formed oue of the most interesting 

 features of the evening, and afforded abundant evidence of the 

 splendid work which our photographers were doing. 



It would be interesting to all to learn that the Botanical 

 Section has already collected, mounted, and named no less than 

 seven hundred specimens of plants for an Herbarium of Sussex ; 

 and in connection with this most important work it is a mere 

 matter of justice to mention the name of Mr. T. Hilton, whose 

 labours in connection with it have been indefatigable. 



In concluding these introductory remarks Dr. Newsholme 

 expressed on behalf of himself, of the Council, and of the 

 members generally the gratification all experienced in seeing 

 Mr. J. Colbatch Clark, to whom for 35 years the Society had 

 been so deeply indebted, again amongst them, after an absence 

 which all deplored, in renewed health and vigour. 



Dr. Newsholme then proceeded to the subject of his address, 

 viz. : 



"SOME ASPECTS OF HEREDITY," 

 of which the following is but a brief abstract : — 



Dr. Newsholme quoted Herbert Spencer, who had said in 

 the October number of the Goiitemporary Review that " The 

 question whether acquired characters are inherited is the most 

 important question before the scientific world." He added that 

 the subject of heredity formed a natural sequel to that of his pre- 

 sidential address for the preceding year on " The Influence of 

 Civilization on the Survival of the Fittest." The simplest living 

 organism was the Amoeba, in which one cell carried on all the 

 essential functions of life. This enjoyed a kind of immortality, 

 as multiplication was by simple fission, while in multicellular 

 organisms this potential immortality was confined to special cells, 

 produced by the fusion of cells of two individuals, and subse- 

 quently known as the germ-plasm. Darwin had shown how the 

 struggle for existence secured the survival of those fittest for the 

 existing conditions of life, and that this was competent to produce 

 the different species of animals. He, however, stiU held to the 

 opinion that not only natural selection (resulting from the struggle 

 for existence) was at work, but that characters acquired during 

 the life of the individual were also inherited. Thus the long 



