18 THE FUNCTIONS OF A LOCAL NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
vegetation, the rema‘ns of which are now so necessary to us in the 
shape of coal. 
In fact there is no living thing the careful study of which would 
not add to our knowledge, and no one can predicate when and 
where this knowledge may prove useful to mankind. Who could 
have expected that the patient study under the microscope of what 
at the time were considered mere curiosities, viz., the Bacteria, 
would have thrown so much light on the nature of the greatest 
scourge of civilised races—consumption—as well as the causes, 
prevention and even cure of many other diseases, or that it would 
have been fraught with so much importance to Burton. No 
doubt Burton was famed for its beer when even the words 
microscope and bacterium as well as the things themselves were 
unknown ; but I think that brewers, both practical and scientific, 
will bear me out in the statement that our staple manufacture now 
vitally depends on an intimate knowledge of the form and 
physiology of the Bacteria. 
You will say that this rapid and imperfect sketch covers an 
extensive field, and that there is room enough for all observers and 
thinkers to aid us in our work, and I hope that many more such 
will join our ranks, and give us, not only pecuniary aid—for even 
the work of Science cannot be carried out without money—but also 
that each one will enable us to record a few accurate observations. 
The widest generalisations depend on the patient accumulation of 
facts, and these facts may be gathered even within the narrowest 
limits. I can- give no better example of this than by citing the 
epoch-making labour of the illustrious Charles Darwin—the 
Newton of natural history—who for many years scarcely went 
beyond the precincts of his own garden. 
Such being our territory, how shall we best attain the aims and 
objects of the Society P 
In the first place, our great aim should be to do local work, 
and, while by no means excluding subjects of general scientific — 
interest for our mutual instruction, and descriptions of foreign 
travel, with the physical formation, manners, and customs 
of foreign countries and districts, devote our chief energies to 
= <ietle 
