PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 291 
that you are so satisfied; and this has been to mea matter of 
great gratification. But what has been to me another real source 
of gratification is the remarkable success which has attended the 
operations of the year. It has been said that to deserve success 
is better than to win it; yet there is a pleasure in winning which, 
at the time at least, is as great as in deserving, and success de- 
served, but not won, has its own bitterness. The success which 
has attended this Club is, I believe, entirely deserved. It aims 
at doing more than it seems todo. It pretends only to bea 
Club for the purpose of reunion and work in an unpretending 
way ; but if we look back upon the past proceedings of this Club, 
at the papers which have been read, and at the work accom- 
plished, we shall see great cause for congratulation at the solid 
and serious work done. The list of papers certainly will bear 
comparison with that of any other Microscopic Society. We 
have had some papers which will continue to be remembered, and 
to exercise an influence upon our minds. Dr. Tilbury Fox’s 
paper upon “ Parasites” opened up a great variety of questions 
in relation to the causation of disease in men, plants, and animals, 
which have yet to be solved, and the answers to which must be 
sought in the work of the Club, and few more profitable inquiries 
exist than those which seek to trace and to analyse the prevalence 
of microscopic forms at periods of epidemic disease, and attempt 
by patient observation to connect the one with the other, whether 
merely correlated or otherwise. And I may observe that this is 
just the kind of work in which the greater number of members 
appear likely to engage ; for, so far as I have observed, their bias 
seems to be to work amongst the lower organisms. I may also 
mention Mr. Lewis’s suggestive paper on “The Microscopic 
Effects of the Electric Spark; Mr. Highley’s, on “Shore Col- 
lecting ;” Mr. McIntyre’s, on “ Podure,” a paper of particular 
interest ; and Mr. Green’s, on “ Melicerta.”’ Mr. Cooke’s ‘‘ Re- 
trospective View of Microscopic Progress” ought to be in the 
hands of every member; nor should I omit to notice Dr. Braith- 
waite’s exhaustive memoir on the “ Organisation of Mosses.”’ The 
enumeration of these valuable papers makes me the more regret 
that there is no official mode of recording the transactions of the 
Club. I was offered, some time since, an exchange of Proceed- 
ings with a Brussels Microscopie Society, but we had none to 
offer in return. If we had transactions to exchange, we should 
have a means of communication with other Societies, and this 
might be the means also of maintaining a high standard of papers ; 
for if it were known that publicity were to be given to their work, 
members would be induced to do their utmost to bring forward 
their best efforts. But on this pomt I am glad to be able 
to announce that a Sub-Committee has been this day nomi- 
nated to go into this question, and to ascertain what can be 
done in it; and I hope it will fall to the lot of some future Pre- 
sident to detail satisfactory results. I do not intend to review all 
the work of the past year; that has been referred to in the 
