PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 137 



Transactions were chiefly Owen, the brothers Edwin and John Quekett, 

 Arthur Farre, Dalrymple, Lindley, Busk, and others. Dr. Lindley 

 strongly advocated the formation of committees to conduct particular 

 branches of inquiry, because, as he said, " The application of the 

 powers and advantages of an associated body of observers to gain an 

 intimacy with nature, is more important in regard to the microscope 

 than to any other instrument of philosophical research, to conceive 

 clearly the aim of our researches and to give a right direction to our 

 exertions." I venture to differ from Dr. Lindley's view of the value 

 of committees for the promotion of microscopical inquiries. In my 

 opinion it is far better that each member of this Society should be free 

 to pursue his investigations in his own way, and unfettered by the 

 restraint imposed by association, or in committee. We know by 

 experience how prone committees are to express an authoritative opi- 

 nion, without accepting the responsibility which always attaches to 

 individual action. It will conduce more to the promotion of original 

 thought and methodical care in the prosecution of microscopical 

 research, if each one takes his own course, and follows the bent of 

 his inclination, for by his works shall he be known. Nevertheless, 

 we truly feel that we are knit together by the kindliest bonds of 

 brotherhood for the attainment of a common object, each and all 

 striving to obtain a broader and firmer objective basis for histology 

 than it has heretofore enjoyed. To make our labour one of more 

 solid worth, we must join heart and hand in the careful investigation 

 of every phase of the intimate morphological condition of the animal 

 organism ; starting from the earliest germ of existence, to develop- 

 ment or growth, and proceeding onward to the more permanent forms 

 in all created beings. 



The eye only sees what it brings the light to see, in spite of all 

 our well-contrived instruments. It must therefore acquire the faculty 

 of seeing accurately before it can be trusted to draw conclusions. A 

 period of apprenticeship must be passed at the microscope, the earth 

 must be tilled and the sowing done, before the harvest can be reaped . 

 With all our boasted knowledge of histology, what do we really know ? 

 As yet we only possess a tolerable idea of the elementary parts of the 

 higher classes of animals. We are not perfectly familiar with the 

 structure of any — man not excepted — much as the human body has 

 been scrutinized by the 50ths and 80ths of modern ingenuity and 

 workmanship. The higher organs, the senses, and some few other 

 portions of the body, have been partially worked out ; but there is 

 even more waiting to be accomplished ; and as we proceed to investi- 

 gate, we shall find something new to arrest attention, and waiting to 

 be discovered, in the most familiar organ. 



In comparative histology, the greater part of the work has yet to be 

 done, and here we shall find a mass of material requiring years for its 

 perfect elucidation. And whoever will perform something useful in 

 this department of nature, must first acquaint himself with all that 

 has been done by others. He must then prepare to discard authority, 

 abandon old methods of research, and adopt new ones. He must also 

 employ better and hitherto untried reagents ; otherwise he will fall 



