190 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



students by dilating upon one other instance at least of extraordinary 

 success with the microscope. I allude to that of the illustrious Pasteur. 

 You are all aware that the culture of the silkworm has for many years 

 been a prominent industry in France. In 1853 the revenue from silk 

 produce was one hundred and thirty millions of francs. In 1865 it 

 was reduced almost to nothing. The whole country was aghast at the 

 terrible infliction. All efforts, scientific as well as others, had failed. 

 But the great French chemist, Dumas, one day happily thought of 

 enlisting the services of his friend, colleague, and pupil, Pasteur. Now 

 Pasteur had never seen a silkworm, and urged his inexperience. Five 

 hundred thousand francs had been offered by the Minister of Agricul- 

 ture for an infallible remedy. M. Cornalia, in 1860, had declared that 

 the pharmacopoeia of the silkworm is now as complicated as that of 

 man. Gases, liquids, and solids, he cried, have been laid under con- 

 tribution. From chlorine to sulphuric acid, from nitric acid to rum, 

 from sugar to sulphate of quinine — all has been invoked on behalf of 

 the unhappy insect. At this stage Pasteiir consented to commence his 

 inquiries. He made his first communication to the Academy of Sciences 

 in September, 1865. It was received with an attitude of hostility. He 

 was only a chemist, some said. What did he know of biology ? But 

 to make a long, though very interesting, story short, Pasteur soon 

 showed what a man with good eyes, good glasses, and steady nous can 

 do for the welfare of his fellow-men. Both Professors Huxley and 

 Tyndall have eulogized Pasteur's work, ' Sur la Maladie des Vers a 

 Soie,' wherein the author describes in detail his method of securing 

 healthy eggs, which process is nothing less, says Professor Tyndall, 

 than a mode of restoring to France her ancient prosperity in silk 

 husbandry. 



In conclusion, I beg most earnestly to urge upon both the mem- 

 bers and associates of this Society, that in their efforts to contribute 

 to the existing treasury of science in the shape of methodized facts, 

 they must not expect to do great things all of a sudden. Let us but 

 commence to-night quietly and modestly, with the resolve to seek for 

 and do patiently whatever work we may find waiting for us, and rely 

 upon it, gentlemen, our new Society, young as it is, may equally with 

 its elder sister the University, utter the confident prediction that it 

 will unceasingly grow in the praise of posterity. 



" Usque ego poatera 

 Crescam laude recens." 



At intervals other addresses on special subjects were delivered. 



Mr. Ealph gave a short statement of experiments he had made 

 with the view of ascertaining the combined action of prussic acid and 

 ammonia on vegetable tissues. He had discovered that the sap in 

 the stem of a vine contained quantities of iron, but at certain periods 

 only. When the fruit began to form, iron disappeared from the sap, 

 thus indicating that the plant underwent a chemical change. It 

 was probable that the iron went into the fruit, but of that he was 

 not sure. 



Mr. Sidney Gibbons demonstrated with the aid of drawings how 



