WINDSOR AND ETON SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. iat) 
years, some of them being marked by much originality ; and what 
is more important the after discussions were in many cases well 
maintained. I must make one exception in mentioning the paper 
on Bacteria, by Mr. Thurston, of King’s College, London, as it led 
to further important results. All who heard his lecture must 
have been struck with the clear and easy manner with which he 
treated his subject, thereby showing his thorough mastery of it. This 
was still further evidenced a few evenings afterwards, when he gave 
some practical illustrations of the way in which the bacteria could 
be stained and mounted for microscopical observation. Many of 
the members who were then present were so pleased with the 
happy manner in which Mr. Thurston gave his explanations that 
they were anxious that he should give them a short course of 
lectures, or rather demonstrations, on the preparation and mounting 
of objects generally for the microscope. He accordingly devoted 
four evenings to that purpose, and about eighteen ladies and gentle- 
men attended, and I am sure they will all agree with me that they thus 
easily obtained information which it would otherwise have taken 
them months of hard study to have acquired. I have often been 
asked what is the good of non-professional people using the micro- 
scope, or what is the use of our society? This cuz dono argument 
is a very favourite one with those who pride themselves above all 
things on being what they term thoroughly practical. Now if 
these persons were asked their opinion about any well-known 
scientific person, say Darwin, for instance, they would probably 
acknowledge that he was a great man or a great philosopher, 
though I fear they would not have a very clear notion in what 
his greatness consisted. Had they seen him busily and patiently 
accumulating his almost numberless facts, such as those connected 
with the way in which climbing plants turn and twist, or those con- 
nected with the habits of earth worms, or those relating to the 
variations of plants and animals, they would probably have asked 
their stock question, “‘ What is the use of them?” Now, men of 
culture (I do not mean those who are usually termed scientific) 
think that these pursuits are of the highest value. Only a short 
time since I heard the Dean of Windsor say from the pulpit that if 
Darwin had never done anything else he had at least made 
manifest to us how wonderfully the lower creatures were ever 
unconsciously carrying out the designs and wishes of the Creator. 
I will take lower ground, and say that if a person will take up 
any study, and pursue it patiently and conscientiously he will be 
richly rewarded by the pleasure alone which he will feel in his pur- 
suit, to say nothing of the advantages arising from it incidentally, 
such as the power which always arises from the possession of 
knowledge. In the working of the microscope, with which we are 
more particularly interested, the advantages to be derived are very 
