PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. lix. 







matters, in connection with which his loss will cause a 

 blank. 



ZOOLOGY. 



The Origin of Life a subject which has probably occupied 

 the brains of many of the deepest thinkers of all ages since 

 men began to speculate at all on such matters is the one 

 which was chosen by the President of the British Association 

 last year for his Address. His own view is that living matter 

 was probably gradually evolved from non-living substances, 

 a theory which rests at present on evidence of the most 

 superficial nature, there being absolutely no direct evidence 

 of the evolution of life from mineral substances. One of the 

 chief points brought forward is the resemblance of the move- 

 ments of some living bodies to those of inorganic 

 matter, such as drops of oil, which is, after all, an organic 

 product, and may still possess some of the qualities of life. 

 The Address is very learned, but not convincing. The 

 growth of crystals forms another link in the chain. The 

 sections of Zoology and Botany carried on the subject in a 

 joint discussion ; but there seemed to be a general feeling 

 that the question was at present so purely speculative as to 

 be hardly worth arguing about, and even the form which life 

 first took when it did come into existence on the earth was a 

 point on which there appeared to be great differences of 

 opinion. From their probable nature, it is almost impossible 

 that any fossils of these earliest living beings should have 

 been preserved, as one would expect them to be little more 

 than masses of a jelly-like substance, so that, as far as we can 

 see at present, the question is likely to remain permanently 

 unsolved. 



Whilst speaking of this Address by the President of the 

 British Association, there is one remark in the nature of a 

 protest that I feel called upon to make. In our Club and 

 other Societies with similar objects, including, I should have 

 supposed, the British Association, it is an understood rule 



