XLIII. 

 BIOLOGICAL TRAINING AND STUDIES, 



AN ADDRESS DELIVERED TO THE BIOLOGICAL SECTION OF THE 

 BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



Amongst the duties of a President of a Section the delivery of 

 an Address has in these latter days somehow come to be reckoned ; 

 and that I may interpose myself for but as short a time as possible 

 between your attention and the papers announced to you for read- 

 ing upon your list, I will begin what I have to say without any 

 further preface. 



I wish first to make a few observations as to the kind of prepara- 

 tion which is indispensable, as it seems to me, as a preliminary to 

 an adequate and intelligent comprehension of the problems of 

 biology; or, in other words, to an adequate and intelligent com- 

 prehension of the discussions which will take place in this room 

 and in the two other rooms which will be assigned to, and occupied 

 by, the department of Ethnology and Anthropology, and that of 

 Physiology pure and proper, with Anatomy. 



Having made these observations, I propose, in the second place, 

 to enumerate the subjects which appear likely to occupy prominent 

 places in our forthcoming discussions ; and thirdly, I will, if your 

 patience allows me, conclude with some remarks as to certain of 

 the benefits which may be expected, as having been constantly 

 observed to flow from a due and full devotion to biological study. 



In the first place, then, I wish to say that though the problems 

 of biology have much of what is called general interest (that is to 

 say, of interest for all persons) attaching to them, — as, indeed, how 

 could they fail to have, including as they do the natural history of 

 our own and of all other species of living organisms, whether 

 animal or vegetable? — some special preparation must be gone 

 through if that general interest is to be thoroughly and intelli- 

 gently gratified. I would compare the realm of biology to a vast 

 landscape in a cultivated country of which extensive views may be 



