18 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



demand further research and elucidation ; and the recent and 

 surprising discoveries of Darwin in the dimorphic and other 

 unions, exhibited by means of insect agency in many of our 

 common plants, have opened up new and apparently endless 

 fields for investigation. 



By the aid of Comparative Anatomy, the myriads of 

 " organic forms " of past life, buried deep in the crust of the 

 earth, have been brought within the domain of Natural His- 

 tory. And Chemistry, risen from Alchemy, by the discoveries 

 of Lavoisier, Priestly, Black, Dalton, and others, resulting in 

 the law of definite proportions, has connected the three great 

 kingdoms of Nature, the mineral, vegetable, and animal, into 

 one science, co-equal and interacting with Physical Science. 



Compared with the solar and stellar systems, which occupy 

 the student of Pliysical Science, the objects of Natural His- 

 tory may appear small and insignificant. But we must bear 

 in mind that size and weight ought to have no place in our 

 estimation of the great and the little in Nature, for they 

 appear to have none in the plan of Nature. The same per- 

 fection and adaptation of structure and function to surround- 

 ing conditions is shown in the smallest animal or plant, as in 

 that of the largest; and the same law that presides over the 

 formation of a rain-drop, regulates not only that of our own 

 world, but extends throughout the infinite regions of space. 



Eecent experiments on the light emitted from distant 

 luminaries, show that their material constituents are similar 

 to those of our own planet ; and analogy would lead to the 

 inference that life and organisation may co-exist with those 

 materials in the solar and stellar systems; thus leading to 

 the great generalisation that the whole system of the universe 

 is governed by the same laws that manifest the wisdom and 

 power of the Supreme Lawgiver, who planted the tree of life 

 on our own globe, with all its marvellous forms, modes, and 

 adaptations. 



On the motion of the Eev. Professor Duns, D.D., a vote 

 of thanks was unanimously passed to Dr M'Bain for his 

 valuable address, and conduct in the chair during his term of 

 office. 



