'/l(i tMNS ACTIONS OF SECTION t)* 



that tlie award of the first Darwin- Wall ace medal on that occasion to Aff. 

 Wallace in person was a source of deep gratification to all men of science, and 

 that the presence at the same meeting of others whom all Biologists must regard 

 with peculiar respect gave the occasion a perfectly unique character. 



The present century has seen a remarkable development of the study of the 

 problems of heredity and variation, largely as the result of the interest awakened 

 in the resuscitation of Mendel's experimental work from the oblivion in which it 

 had remained for so many years, though the general problem is being attacked 

 concurrently by investigators who attach more importance to the statistical 

 method of study. Professor Bateson, who has given the name ' Genetics ' to the 

 experimental study of lieredity, chose the advances made in that branch of Biology 

 up to 1904 as the subject of his able Address to Section D in that year. Some of 

 the more recent conclusions of the workers in Genetics are to be discussed by this 

 Section during the present meeting. It cannot be doubted that an accurate 

 knowledge of the principles of heredity is destined to exert a marked influence on 

 the practical concerns of humanity. 



The study of diseases which are due to parasitic Protozoa has made striking 

 progress during the last few years. Protozoology has become a distinct branch 

 of Zoology, represented by its own journals and its own professors and lecturers, 

 while it can command the resources of the schools of tropical medicine where 

 researches are being carried on from which great benefits to humanity may be 

 anticipated. Malaria, sleeping-sickness, yellow fever, and the numerous diseases of 

 domestic animals due to parasitic Protozoa such as Trypanosoma, Spirochafa, and 

 Piroplnsma, are some of the complaints which are now recognised as the objects 

 of Zoological study. Most of these diseases are transmitted by blood-sucking 

 insects and arachnids, an accurate knowledge of which has become a matter of 

 pressing practical importance. 



The history of Protozoology affords a complete vindication of the importance, 

 even from a utilitarian standpoint, of conducting scientific investigations for their 

 own sake, even though the likelihood that they will ever have any practical 

 bearing may not at first be apparent. Some j'ears ago it would liave been 

 generally supposed that the study of Ticks was a case of this kind, and that it 

 could at most be of interest to the special students of the Araclinida. TIow far 

 such a view would have been from the truth is well known, but we are suffering 

 now from the comparative neglect of this group of animals in the past. There is 

 still no satisfactory monograph by the aid of which the species of Ticks can be 

 discriminated, and there are few Zoologists who would be prepared to express an 

 opinion with regard to the determination of even those species thfft are the com- 

 monest and the most injurious. While it is clear that the investigation of tlie 

 Arthropod carriers of parasitic Protozoa is essentially a Zoological question, it is 

 equally true that the elucidation of the parasites themselves is largely dependent 

 on the results that have been achieved by Zoological investigators who have 

 worked without any thought of a practical outcome. The late Professor Scbau- 

 dinn, to whom we owe so many brilliant results in the study of the Protozoa, 

 commenced his investigations from the Zoological side, and continued them in 

 their applications to preventive medicine. It is generally admitted that the 

 study of many of the tropical diseases can only be carried on by means of a due 

 co-ordination between Zoological and Medical methods of inquiry. 



As a further instance of the manner in which Biological .science may react on 

 other studies, I may mention the interesting theory which has recently been 

 developed by Mr. W. H. S. Jones,^ to the effect that tbe decay of the ancient 

 civilisations of Greece and Rome was largely due to the introduction of malaria 

 into those countries. 



I can do no more than allude to Economic Entomology, a subject which has 

 at" present received but little official support in our own country, althougli 

 its importance is fully recognised abroad, particularly in the United States of 



' Malaria : A Neglected Factor in tlie Hintori/ of Greece and. Borne, C^ambridge 

 (Macmillan & Bowes), 1907. 



