54 



and demonstration with which Mr. Clark favoured us, and 

 I am confident that I am but giving utterance to the opinion 

 of you all when I say that the Society has only shewn a little 

 of its obligation to him, not only for his scientific use of the 

 camera, but also for his management of the lantern, by 

 electing him as one of the Vice-Presidents for the ensuing 

 year. 



Passing to other orders, I am afraid your President treated 

 but very inadequately so venerable a group of insects as the 

 " Cockroaches " ; but the same cannot be said of Mr. Knock's 

 delightfully vivid revelation to us of the economy of the 

 " Dragonflies and Fairy-flies." Those who saw Mr. Step's 

 beautiful pictures of " Wild Flowers at Home," will agree 

 with me in expressing a hope that he may shew us another 

 series at no distant date. Mr. Fremlin's carefully prepared 

 paper on " Bacteria " introduced to the Society a phase of 

 vegetable life, with which we are all very familiar in name, 

 but about which most of us probably know very little in 

 reality. Mr. Fremlin, I am aware, possessed the idea that, 

 because the subject was new to our list of papers, he had not 

 done well in introducing it ; but I feel sure I am speaking 

 for all when I say that he is mistaken, and that we hope, 

 during the coming year, that he will reveal to us more of the 

 wonders connected with the more hidden methods of Nature's 

 work. Though her agents are often small, their influence on 

 our well-being or otherwise may be enormous. I might just 

 instance the micro-organism whose connection with malaria 

 has now been proved. The association of malaria, the great 

 scourge of the Tropics, with mosquitoes, through the work 

 of Dr. Patrick Manson and Major Ross, is one of the most 

 important of recent discoveries in medicine. The disease 

 has long been known to have been caused by a certain 

 parasite, which lives on the blood-corpuscles. Ross found 

 that this organism lived part of its life in the body of a 

 mosquito, and, when ready to leave its insect-host, passed 

 into the salivary gland and was discharged by means of the 

 proboscis of the insect while feeding, and so entered the 

 blood of its second host, man, producing in him the disease 

 called "malaria." The mosquitoes that carry the germ of 

 this disease belong to the genus Anopheles ; but it is a curious 

 fact that mos(}uitoes belonging to the genus Culcx are quite 

 harmless in this respect, though they transfer a parasite to 

 the blood of birds. 



In connection with papers, it has occurred to me that it 

 might be a useful experiment to set apart one or two evenings 



