TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. 119 



imag^ine tlial, in somewhat less than twenty years, we have passed from complete 

 ignorance to almost perfect knowledge on two such vast and complex siihjecta as 

 the origin of species and the antiquity of man. 



Botany and Zoology. 



Address to the Department of Botany and Zoology. By Alfred Newton, 

 M.A., F.li.S., F.L.S., V.P.Z.S., l}-c., Professor of Zoology and Comparative 

 Anatomy in the University of Cambridge, Vice-President. 



Any one iu the position of chairman of this Department must feel that his diffi- 

 culty lies in choosing rather than in seeking a subject whereon to address an 

 audience like that which is before me. This 'difficulty arises from the astounding 

 abundance of interesting topics which are presented by the studies of Botany and 

 Zoology — or of the latter alone, I may say, since it would ill become me to attempt 

 the treatment of any which belong to the sister science. But it is of course in- 

 cumbent upon me to touch upon the chief events of the past year which aifect 

 this Department ; and it seems possible that iu so doing we may lind some con- 

 siderations naturally proceeding from them to be worthy of your notice during the 

 short time that I shall presume to occupy your attention, and also to present enough 

 general interest to justify my enlarging upon the themes which they inspire. 



These chief events appear to me to be two in numbei' It is my first and pleas- 

 ing duty to congratulate the naturalists here assembled on the successfid termina- 

 tion of that expedition in which we have all taken so great an interest, as diuing 

 its progress tidings of it have reached us from one distant land after another, and 

 especially (as your mouth-piece) heartilj' to welcome home all now present who 

 were on board the good ship ' Challenger ' iu her circumnavigation of the globe. 

 I would that your spokesman on this occasion had been one who was better able 

 to appreciate their labours and enter into details as to the value of their discoveries 

 and researches. Unfortunately I am under the great disadvantage of being so im- 

 perfectly acquainted with the mysteries of the ocean, that it is only possible for me 

 to speak in the most general terms of what has been done. I feel sure, however, 

 that, so far as the great secrets of the sea can yet be interpreted and revealed by 

 men, they -nnll be by those who have happily returned to us. Sir Charles Wyville 

 Thomson and his colleagues. There is one of their company we know thoj' have 

 not brought back ; and it is fitting for us to lower the tone of our exultation while 

 we remember the name of Von Willemoes-Suhm. With this single sad exception 

 there is, however, nothing, so far as I know, to occasion regi-et ; and the various 

 memoirs that have been alreadj' published hj members of the Expedition give a 

 foretaste of what we may expect when the whole of its results are made known. 

 I am informed that the rich collections made during the voyage are at present 

 lodged in the University of Edinburgh, and are in process of revision and rough 

 arrangement under the superintendence of the Director of the Scientific Staii' of 

 the late Expedition. They include the products of dredging or trawling and sur- 

 face-collecting at about 350 stations, and at depths varying from lOO to 4500 

 fathoms, and consist of a prodigious number of specimens belonging to most of the 

 groups of marine Invcrtchrafn, especialh^ of Sponges and Echinoderms, which pre- 

 ponderate at the greatest depths. It is, I believe, intended to obtain the assistance 

 of special experts in working out the difii^rent groups ; and I am sure this meeting 

 will hear with pleasure that the Jliidrozoa are to be intrusted to Professor Allman, 

 and the Poh/zna to Mr. Busk. It is understood that Her Majesty's Treasury will 

 charge itself with the cost of publishing the treatises of these and the other 

 eminent naturalists to be employed ; and thus it is hoped that a series of volumes 

 will be produced worthy of the magnitude of the subject, and fit for the first rank 

 among the works of zoologists in this or any other coimtry. I need scarcely add 

 that the wishes of all here will be for the due cai'rying-out of this grand scheme j 



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