TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. 129 



illustrated by thirty-four plates. An important part of these volumes is an intro 

 ductory essay, which has been re-published in tliis country separately in an octave^ 

 volume. Louis Agassiz's ' Essay on Classification ' embraces the whole range of 

 the subject, which he treats in a wider and more comprehensive and less mechanical 

 manner than has hitherto been done ; but while I thus praise the work and the 

 manner in which it is treated, and agree with a great many of the positions he has 

 taken up, I must warn its readers that some subjects are treated of in a way Prof. 

 Agassiz will not be able to maintain, and that to those who are unable or unwilling 

 to think for themselves, the author's reputation will prove a guarantee not altogether 

 to be trusted. It must be studied with great care and great caution ; nevertheless I 

 look upon it as the remarkable book of the year. There is another work upon a 

 similar subject advertised, from which we may expect some curious reasonings, * On 

 the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection,' by Charles Darwin. 



Let me now say a word for Section D. At the first Meeting in York, in 1831, 

 Zoologists and Botanists did not come forward in great numbers, and we had only 

 five members, Daubeny, Greville, Henslow, Lindley, and Prichard. There was no 

 Botanical paper, and only one on Zoology, 'On the Crystalline Lens ofVerte- 

 brata,' by Dr. now Sir David Brewster. In 1832 and 1833 the British Associa- 

 tion met in Oxford and Cambridge — in 1834 at Edinburgh, where the attendance 

 was greater than on any previous occasion, 1298 tickets being issued there — Dublin 

 in 1835. 



The proceedings of these first four meetings are extremely interesting, and a 

 perusal of the volumes containing the Reports will show you how this now great body 

 thought and acted in its early days ; how it has crept on, and increased and matured 

 its plans until it reached the high position in science which it now holds; and that 

 I may not be said to think too highly of ourselves, or to state matters for which 

 there is no foundation, the work of Section D. since the 27th of September, 1831, up 

 to the conclusion of the Meeting for 1858, gives the following results : — There have 

 been read, Reports, 95; Papers, Zoological, 411 ; Botanical, 213; or, in all, 719 

 Reports and Papers ; and the amount of money granted to Section D. for scientific 

 encouragement during the same period appears to have been about £1007. After 

 the position that I have mentioned to you that the literature of our subject holds, I 

 do not think that we can complain either of slowness or want of interest. Perhaps 

 we have not been so popular as the members of Section C, but we shall not quarrel 

 about which is the more important. I think we are mutually dependent on each 

 other, and cannot well go on separately. Their science allows great scope for the 

 imagination, and that may occasionally run riot. They have in charge the two great 

 materials of which we all acknowledge the importance, and without the assistance 

 of which we could not now be assembled here — coal and iron. We deal more in 

 facts ; but if ladies and gentlemen would only look around them, they would soon 

 perceive that nearly all their necessaries and luxuries, whether of food or clothing, or 

 for the adornment of their mansions or persons, depend chiefly on animal and vege- 

 table products, and thus no one will dare to say that our Section is without interest; 

 but the manner of viewing this rests upon ourselves, and if we will study these 

 wonderful productions we see every day with minds impressed with the power 

 and goodness of God in placing them around us, we shall find the investigation of 

 them no weary work, but one full of interest and information. By these remarks 

 I do not wish to claim for the British Association any undeserved influence; but it 

 is now universally acknowledged that the example it has shown, and the various 

 links it has joined between the different departments and the people cultivating them, 

 have had a very decided influence on the promotion of science. At all the meetings 

 of this Association which I have attended I have observed a great impulse given, 

 both in the preparation for the meetings and after their conclusion ; and if you will 

 give it your attention, you will find that after we have left you, various matters will 

 appear in other lights than those wherein you formerly viewed them. Various sub- 

 jects will be suggested to you, and many of you will try to study and master this or 

 that as your inclination leads, and my wish is that you may persevere and be suc~ 

 cessful. 



1859. 



