194 Transactions of the Society. 



readiest to shrink from the labour. It must be a relatively ineffi- 

 cient sketch, or a plethora of congested details ; neither of which 

 could, as 1 venture to think, accomplish in the best way our end. 



On the other hand, a careful study afresh of the work done by 

 the Fellows of this Society since our last annual meeting, while 

 peculiarly interesting, and capable of awaking a measure of pride, 

 purpose, and hope in all of us, would yet, it appears to me, be but 

 a work of pleasurable supererogation. It may be true that ex- 

 haustive discussion does not follow every paper or monograph 

 presented to us: but genial, friendly, and truth-seeking criticism 

 is by no means absent ; and the incisive and experienced judgment 

 of the expert is sought and given. And so wide and diversified 

 has the field of research become, that it is to experts chiefly that 

 we must look for criticism, interpretation, and suggestion of the 

 most lasting value. 



That this is at once a triumph and a peril to modern science 

 in all its sections I have, no doubt in common with most of you, 

 long felt. 



Science has progressed with such rapidity, and extended its 

 area on so vast a scale, that the autonomy of the expert and the 

 specialist is a danger that all who care for the unity and whole- 

 ness of the ever-widening stream of human knowledge must be 

 alive to. 



Wise and well-timed indeed were the words of Professor Huxley 

 in his address, so recently given, on quitting the chair of the 

 Eoyal Society. " Of late years," he says, " it has struck me with 

 constantly increasing force, that those who have toiled for the 

 advancement of science are in a fair way of being overwhelmed by 

 the realization of their wishes : ... it has become impossible for 

 any man to keep pace with the progress of the whole of any 

 important branch of science. ... It looks as if the scientific, like 



Fig. 7-9. — Different stages in the progress of the fission of the nucleus of 

 D. Drysdah, showing that nuclear changes precede somatic changes 

 (a, 6, c, d, e, /, g, h, see pp. 200-202), x 8000 and 10,000. 



„ 10. — The above nucleus after complete division, showing how the plexus 

 structure is at once diffused over the hyaloplasm of the nucleus 

 again, x 6000. 



„ 11. — Nucleus of Folytoma uvella in fission. 



„ 12. — Nucleus of T. rostratus before actual division. 



„ 13-18. — Fissional phenomena in the nucleus of T. rostratus (a, b, c, d, e, 

 f, g, see pp. 202-203). 



„ 19-20. — Phenomena presented by nucleus of T. rostratus in genetic fusion. 



Plate IX. 



Fig. 1-4. — Various conditions of the body of T. rostratus in the act of fission, 

 X 1400, fig. 4 X 1500. 

 „ 5-7. — The stages of body fission in D. Drysdali x 8000. 

 „ 8-13. — The stages seen in the genetic bleuding of D. Drysdali. 



