ANJOYEESARY ADDBESS OF THE rEESIBENT. XXXVU 



Life is a measured gift — limited to certain lands of matter in 

 which only it can appear, and to the chemical and mechanical forces 

 which accompany it, act in it, and are acted on hy it — confined within 

 certain temperatures — contrived for certain conditions of residence, 

 in air, and in water — destined to a stationary home, or permitted to 

 wander — to crawl, to run, to leap, to dig, to fly, to swim, to float, 

 by appropriate adjustments which may be called in our language 

 very scientific applications of the laws of nature — guided by organs 

 of sense constructed to work in harmony with the rays of light and 

 the undulations of the air — endowed with calculated instincts, con- 

 sciousness, and volition. He who thinks himself equal to the problem 

 of connecting in Ms mind all these structures and adjustments, which 

 appear so special and so various and each so wonderfully adapted to 

 a special purpose — to derive all these determinate results from ono 

 formula of indefinite variation from one original germ of life, 

 " Child of the earth and sea and sun and air " — 



may well claim to be the equivalent representative in our time of 

 that old philosopher 



" Qui genus humanum ingenio superavit, et omnes 

 Restinxit stellas, exortus ut sctherius sol." 



Another view, even more desperate, which would ascribo an 

 indefinite origin to every definite form by the mere union of 

 elementary forces, may be answered by tho words of the Epicurean 

 Poet— 



". . . .nequeant ex omnibus omnia gigni." 



Neither Zoology nor Botany nor Palaeontology can countenance the 

 supposition of many local origins for one specific form which can 

 be increased and diffused by known processes, nor more than one 

 epoch for its production and duration. In this, as in so many other 

 instances, 



". . . .Vestigia nulla retrorsum ;" 



the group once ended, like the period to which it belonged, returns 

 no more. 



That the recorded duration and area of distribution of species will 

 be augmented, that the number of so-called species will be reduced 

 by critical inquiry, can hardly be doubted by any one who is aware 

 of Mr. Davidson's valuable labours on the Brachiopoda*, or those of 

 Messrs. Jones and Parker on the Foraminiferaf. By such labours 

 as these, the characters of the species which are retained will gain 

 rather than lose in distinctness; and we may with more confidence 

 employ the purified nomenclature in reasoning on the early aspects 

 of nature. Nor will the recognizable varieties lose their valuo in 

 reference to time or physical conditions. 



eiistunt Qmtra. Nature dein GtenerioBaha8plantaB,pargener»tioiiesMabigenafl 

 (i|u ■!■ struct ur.i in Boris non mutant) inter u misonisse el nmltiplio aooo in Spectea 

 existenU's, i[uotqin>t jn .~~it ii 1. -. cxcIums tamon e aumero Bpeoierum, ab ejusmodi 

 generationeproduetis, Plantis Bybridia, ntpote sterilibua, — 8ytt. Not. edit xiii. 



* Monographs of the PatoontograpMoa] Society. 



t Referred to in tho Award of the WoUaston JJonution Fond, p. xxvi 



