55 THE PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. 



'jfeigh as 1-12 and even 1-25 of an inch. Then what wojders will yon 

 fcehold ! Each dew-drop, each withered leaf, becomes a world. We 

 see the very stones of which our houses are built, the chalky cli flfs of 

 old England which we love so well, are composed of microscopic forms, 

 the relics of a bye-gone age. Now may we find the "Hed Snow,'' 

 which was formerly considered a portent of awful omen (and of which 

 I have myself seen vast fields in the polar regions), to be merely- 

 caused by the growth of a minute plant, Protococcus Nivalis, which is 

 reproduced with marvellous rapidity, and spreads immense distances 

 in a single night. We discover " Life within Life," as for example, in 

 the common Aphis, with which our roseries swarm. Inside you will 

 find another insect, nearly perfect, open this carefully and you find 

 another, and again within this last you will discover eggs, which 

 require only time to become perfect insects. 



There is one point in Natural History which will, I am sure, com- 

 mend itself to our Lady Members. I allude to the very poor figure 

 often cut by our sex among the lower forms of animal life, and which' 

 they will doubtless argue, extends upwards in the scale of creation, 

 though it might be difficult to say how high ! They will find that not 

 only are male creatures often inferior to their partners in strength, 

 intelligence, and beauty, but that there actually exists a race of insects 

 without any males whatever (I allude to the Apus). True they are only 

 Entomostraose, allied to the Daphnia or Water Plea, which is, again a 

 sort pf poor relation or distant cousin of the shrimp, crab, &c. But 

 then compare the lazy ugly drone with the resplendent nnd stately 

 Queen Bee. The puny male spider with his fierce and pugnacious 

 lady, who sometimes even goes the length of eating him, up •' And 

 there is even a parasite Lernea, whose husband is merely a parasite to 

 her and actually lives on her. Can male depravity go farther than 

 this? 



What can be more wonderful than the way a naturalist, such as 

 Professor Owen will take up a piece of fossil bone thousands of years 

 old, and from this imperfect fragment give a correct description of an 

 extinct animal, describing not only its texture of skin, whether scaly, 

 feathery, or smooth, but will tell its food and habits of life, and even 

 make a drawing of its external form and appearance! Indeed even a 

 very humble naturalist may sometimes tell a good deal from a bone. 

 I remember some years ago when I was in Cologne going over the 

 Church of St. Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins, her companions, I was 

 shewn a portion of the scull of St. Ursula, and by the side of it the 

 the scull of St. Elfrida, her especial favorite, "Was she one of the 

 Virgins " ? I asked j " of course " said my indignant guide. " But this is 



