Anniversary Address* 237 



might be added to. Attention might be especially called to 

 the coast of Holy Island as likely to produce new forms of 

 Algae and Molluscs on the calcareous and carboniferous 

 formations. It has been suggested by myself that a sub- 

 scription list might be attempted to defray the expense of a 

 dredge, and the expense attending one or more yearly ex- 

 cursions from the estuary of the Tweed. Likewise that a 

 microscope of moderate power and a few dissecting instru- 

 ments might be obtained, and if possible find safe custody 

 at the Museum. With such appliances the Berwick meeting 

 of our Club might become a day of much interest and in- 

 struction, not only in dredging, but in dissecting, and 

 microscopically studying the sub-marine life of the North- 

 umberland and Berwickshire coast. 



It is pleasing to learn that a series of tables for the pro- 

 secution of Zoophytology by dissection are to be established 

 at Torquay, on a similar principle to those so successfully 

 organised by Dr. Doran at Naples some years ago, and which 

 several of our Professors of Natural History, by the leave of 

 of the British Association, have studied at. 



It is with much regret that I find space does not admit 

 of a retrospect of a few of the salient discoveries, or of 

 hypothetical speculations advanced by some of our leading 

 Biologists. " For from the time that nations had assumed 

 a status as civilized, we find men of distinguished power 

 diiferentiating themselves from the crowd, and seeking to 

 connect natural phenomena with their physical principles. 

 In the interchange of commercial relations between ancient 

 Greece and the nations of the East, bringing with it wealth, 

 refinement, and information, we may trace some of the in- 

 fluences which fostered the sciences.*" 



Struggling for a plan of creation we find that Lucretius 

 and Lemocritus invented the Atomic Theory, which has for 

 ages afforded speculation to a long chain of natural philo- 

 sophers, until the question has latterly received its nearest 

 solution in the laboratories of our chemists and physiolo- 



* Professor Tyndall. 



