278 Sir John Lubbock’s Address. 
we are continually receiving from India and our numerous col- 
onies. The series of Indian and Colonial Floras, published 
under the direction of the authorities at Kew, and the “Genera 
Plantarum” of Bentham and Hooker, are certainly an honor to 
our country. ‘To similar causes we may trace the rise and 
rapid progress of economic botany, to which the late Sir W. 
Hooker so greatly contributed. 
In vegetable physiology some of the most striking researches 
have been on the effect produced by rays of light of different 
refrangibility. Daubeny, Draper and Sachs have shown that 
the light of the red end of the spectrum is more effective than 
that of the blue, so far as the decomposition of carbon dioxide 
(carbonic acid) is concerne 
was due to the presence of a microscopic plant. But, mor 
than this, it has been gradually established that putrefaction 1s 
also the work of microscopic organisms. 
These facts have led to most important results in Surgery. 
One reason why compound fractures are so dangerous, is be- 
cause, the skin being broken, the air obtains access to the 
wound, bringing with it innumerable germs, which too often 
set up putrefying action. Lister first made a practical applica- 
tion of these observations. He set himself to find some sub- 
stance capable of killing the germs without being itself too 
otent a caustic, and he found that dilute carbolic acid fulfilled 
these conditions. This discovery has enabled many operations 
to be performed which would previously have been almost 
hopeless. . io 
he same idea seems destined to prove as useful in Medicine 
asin Surgery. ‘There is great reason to suppose that many dis- 
eases, especially those of a zymotic character, have their origin 
in the germs of special organisms. We know that fever runs 4 
