108 Proceedings of the British Association, 



number of unexplained steps inserted between its beginning and its 

 end. The transition from an inanimate crystal to a globule, capable 

 of such endless organic and intellectual developement, is as great a 

 step — as unexplained a one — as unintelligible to us — and, in any 

 human sense of the word, as miraculous as the immediate creation and 

 introduction upon earth of every species and every individual would 

 be. Take these amazing facts of geology which way we will, we 

 must resort elsewhere than to a mere speculative law of developement 

 for their explanation. 



Visiting as we do once more this scene of one of our earliest and 

 most agreeable receptions — as travellers on the journey of life brought 

 back by the course of events to scenes associated with exciting recol- 

 lections and the memory of past kindness — we naturally pause and 

 look back on the interval with that interest which always arises on 

 such occasions, " How has it fared with you meanwhile" ? we fancy 

 ourselves asked. — " How have you prospered ?" — " Has this long in- 

 terval been well or ill spent ?" — " How is it with the cause in which 

 you have embarked ?" — " Has it flourished or receded, and to what 

 extent have you been able to advance it V To all these questions we 

 may, I believe, conscientiously, and with some self-gratulation, an- 

 swer — Well ! The young and then but partially fledged institution 

 has become established and matured. Its principles have been brought 

 to the test of a long and various experience, and been found to work 

 according to the expectations of its founders. Its practice has been 

 brought to uniformity and consistency, on rules which, on the whole, 

 have been found productive of no inconvenience to any of the parties 

 concerned. Our calls for reports on the actual state and deficiencies 

 of important branches of science, and on the most promising lines of 

 research in them, have been answered by most valuable and import- 

 ant essays from men of the first eminence in their respective depart- 

 ments, not only condensing what is known, but adding largely to it, 

 and in a multitude of cases entering very extensively indeed into 

 original inquiries and investigations — of which Mr. Scott Russell's 

 Report on Waves, and Mr. Capenter's on the Structure of Shells, and 

 several others in the most recently published volume of our Reports, 

 that for the York meeting last summer, may be specified as conspicu- 

 ous instances. 



