XXXIV. ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. 



A discussion ensued in which the following gentlemen 

 took part : — Messrs. H. 0. Russell, P. N. Trebeck, R. T. 

 Baker, 0. A. Benbow, Professor T. W. E. David and James 

 Taylor. Mr. Maiden replied. 



The following is an abstract of the fourth Science Lecture 

 of the present Session, delivered on the 23rd October, by 

 Professor W. A. Haswell, m.a., f.r.s., on " Biology and 

 and Every-Day Life." 



After describing biology as not a single science, but a 

 group of sciences, the common feature of which is that 

 they deal with objects which are, or have been, endowed 

 with life, the lecturer proceeded to discuss the nature of 

 life, and to deal with the question : — Are living things to 

 be regarded as automata ? In doing so he gave an account 

 of protoplasm — the physical basis of life — of the cell — the 

 unit of organisation in both plants and animals — and showed 

 how in plants and animals consisting only of a single cell, 

 as well as in the individual cells of higher forms, complex 

 processes are carried on in the absence of visible machinery. 

 He pointed out further that in the development of a plant 

 or animal from a germ or ovum, in which no structure is 

 to be detected, we have further and still more remarkable 

 results of a complicated nature attained without the 

 presence of any mechanism capable of being detected by 

 the highest powers of the microscope — the structureless 

 germ containing within itself, not actually, but potentially, 

 all the characteristics of the mature plant or animal. The 

 phenomenon of the regeneration of lost parts was also 

 shown to be difficult of interpretation as the outcome of 

 known chemical and physical forces. After a discussion 

 of the theories of pre-formation and epigenesis, the lecturer 

 concluded this part of his address with the words — " If 

 this result is attained by chemical and physical processes, 

 let us at all events avoid committing ourselves to glib 



