140 
The Presidents Address. 
correct performance of the higher powers especially. A 
satisfactory report upon this point also appears in our 
^ Transactions/ and I cannot but congratulate my brother- 
microscopists upon the prospective comfort we may shortly 
hope to enjoy in consequence of the adoption of its recom- 
mendation. 
In considering the sum of our doings_, one cannot help 
remarking that research upon vegetable far preponderates 
over that on animal physiology^ which is somewhat noticeable 
when we consider the number of members attached to the 
medical profession upon our list ; but we also perceive that 
there are some subjects in particular in which very much 
more might be done. I will indicate a few of these^ in hopes 
of inducing some of our most zealous operators to enter into 
pastures new." To begin with^ there is a large class of 
marine productions known generally as Nullipores, of which 
very little else is known_, or if known^ not recorded — and offer- 
ing a wide field for research. Again^ amongst lichens^ mosses^ 
and the more minute cryptogamic forms, there is still very 
much to be done. 
In entomological science we rarely have observations, and 
when these do occur, they are not often more than isolated 
facts; that is, not connected directly with any systematic 
inquiry into special matters of obscurity. In this science 
especially much good might be done by a careful examination 
of all species known under the general name of blights^ for 
though much concerning them may be known to entomologists, 
I am convinced that there is much more that still remains 
unknown, and is likely so to remain without microscopical 
aid. And lastly, during the forthcoming spring, I would 
urge upon those members whose special study lies amongst 
the Desmidise, the great interest attaching to the subject of 
the development of these Algae from their spores, a phase in 
their history still involved in considerable obscurity. 
I have to mention the names of three of our members who 
have been removed from amongst us by the hand of death, 
viz.— F. J. Bell, F.G.S., E. AUcard, F.L.S., and George 
Gwilt, F.S.A., &c., of whom the two latter were members at 
the original formation of the society. Mr. Gwilt, besides 
being an accomplished scholar, was an architect of no mean 
pretensions, an astronomer, an archseologist, and deeply 
versed in the science of numismatics. 
As regards the progress of microscopical science, its great 
importance as an accessory in all branches of natural history, 
in medical jurisprudence, anatomy, geology, &c., is all but 
universally acknowledged ; hence the rapidly increasing num- 
