74 
The President's Address. 
The death of Mr. Norton ought to have been recorded in 
the obituary of last year. 
I cannot conclude these notices of death amongst our circle 
without alluding to the departure from amongst us of the 
great man to whom science owes so much^ and to whom I 
have before alluded as having initiated a new period in the 
science of life by the use of the microscope — T mean Kobert 
Brown. He died in June, 1858 ; and although he was not 
a member of our Society, there are none amongst us, I am 
sure, who will feel the mention of his name or the tribute 
of oar re\'erence as misplaced on this occasion. We are 
hardly called upon to regret his loss ; he had reaped the re- 
ward of his labours wherever true science was cultivated, 
and he died full of honours and of years. The details of his 
life have been recorded in many of our scientific journals, 
but his achievements in science are to he found in his im- 
perishable works. I will do nothing more than reproduce a 
passage hastily penned shortly after his death, but which, on 
reconsideration, I see no occasion to alter : 
" Though less popularly known as a man of science than 
many of his contemporaries, those whose studies have enabled 
them to appreciate the labours of Brown rank him alto- 
gether as the foremost scientific man of this century. He 
takes this position not so much from his extensive observa- 
tions on the structure and habits of plants, as from the 
philosophical insight he possessed, and the power he displayed 
of applying the well-ascertained facts of one case to the ex- 
planation of doubtful phenomena in a large series. Till his 
time, botany can scarcely be said to have had a scientific 
foundation. It consisted of a large number of ill-observed 
and badly arranged facts. By the use of the microscope, 
and the conviction of the necessity of studying the history 
of the development of the plant, in order to ascertain its true 
structure and relations. Brown changed the face of botany. 
He gave life and significance to that which had been dull 
and purposeless. His influence was felt in every direction ; 
the microscope became a necessary instrument in the hands 
of the philosophical botanist, and the history of development 
was the basis on which all improvement in classification was 
carried on. This influence extended from the vegetable to 
the animal kingdom. The researches of Schleiden on the 
vegetable cell, prompted by the observations of Brown, led 
to those of Schwann on the animal cell; and we may directly 
trace the present condition of animal physiology to the 
wonderful influence that the researches of Brown have exerted 
