from an Agricultural and Veterinary Point of View. 49 
especially with regard to the elucidation of the problems which 
surround plant and animal life, be that life in a normal or 
abnormal condition. And here, in mentioning biology, it is 
impossible to refrain from alluding to the vastly important and 
wonderful discoveries which have, within half a century, been 
made through the intelligent employment of, first, the simple, 
then of the compound microscope. So recently is the date of 
its most startling revelations, that I myself can remember a 
rather distinguished Professor of Medicine, not a quarter of a 
century ago, designating it a scientific toy, and deriding those 
who, as he expressed it, wasted their time and their eyes in 
foolishness. This optical instrument is now far more essential to 
the man of science, and to mankind in general, than the telescope ; 
inasmuch as it reveals to us the presence of the infinitely little 
— myriads of minute plants and animals, strange organisms and 
delicate structures — which, until it was employed, were beyond 
the vision and the knowledge of man, all of which take a part 
in Nature's work, and many of which have a markedly benignant 
or malignant role in the vital operations of the higher plants 
and animals, they being active agents in the metamorphoses of 
matter — be it living or dead. 
With the introduction of the microscope into biological in- 
vestigation, a new world in which to make grand conquests has 
been given to the philosopher and the searcher into life's mys- 
teries ; the mysterious phenomena of life and death, growth 
and decay, building up and breaking down, and even the result 
of what were supposed to be purely chemical processes, are now 
within the range of man's scrutiny, and can be ascribed more 
or less to the operation of the impalpable, and hitherto invi- 
sible organisms, the existence of which this optical " toy " has 
now made us cognisant of. Even " the pestilence which 
walketh in darkness," destroying man and beast, has been 
robbed of its mystery by the penetrating light which this in- 
genious combination of lenses and optical accessories has shed 
upon it ; and man may, by its aid, in time protect himself, 
and the animals and plants he rears, from disease and destruc- 
tion, by the knowledge he has thus acquired. Indeed, to 
some extent this most desirable end has been already achieved ; 
for some diseases, the nature of which was unknown, and in 
the prevention or cure of which we were simply groping in the 
dark, are now perfectly understood, and their prevention is based 
on this understanding ; while we are able to make their active 
cause serve as a protective influence — make, in fact, the bane act 
as its own antidote — and thus obviate the necessity for resort- 
ing to uncertain, oftentimes dangerous, and generally onerous 
attempts at curing. No greater advance has perhaps ever been 
VOL. XXII. — S. S. E 
