president’s address. 
497 
to be a force, a creative, life-making power in the original ele- 
ments which as beyond the animal and the vegetable world, 
which was in the nebulae and before it, and which is yet in 
existence; and whatever changes take place by chemical combin- 
ations, by differentiation, variation, or whatever word may be 
chosen to express the idea, or by whatever process these com- 
binations may be brought about, the same principle obtains in 
all; and it is not difficult to assume that there is an elementary 
property in the atoms of the universe which gives birth to all the 
life that the universe contains, built up from (the arrangement of 
these atoms. But this does not explain the whole mystery. The 
tree grows and so does the man; so does not the rock crystal or 
the diamond, and no one attributes consciousness or sensation to 
these latter, and yet they are of the elemental substance. 
It is well to remember that even in the limited sphere of our 
own earth the work of creation is not ended, and that apparently 
there are new creations constantly coming into notice, some of 
them probably supplementary to, or taking the place of the old. Dr. 
Matthew easily tells us of transitions of life on this earth in the 
animal kingdom which have taken millions of years to bring 
about, and of geologic eras of such duration, one succeeding the 
other, that no one would attempt to estimate their age. Doubt- 
less we are living ii.n one which some men in the distant future 
may speculate upon with no consciousness whatever of the 
thoughts and hopes and fears and reasoning of the men who live 
today. 
In a paper upon orchids which lately appeared in an English 
magazine, the writer argued 'that the orchid is a comparatively 
modern adornment of our earth, and he supported his view with 
two reasons 'for holding it, one that the insects — bees and the like 
— which are necessary to its reproduction — did not come upon 
the earth until after the carboniferous era; the other that while 
yellow, white and red colors early developed when the 
efflorescence of plants began to Change from its original green, 
these colors were well established before blue made its appear- 
ance, that the blue orchid is yet rare, because sufficient time has 
not elapsed for its diffusion or its development. 
Assuming then, that new forms of living matter are still 
