THE PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL ADDRESS TO THE ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.[1]

[Footnote 1: Delivered by the Rev. Dr. Dallinger, F.R.S., at the
annual meeting of the Royal Microscopical Society, Feb. 8,
1888.--_Nature._]


Retrospect may involve regret, but can scarcely involve anxiety. To
one who fully appreciates the actual, and above all the potential,
importance of this society in its bearing upon the general progress of
scientific research in every field of physical inquiry, the
responsibilities of president will not be lightly, while they may
certainly be proudly, undertaken.

I think it may be now fairly taken for granted that, as this society
has, from the outset, promoted and pointed to the higher scientific
perfection of the microscope, so now, more than ever, it is its
special function to place this in the forefront as its _raison
d'etre_. The microscope has been long enough in the hands of amateur
and expert alike to establish itself as an instrument having an
application to every actual and conceivable department of human
research; and while in the earliest days of this society it was
possible for a zealous Fellow to have seen, and been more or less
familiar with, all the applications to which it then had been put, it
is different to-day. Specialists in the most diverse areas of research
are assiduously applying the instrument to their various subjects, and
with results that, if we would estimate aright, we must survey with
instructed vision the whole ground which advancing science covers.