Address to the Zoological Section / by G. B. Howes.

  • Howes, G. B. (George Bond), 1853-1905.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Address to the Zoological Section / by G. B. Howes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Jlssociafiott for tf)c ^6uanccmcnt ^ of Science. BELFAST, 1902. ADDRESS TO THE ZOOLOGICAL SECTION BY Professor G. B. HOWES, D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.S., PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. The Morphological Method and Progress It is now twenty-eiglit years since this Association last assembled in Belfast, and to those present who can recall the meeting the proceedings of Section D will he best remembered for the delivery of an address by Huxley ‘ On the Hypothesis that Animals are Automata, and its History,’ one of the finest philosophic pro- ducts of his mind.* At that date the zoological world were about to embark on a period of marked activity. Fired by the influence of the ‘ Origin of Species,’ which had survived abuse and was taking immediate effect, the zoological mind, accepting the doctrine of evolution, had become eager to determine the lines of descent of animal forms. Marine observatories were in their infancy ; the ‘ Challenger ’ was still at sea ; the study of comparative embryology was but then becoming a science; and when, reflecting on this, we briefly survey the present field, we can but stand astonished at the enormity of the task which has been achieved. Development has proceeded on every hand. The leavening influence, spreading with sure effect, has in due course extended to the Antipodes and the East, in each of which portions of the globe there have now arisen a band of earnest workers pledged to the investigation of their indigenous fauna, with which they are proceeding with might and main. Of the Japanese, let it be said that not only have they filled in gaps in our growing knowledge, for which they alone have the materials at hand, but that, with an acumen deserving the highest praise, they have put us right on first principles. I refer to the fact that they have shown, with respect to the embryonic membranes of the common chick, that we in the West, with our historic a=sociations, our methods, and our skill, contenting our- selves with an ever-recurring restriction to the germinal area, have, by an error of orientation, missed an all-important septum, displaced under an inequality of growth.^ Those of us who have lived and worked throughout this memorable period have had a unique experience, for never has there been progress so rapid, accumu- lation of observations so extensive and exact. Of the 386,000 living animal species, to compute the estimate low,^ every one available has been lain underhand, with the result that our annual literary output now amounts to close upon 10,000 contributions, the description of new genera and sub-genera, say 1,700. More than one half of this vast series refer to the Insecta alone ; but notwith- standing this, the records of facts of structure and development, with which most of us are concerned, now amount to a formidable mass, calculated to awe the unlettered looker-on, to overwhelm the earnest devotee, unless by specialising he can secure relief. As an example of what may occur,, it may be remarked that a recent exploration of the great African lakes has resulted in the discovery of over 130 new species.'* •■For List of References see p.-19. D