Collectanea de Diversis Rebus: Addresses and Papers

by Sir Peter Eade

As to the contributions which will not appear in our “Transactions”:—At the May meeting, Mr. F. Sutton read some interesting notes on Strawberry growing. In October, Mr. Southwell read extracts from the records of the Whaling s.s. “Eclipse” in the Greenland seas. Mr. Southwell’s notes referred more particularly to the natural history occurrences of the voyage; the birds and animals met with. And he exhibited several forms of Whale and Seal food, consisting of Crustacea and various minute organisms; as well as the skulls of two Greenland Seals, two Ringed Seals, and a Polar Bear, sent him by Mr. Robert Gray—all which latter he has presented to the Norwich Museum. He also exhibited a very rare little fish of the genus Scopelus, likewise taken by Mr. Gray.

At the same meeting, our most valued and efficient member, Mr. Geldart, read a paper on the Calanus finmarchicus or Rice Food of Whales, from the West Coast of Spitzbergen, and illustrated by it the natural law of gradation in feeding, showing that whilst some Whales themselves eat this food, others devour the Cod and Herring, which eat these little crustaceans, which again eat the diatoms, found floating in such enormous numbers on the surface of those seas.

My own humble contribution to the proceedings of our last meeting, in the shape of a paper on the habits of some of our town birds, entitled “My Christmas Garden Party,” has been recently published in extenso, and therefore need not be further alluded to here.

There has been only one Excursion made during the year, but this appears to have been full of interest and enjoyment. I have received a lively and detailed account of the day’s proceedings from Mr. Bussey, but I regret that time only permits me to note the principal features of the occasion.

The visit was made to the Salhouse and Wroxham Broads, and the neighbouring district, including the Broomhills, St. Benedict’s Abbey, and portions of the river Bure. It is unnecessary to say how ample is the material in this district for the study of both the animal and vegetable kingdom; and as the day was fine, the opportunities afforded were fully availed of. As usual, this occasion for field study fully repaid those who took part in it, for their devotion of the day to this pleasant combination of research and recreation.

The field over which “Natural History” extends is a very wide one, and properly includes the study of all organised beings, living and dead. At one end the ground is, to a very considerable extent, occupied by the Geological Society, which exists in Norwich; yet even in this department we have had, as I have said, some very valuable contributions during the year. But at the other end, which embraces the study of minute or microscopic life, not only have we had no contributions during the past session, but I find, on looking over the past numbers of our “Transactions,” that the papers dealing with this part of the world’s life have been both few and far between. There have been, as we know, some great and valuable exceptions, such as the papers read by Mr. Kitton, the address by Mr. Plowright, a portion of the address read by the President, Mr. Sutton, two years ago, and, perhaps, one or two others. Still the small part which microscopical records and observations play in our annals is both noticeable and regrettable—the more so, because in consequence of the decease of the old Norwich Microscopical Society, I believe that no public or systematic work in this direction is now being carried on in this city. And yet, partly in consequence of the larger forms of life having now been so largely studied, but still more in consequence of the new views as to the universality and far-reaching importance of microscopic living beings—there is probably no phase of natural history which is now more engaging general attention, or which is being more eagerly studied and investigated elsewhere.

Mr. Sutton, in his presidential address of 1884–85, gave a most learned and interesting description of some of the microscopical researches which had been carried on up to that time, and further gave us a most lucid account of the influence which micro-organisms had been shown to exert in the process of nitrification in soils, an influence which had formerly been considered to be due to purely chemical action. [80]

I trust I may be forgiven if I recall your attention for a few moments to this subject of Germ life, more particularly as it branches out and develops in a more vital direction; in other words as it affects human and animal life.

This portion of the subject has, during the past two or three years, deepened and strengthened in interest; our knowledge of it has largely increased; and the recognition of its vital importance has called forth, both in Europe and America, a host of eager and capable workers. It is scarcely too much to say that its wide and far-reaching issues are probably the most important to mankind of any that have been studied in recent times. Foremost amongst the workers in this department may be recalled to you the well-known names of Koch and Pasteur, abroad; and of Lister, Watson-Cheyne, and Crookshank, in this country. But the names of other eminent investigators will almost necessarily occur to your minds.

It has long been known what potent factors were microscopic Germs in producing changes in the constitution of decaying matter; and how they were, in all probability, the useful scavengers of nature, definitely resolving into their constituent elements failing and dying organic tissues. But it has become more and more a matter of knowledge, that by their parasitic habits and their power of invading and living upon and within other living tissues, they are also the sources of many so-called diseases of both vegetables and animals.