THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY 8 1 



Dr. Woodward has suggested that I should say something 

 about foreign academies, but my knowledge about foreign acad- 

 emies is, really, practically confined to my own country, for, 

 whenever I have traveled abroad, it has rather been among the 

 historians than among the men of science that my work has lain. 



However, I should in any case feel a little doubtful about 

 venturing to talk about scientific academies, knowing that, what- 

 ever else " science " means, Mr. Vice-President, it is supposed to 

 mean knowledge; and if a man feels that he does not know a 

 thing, scientific people are the last to whom he should address his 

 remarks. 



I received at Oxford my literary education, and I remember 

 "education' being defined by a very eminent professor there, 

 who said: 



' What our Oxford education does is to teach our men to write plausibly about 

 subjects they do not understand " . . . , 



an art which we were in the habit of exemplifying by imme- 

 diately beginning to write for the journals and reviewing books 

 -whose authors knew infinitely more about their subjects than 

 we did in a very superior manner, an experience which, how- 

 ever, is not confined to England. 



The Vice-President said, gentlemen, that he regarded men of 

 science with fear and veneration. I share those feelings. I have 

 veneration for the lofty and disinterested spirit which you bring 

 to your work. I have fear for the enormous power you exercise. 



You are really the rulers of the world. It is in your hands that 

 lies control of the forces of activity; it is you who are going to 

 make the history of the future, because all commerce and all 

 industry is today, far more than ever, the child and product of 

 science; and it is you who make these discoveries upon which, 

 when they are applied by industry, the wealth and prosperity of 

 the world depend. It is in your hands that the future lies, far 

 more than in those of military men or politicians. 



But I have another feeling besides fear and veneration. It 

 is that of envy. I envy you your happy lives. Compare your 



