THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 251 



the beautiful, or the exercise of manipulative skill, I, for one, should 

 think the time of the Club exceedingly well spent. But happily no 

 one, whatever be his object, who works at the business of the Club, 

 can end in simple amusement. He is dealing with natural objects, 

 and every new thing observed, every fresh beauty discovered, is some- 

 thing added to the stock of natural knowledge ; and every improve- 

 ment of his instrument makes it a better weapon of scientific research. 

 And not only so, but the habit of mind which creates the possibility 

 of finding amusement in pursuits of this kind, is invaluable as a pre- 

 paration for the reception of scientific truth, and the cultivation of 

 scientific methods. If I may say so without offence, such amuse- 

 ment may be regarded as an involuntary ploughing and harrowing 

 of the ground, making it receptive of the seeds of science, and pre- 

 paring it for rich harvests in the future. So, as I said before, 

 whatever member of the Club has joined it for the sake of mere 

 amusement, has done a good thing for himself, and has done pro- 

 bably more than he knows to help those who make these pursuits the 

 serious business of their lives. 



But whilst recognising the legitimacy of following out such pur- 

 suits for amusement only, I have a sort of feeling in regard to them 

 such as an old recruiting sergeant might be supposed to have whilst 

 looking at a band of rustics sporting on a village green, or at a 

 number of volunteers going through their evolutions. These 

 athletic exercises and this playing at soldiers are all very well in 

 their way ; but the recruiting sergeant with an eye for a man, will 

 see that the sport is training those who have a vocation for the 

 realities of war, and is leaving them to feel their way towards taking 

 part in more serious business. Many of the papers which I have 

 heard in this room have given me the feeling that I should much 

 like to give the shilling, and putting my hand upon the readers, to 

 say " Your proper business is to come into the army of science." 

 And naturally I must feel great gratitude to a society like this, 

 as one of the army of workers who looks at it with an eye to enlist- 

 ment. 



I must, however, separate myself from the recruiting sergeant, 

 because he walks off with his recruit, who is seen no more in the 

 place that once knew him ; while I cannot say positively, that those 

 of you who have a turn for really scientific work may not do better 

 to stop where you are. In fact, you have opportunities which are 

 not possessed by the men who make science a business. The truth 



