1S6 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS, 



Delivered at the Annual Meeting, July 28th, 1876, 

 By JOHN MATTHEWS, M.D., F.E.M.8. 



Gentlemen, — Various circumstances have concurred to make me 

 delay the writing of the following paper until it was no longer pru- 

 dent to do so, if I meant to fulfil with any degree of propriety the 

 duty which devolves on your President of offering you an annual 

 address. Amongst these, and almost the chief, was the difficulty of 

 the choice of a subject ; not, indeed, because of the paucity of topics, 

 but quite the reverse. I had to find one of special, yet of such suf- 

 ficient general interest as in some degree to secure me the indulgence 

 of my audience, notwithstanding the possible shortcomings of its 

 treatment. It was while thus hesitating that my kind friend on the 

 right suggested to me the discussion which I will now endeavour 

 faintly to outline to you. He has also assisted me materially by some 

 most valuable hints and thoughts which I now thankfully acknow- 

 ledge, and a few of which he may possibly recognise in his " ipsis- 

 sima verba." I shall take for my motto a sentence from Bacon, as 

 you will presently see that it bears with peculiar significance on my 

 subject. 



" He that is wise, let him pursue some desire or other ; for he 

 that doth not affect some one thing in chief, unto him all things are 

 distasteful and tedious." 



It seems but a very short time since I stood before you addressing 

 myself to the same duty, and yet it is a whole year which has rushed 

 over us with ruthless speed — a year crowded with events, political, 

 social, and scientific, of the most stirring import. To the young, 

 inexperienced, and enthusiastic, this rapid march of events, being a 

 state of things into which he was born, seems the most natural pos- 

 sible ; one, too, with which he can deal at his leisure. In the pride 

 of his expected wealth of days he thinks that there is time enough 

 before him for the solution of all the delicate and difficult problems 

 of politics, of sociology, or of science. He either does not consider, 



