Professor Forbes's Address to the Br'Uuh Association. 259 



and the phalanx of scholars who have shared the advantages, 

 and sustained the reputation, of the great academical founda- 

 tions of the country. 



True it is that, looking merely to the moral influence of the 

 Association, some there are whose zeal for the promotion of 

 science places them above the necessity of such an external sti- 

 mulant. But we must not legislate for individual and such 

 rare cases. Those who have once trode the higher walks of 

 science, need perhaps no inducements to revisit these sublime 

 elevations. The footway may be sharp and narrow, surrounded 

 ,,with precipices and occasionally enveloped in mists, — but they 

 have there breathed that pure and elastic air, which descends not 

 to lower regions, — and through the cloudy openings they have 

 caught rich and extensive views, shewing at once the configura- 

 tion and the bearing of the country, which less daring spirits 

 must painfully and partially explore. Such men are independ- 

 ent of any reward but that which the exertion itself bestows ; 

 yet, let it not be called an ignoble motive, if the traveller, em- 

 barked on the discovery of a new, and hitherto untrodden, path, 

 which leads to the point to which he aspires, feels fresh vigour 

 infused into his frame, by the consciousness that, in the valley 

 beneath, a thousand eyes are watching his progress, and that a 

 shout of applause unheard except perhaps in imagination by 

 him, will announce the arrival of the adventurer at the summit 

 of the alpine chain. 



We look forward without anxiety to the future fate of the 

 Association. So long as it continues to be guided by the 

 same principles as heretofore, it cannot fail to confer a sub- 

 stantial benefit upon the science of Britain. We have enough 

 of energy in action to communicate to the many the know- 

 ledge of the few, but it is to prevent the stagnation of the 

 stream at the fountain-head, which should be our especial ob- 

 ject. True it is that but a few are able or disposed to de- 

 vote themselves unreservedly to those great enterprises which 

 require the whole man ; yet, though it is morally impossible 

 that any others should undertake the highest generalizations to 

 which we have just alluded, a division of labour is as practi- 

 cable in intellectual as in mechanical science. If one designing 

 mind direct the whole, distinct labourers may be engaged, un- 



