XXX 



Presidential Address. 



hour of victory, and not least at the present time, one hears preached on 

 all sides by those in every grade of society the crying need for more science, 

 for more and more research. This word " science " is, and has been, in 

 the mouths of the people as never before. But if one converses with the 

 non-scientific it quickly comes to light that the research they desire is not 

 at all the research of the scientific man — that long painful groping for the 

 truth which he knows but too well. To them the man of science — neglected 

 for so long, if not despised — is now a wizard who with but a touch of his 

 magic rod (science, the .omnipotent, ever at his beck and call) can, in the 

 twinkling of an eye, solve any problem that is put before him. " Ask and 

 thou shalt receive " might be the motto. On every side are the triumphs 

 of science ; but how few indeed are aware that all date back for long years, 

 the crowning glories of research after research — many of such researches 

 apparently most useless, most trivial. Is the public prepared to find the 

 wherewithal to pay for such " trivialities," or is the scientific man only 

 to be called in at the last moment to find some economic appHcation of 

 his previously unpaid labours ? What is the duty of the New Zealand 

 Institute ? Is it not to get into closer touch with the people, to teach 

 them the true meaning of science ? The scientific man in the past has 

 been too imbending, too little concerned with those not his colleagues. 

 Science can surely be popularized without loss of dignity. Prosperity, 

 successful reconstruction, these depend in no minor degree on the intimate 

 acquaintance of the men of science and their non-scientific brethren. 



