NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE 



1911. 



PART I. 



P E OGEE J ) INGS 



WELLINGTON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 



First Meeting : 10th May, 1911. 



An ordinary meeting of the society was held on Wednesday, 10th May, 

 1911, in the Dominion Museum. 



Mr. G. V. Hudson, President, in the chair, and about fifty present. 



New Members. — Mr. L. Birks, B.Sc. Assoc.M.Inst.C.E. (transfer from 

 Auckland Institute), Mr. F. J. Carter, M.A., Mr. J. W. Salmond, M.A., 

 Mr. W. J. Anderson, M.A.. LL.D.. and Mr. W. H. Morton, M.Inst.C.E. 



Eugenics Education Society. — Reference was made by Professor Kirk 

 and the President to the meeting called for 11th May, to form an Eugenics 

 Education Society in Wellington. 



Presidential Address. — " The Value of Natural-history Studies." By 

 G. V. Hudson, F.E.S. 



Abstract. 



The lecturer used the term " natural history " to mean the study of nature in the 

 broadest sense, the object being the extension of human knowledge and happiness apart 

 entirely from commercial and economic interests, and he stated that the growing tend- 

 ency to judge every sphere of action on its commercial value was distasteful to him. 

 Although children often take a very keen interest in natural objects, the majority of 

 adults are absolutely indifferent to the wonders and beauties around them. This loss 

 of interest he attributed to the influences, both at home and at school, directing the atten- 

 tion of children to other studies which are commonly supposed to enable them to get on 

 in life — though, as Herbert Spencer long ago pointed out, a knowledge of the laws of 

 life is more important than any other knowledge whatever. Although to many persons 

 a naturalist is a dreamer who is more or less incompetent to deal with the problems of 

 life, yet the qualifications required for a successful naturalist, such as keenness of observa- 

 tion, accuracy, continuity of purpose, &c, are precisely those most required in business, 

 and many well-known naturalists have been also successful business men. The study 

 of natural phenomena exercises the powers of observation and also the memory, while 

 many of the subjects in the school curriculum exercise the memory only. Natural 

 history also acts as an antidote to the dullness and ennui that is apt to overcloud middle 

 life when the brightness and originality of childhood have departed, and, further, it 

 leads the student to the consideration of the deepest questions of philosophy — questions 

 bordering on religion, which are perhaps unwisely excluded from the scope of the 

 Institute. 



Examples of the ignorance of natural phenomena displayed by persons supposed 

 to be well educated were given, and it was pointed out that mistakes in such matters 

 are usually thought little of, while a man who makes a slight slip in spelling or grammar 

 is branded as an ignoramus. 



