916 THE chairman's address. 



to account for the benefit of others. This is an evil time, no 

 doubt, will cure, but meanwhile though there is a prospect of the 

 ' grass growing the steed is starving.' 



And if, thirdly, we inquire how it is that so few of our 

 colonists, native born or otherwise, devote themselves seriously 

 to Science, notwithstanding that our local Universities now ofter 

 facilities for acquiring a scientific training, what better or more 

 complete answer can be given than the following weighty words 

 of Huxley's, which go straight to the root of the matter : — 



" The other day, an emphatic friend of mine committed himself 

 to the opinion that, in England, it is better for a man's worldly 

 prospects to be a drunkard, than to be smitten with the divine 

 dipsomania of the original investigator. I am inclined to think 

 he was right. And, be it observed, that the question is not, 

 whether such a man shall be able to make as much out of his 

 abilities as his brother, of like ability, who goes into Law, or 

 Engineering, or Commerce ; it is not a question of ' maintaining a 

 due number of saddle horses,' as George Eliot somewhere puts it 

 — it is a question of living or starving. If a student of my own 

 shows power and originality, I dare not advise him to adopt a 

 scientific career ; for, supposing he is able to maintain himself 

 until he has attained distinction, I cannot give him the assurance 

 that any amount of proficiency in the Biological Sciences will be 

 convertible into, even the most modest, bread and cheese. And I 

 believe that the case is as bad, or perhaps worse, with other 

 branches of Science. In this respect Britain, whose immense 

 wealth and prosperity hang upon the thread of Applied Science, 

 is far behind France, and infinitely behind Germany" (Science 

 and Culture, p. 55). 



If these remarks are true of England, in how much greater a 

 degree do they apply to Australia ] 



Believing as I do that a demand would create a supply, may 

 we not, under the conditions of pressing work to be done which I 

 have already sketched, look forward with hope, if not with confi- 

 dence, to the day when in respect of position, prospects, and 



