THE RECENT PROGRESS OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 739 



most precise measure of his character. The other chief point that I 

 wish to impress is, that a practice of deliberately and methodically- 

 testing the character of others and of ourselves is not wholly fanciful, 

 but deserves consideration and experiment. — Fortnighthj Review. 



THE EECENT PROGKESS OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE.* 



Bt Professor LORD RAyLEIGH. 



LADIES AKD GENTLEMEN : It is no ordinary meeting of the 

 British Association which I have now the honor of address- 

 ing. For more than fifty years the Association has held its autumn 

 gathering in various towns of the United Kingdom, and within those 

 limits there is, I suppose, no place of importance which we have not 

 visited. And now, not satisfied with past successes, we are seeking 

 new worlds to conquer. When it was first proposed to visit Canada, 

 there were some who viewed the project with hesitation. For my own 

 part, I never quite understood the grounds of their apprehension. 

 Perhaps they feared the thin edge of the wedge. When once the 

 principle was admitted, there was no knowing to what it might lead. 

 So rapid is the development of the British Empire, that the time might 

 come when a visit to such out-of-the-way places as London or Man- 

 chester could no longer be claimed as a right, but only asked for as a 

 concession to the susceptibilities of the English. But, seriously, what- 

 ever objections may have at first been felt soon were outweighed by 

 the consideration of the magnificent opportunities which your hos- 

 pitality affords of extending the sphere of our influence and of becom- 

 ing acquainted with a part of the Queen's dominion which, associated 

 with splendid memories of the past, is advancing daily by leaps and 

 bounds to a position of importance such as not long ago was scarcely 

 dreamed of. For myself, I am not a stranger to your shores. I re- 

 member well the impression made upon me, seventeen years ago, by 

 the wild rapids of the St. Lawrence, and the gloomy grandeur of the 

 Saguenay. If anything impressed me more, it was the kindness with 

 which I was received by yourselves, and which I doubt not will be 

 again extended not merely to myself but to all the English members 

 of the Association. I am confident that those who have made up their 

 minds to cross the ocean will not repent their decision, and that, apart 

 altogether from scientific interests, great advantage may be expected 

 from this visit. We Englishmen ought to know moi-e than we do of 

 matters relating to the colonies, and anything which tends to bring the 

 various parts of the empire into closer contact can hardly be over- 



* Inaugural address of the President of the British Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, delivered at Montreal, August 27, 1884. 



