

THE OTTAWA [(ATURALIST 



Vol. XVIII. 



OTTAWA, OCTOBER, 1904. 



No. 7 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT'S 

 ADDRESS, 1904. 



By Prof. E. E. Prince, Dominion Commissioner of Fisheries, Ottawa. 



No doubt many readers of The Ottawa Naturalist will be 

 interested to read a more adequate, if somewhat condensed, 

 account of the remarkable address by the British Premier at Cam- 

 bridge, England, last August, than the fragmentary references to 

 it in our Canadian press. Hence the following notes have been 

 prepared. 



When that distinguished body of scientists, the British Asso- 

 ciation, met this year in England's famous seat of learning, 

 Cambridge, it was appropriate that one of her most distinguished 

 sons should be chosen President. The choice was unique, in that 

 the savant chosen v/as also the Prime Minister of England. The 

 name of Balfour is one held in special honor at Cambridge, for a 

 younger brother of the Right Honorable Arthur Balfour was, until 

 his tragic death in the Alps, the most brilliant biologist, excepting 

 Darwin, that the ancient university has given to the world. The 

 chair of Comparative Embryology, held by the late Professor 

 Francis M. Balfour, has never been filled since his death. The 

 reason, it has been said, is that no worthy successor has been forth- 

 coming. 



Premier Arthur Balfour has no mean reputation as a thinker 

 and litterateur. The students of Scotland's oldest University (St. 

 Andrews) elected him Lord Rector in 1886, and his rectorial 

 address was a remarkable one in the field of literary criticism. 

 Later, as Rector of Glasgow University, and at the present time, 

 as Chancellor of the youngest of Scotland's Universities, viz: Edin- 



