562 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Bradford meeting as pleasant memories as did our colleagues of the 

 corresponding Association Francaise, when, in friendly collaboration at 

 Dover last year, they testified to the common citizenship of the Uni- 

 versal Eepublic of Science. As befits a leading center of industry in 

 the great county of York, the applications of science to the industrial 

 arts and to agriculture will form subjects of discussion in the papers to 

 be read at the meeting. 



Since the association was at Dover a year ago, two of its former 

 presidents have joined the majority. The Duke of Argyll presided at 

 the meeting in Glasgow so far back as 1855. Throughout his long and 

 energetic life, he proved himself to be an eloquent and earnest speaker, 

 one who gave to the consideration of public affairs a mind of singular 

 independence, and a thinker and writer in a wide range of human knowl- 

 edge. Sir J. Wm. Dawson was president at the meeting in Birming- 

 ham in 1886. Born in Nova Scotia in 1820, he devoted himself to the 

 study of the Geology of Canada, and became the leading authority on 

 the subject. He took also an active and influential part in promoting 

 the spread of scientific education in the Dominion, and for a number 

 of years he was Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the McGill University, 

 Montreal. 



SCIENTIFIC METHOD. 



Edward Gibbon has told us that diligence and accuracy are the only 

 merits which an historical writer can ascribe to himself. Without 

 doubt they are fundamental qualities necessary for historical research, 

 but in order to bear fruit they require to be exercised by one whose men- 

 tal qualities are such as to enable him to analyze the data brought to- 

 gether by his diligence, to discriminate between the false and the true, 

 to possess an insight into the complex motives that determine human 

 action, to be able to recognize those facts and incidents which had exer- 

 cised either a primary or only a secondary influence on the affairs of 

 nations, or on the thoughts and doings of the person whose character 

 he is depicting. 



In scientific research, also, diligence and accuracy are fundamental 

 qualities. By their application new facts are discovered and tabulated, 

 their order of succession is ascertained and a wider and more intimate 

 knowledge of the processes of nature is acquired. But to decide on 

 their true significance a well-balanced mind and the exercise of pro- 

 longed thought and reflection are needed. "William Harvey, the father 

 of exact research in physiology, in his memorable work, 'De Motu Cordis 

 et Sanguinis,' published more than two centuries ago, tells us of the 

 great and daily diligence which he exercised in the course of his investi- 

 gations, and the numerous observations and experiments which he col- 

 lated. At the same time he refers repeatedly to his cogitations and 



