president's address. 1235 



Valley, Forest and Plain, with the living creatures which occupy 

 them and the flowers that adorn them are always around us, always 

 accessible, always as ready to teach as we are to learn. 



And it is therefore in the study of external nature that habits of 

 rational observation of phenomena ought to be cultivated in every 

 young person. Many will grow up into Chemists, many into 

 Engineers in Steam or Electricity, but all. in or out of a Scientific 

 profession, are or ought to be in some sort of communion with 

 Nature. 



There are some who shrink from the analysis of these phenomena 

 either from an oversensitive timidity, which fears to intrude into 

 the secret workings of creation, or from an unpractical and senti- 

 mental preference of a phantasmagoria of their own imagination to 

 the realities of truth. But none of us are thus misled. We believe 

 the investigation of nature to be one of man's duties, and we believe 

 also that in nature truth is both stranger and grander than fiction. 



It is for the Statesman to see that the general education of the 

 people is such as to render them more observant, more intelligent, 

 more capable of rational recreation, and consequently more cheerful 

 in spirit, and more open to the highest influences of morality and 

 religion than they are now. I do not regard the Interpretation of 

 Nature as a panacea for all the ills of the State, and have 

 intentionally refrained from all reference to the inculcation of 

 high principles, or the maintenance of loyal obedience to authority, 

 and the cultivation of self-control among the younger members of 

 our community, all of which nevertheless would obtain an immense 

 advantage by the substitution of vital teaching for our present 

 mechanical and half dead routine. 



1 would not be understood to imply that teachers are not doing most 

 valuable service to the State even under the present system, or that 

 no pupils appreciate and enjoy that food which is as sawdust to the 

 majority. But I do say that both the best teachers and the best 

 scholars are most unfairly handicapped by the kind of study upon 

 which a large proportion of their time and energies is spent ; and 



