4 PRESIDENT S ADDRFSS. 



no sign of exhaustion is as yet clearly discernible. When we 

 remember that war in the olden days was conducted with small 

 armies and only during a portion of the year, we realise the 

 maleficent power that Science has placed in the hands of man- 

 kind. It needs careful regulation. This power for evil might 

 only have been potential, it might have remained undeveloped ; 

 but we have found to our loss that at least one nation has de- 

 veloped and organised itself, by the aid of Science, to such an 

 extent that it dares to declare itself independent not only of 

 the power, but even of the opinions of the rest of the world. 



The lesson will not be lost. If the deliberate organisation 

 of a single nation can result in such power, then every nation 

 must organise. Not necessarily organise for war, for death ; 

 but organise for peace, for life. 



Laisses fairc passed into twilight when the Great War com- 

 menced. We have to turn our eyes in the direction of the 

 rising sun of an organised humanity, of which we perceive the 

 dawn already. Then the Advancement of Science will surely 

 have no sinister meaning. We pray that the Advancement of 

 Science will be identical with the advancement of humanity. 



Progress of Astronomy. 



I am perhaps fortunate in belonging to a branch of Science 

 which has nothing to do with war. Therefore the astronomer 

 can regard war with a sense of detachment ; and to those who 

 know the stars, the immensity, the eternity of the universe, its 

 increasing grandeur, war seems trivial and foolish — the work 

 of unbalanced minds. 



I spoke of one of the aims of Science as the enlargement 

 of the human mind. Although every branch of knowledge — 

 a word which I take to be nearly synonymous with Science 

 (Science being co-ordinated knowledge) — leads to the extension 

 of the human mind, to-day Astronomy has no other real use. 

 We know that clocks are corrected through the observations of 

 the stars, and that the sun and stars must be observed by navi- 

 gators, but pre])aration for these practical applications form a 

 very trifl?ng portion of the activities of astronomers. The very 

 perfection of that part of Astronomy reduces it to a sort of 

 automatism — it all but goes by itself. To-day the astronomer 

 wants to find out the dimensions of the sidereal svstem — the 

 extent of the Universe — the structure and arrangement of the 

 stars in space — their relations to each other — the interpretation 

 of their spectra — the dynamics of the Universe — the cause of 

 variable stars. The solutions of any or all of these questions 

 can hardly have any material efifect upon mankind — the effect 

 is spiritual and emotional — man is proud to find that he can 

 plumb space to its uttermost depth ; he presumes that the germ 

 of the future which was conceived in the past is taking its form 

 to-day, and that the process is continuous, and that as to-day 

 he can predict tides and eclipses, so with greater knowledge he 

 will in the future be able to predict the course of the sun amongst 



