PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 5 



parts of South Africa " instead of " the different parts of the 

 Empire"; we tight shy of "foreign philosophers" and leave 

 them out; and we avow ourselves to be Philistine enough to 

 care for " applied " science as well as " pure " science. But 

 with these trivial differences we seek to follow the old path, 

 believing earnestly that the need is as clamant to-day as it 

 was in 1859. 



Again I note that the Royal President took credit for his 

 Association that, in conjunction with the Royal Society, it had 

 suggested an Antarctic Expedition with a view to further the 

 discovery of the laws of terrestrial magnetism, and that the 

 discovery of a continent had been the additional result. It is 

 exceedingly interesting to recall that the expedition referred to 

 was that rendered ever memorable by the discovery of Victoria 

 Land and the Ross Sea, discoveries which led naturally to the 

 recent successes of Scott and Shackleton. to be followed up 

 next year, as we hope, by the crowning triumph of our recent 

 visitor, the Terra Nova* 



Still more personally interesting to us was the resolution that 

 the Association should express to Her Majesty's Government, 

 through the proper authorities, its concurrence in the applica- 

 tion made by the Royal Geographical Society to the First Lord 

 of the Treasury to further a proposed expedition under 

 Captain Speke '' to ascertain if the White Nile has its main 

 source in the Great Nyanza Lake." This was the world- 

 famous expedition which first traversed and made known the 

 kingdom of Uganda, which first saw the Nile issue at the Ripon 

 Falls from the Victoria Nyanza, which led naturally to dis- 

 covery after discovery in the lake region of Central Africa, and 

 which by coming out at the Nile mouth mav well have sug- 

 gested the Cape-to-Cairo railway. 



Lastly, laying aside all consideration of individual schemes, 

 the Aberdeen President of 1859 took a wider outlook and 

 struck a higher note. '' We may be justified in hoping," he 

 said, " that by the gradual diffusion of science, and its increas- 

 ing recognition as a principal part of our national education, 

 the public in general, no less than the Legislature and the 



* We also find the President of 5 i years ago taking credit for his Associa- 

 tion that in conjunction with the Royal Society it had urged " the 

 completion of a classified catalogue of scientific memoirs, which, by 

 combining under one head the titles of all memoirs on a certain subject will 

 when completed enable the student who wishes to gain information on that 

 subject to do so with the greatest ease." Now, out of this effort arose (i) 

 the splendid volumes of the Royal Society's Catalogue of Scientific Papers, 

 twelve already published and twelve to come ; (2) the long series of Index 

 Volumes of the same Catalogue, two of which have been published, and 

 which when completed will be a guide to every scientific memoir of the 

 nineteenth century; and (3) the great scheme for an International Cala 

 logue of Scientific Literature, beginning with the twentieth century and 

 extending to seventeen volumes a year. No bibliographical undertaking is 

 ever likely to prove of greater aid to individual workers in all departments of 

 science, and it is a satisfaction to know that from the first the Government 

 of Cape Colony joined the other civilized states of the world in contributing 

 its mite to ensure success. The occasion is not inappropriate to suggest that 

 the other Provinces of the Union should now make an effort to help 

 adequately the same good cause. 



