Prksident'« Addhkss. 11 



instance, to the great work of the geodosy of Africa, without fee or 

 reward. Bolus had probably done more, and that gratuitously, in 

 South Africa, for the study of South African plants, than any other 

 living man. Trimen's work on butterflies — Muir's excursions into the 

 empyrean of pure mathematics — Beattie's work, past and to come, 

 on the Magnetic Survey — Pearson's, soon to be undertaken, on the 

 botanv of German South-West Africa and Angola — Peringuey's 

 studies in entomology and anthropology — Broom's work on fossil 

 animals — Gilchrist's continued investigation, (notwithstanding the 

 withdrawal of the vote) into marine biology — Marloth's investiga- 

 tions in connection with the distribution of plants, in South Africa, 

 and with the deposition of moisture from the south-easterly clouds on 

 mountain vegetation — Arnold Cooper's discovery and investigation 

 of locust fungus — Sutton's work on meteorology — Schonland's studies 

 of succulent plants — Roberts' work on variable stars — MacOwan's 

 botanical work — Duerden's work on ostriches— Schwarz's on 

 geology — all this is work voluntarily undertaken, for the sake of the 

 work itself, and not for the sake of pecuniary reward. Txlany similar 

 instances will, no doubt, occur to you ; the list does not pretend to 

 be complete. In these days of scrambling after fortune, such an 

 attitude of mind specially deserves our highest appreciation ; and 

 the unrewarded or scantily-rewarded efforts of such men as these, 

 in searching after scientific truth with the " obstinate humility which 

 is the crown of genius," should compel our respect, our admiration, 

 and our material, no less than our moral, support. 



1 say, material support : for however unselfish scientific ennuirers. 

 as a class, may be, however ready to devote themselves to their .vo;k 

 without special pecuniary reward, they are not, as a rule, ^men of 

 private means, and it is necessary that they should at least 

 be provided with a sufficiency of bread and butter. Scientific 

 research is necessarily slow. It may be years before any particular 

 line of enquiry leads to a practical result. Long and costly 

 enquiries, such as Koch's enquiry into East Coast fever, may 

 even have only a negative result. If, therefore, scientific 

 research is to be pursued in South Africa in the thorough 

 manner in which it ought to be pursued, it should be endowed in 

 some form or other. Such endowment may come either from public 

 sources, so that all the tax-payers contribute to it, or from private 

 sources. It is not for me to prescribe or to suggest from which 

 source it should come. I merely indicate the necessity. I would 

 not, however, wish it to be understood that the South African Gov- 

 ernments have neglected their duty in the matter of promotion of 

 scientific research. Far from it. In Cape Colony, the Grahams- 

 town Laboratory, where much useful work was done by Edington, 

 was established seventeen years ago, and has since been considerably 

 enlarged. A Laboratory and experimental station, in which Louns- 

 bury carried out those remarkable investigations which proved that 

 the Bont tick was the carrier of heartwater, and arrived at other 



