president's address. 15 



studied. I land in hand with this will go the interpretation of 

 the presence and ahsence of the cause of cerain stock diseases. 

 Fortunately, in the past a great deal has heen done by a good many 

 enthusiastic workers. I do not mention any names, for fear tha«" 

 I might do an injustice to those whose names 1 might forget. 

 More has yet to be done. Dr. Muir, in his presidential address 

 in Cape Town two years ago, touched on this question, and he 

 pointed out the necessity of a systematic co-operation in which 

 the museums of South Africa could perform the leading duties. 

 1 fully agree to this, and 1 am of the idea that these institutes, 

 similar to the one under my charge, should be centralised, and 

 the work should be undertaken in a definite and well-planned 

 manner, preventing overlapping, and securing complete specialisa- 

 tion in the various branches. We require more : we want a 

 centre for scientific investigation, a central University for 

 South Africa, where research is the leading idea. I speak 

 with emphasis, that South Africa should not wait any longe r 

 before establishing such an institute. We men engaged in the 

 application of science feel the want of it in all our undertakings ; 

 we require it for advice or assistance in the many problems the 

 solution of which is entirely outside the scope of a single man 

 who is not always able to keep in line with the new discoveries, 

 and outside of his own sphere of work. Xow-a-days, it is no 

 longer a genius who will only be capable of solving knotty pro- 

 blems; 1 venture to say that the methods of investigation and 

 research are so far developed that any scientifically trained man 

 with the necessary critical mind, and endowed with patience an.' 

 perseverance, can tackle these investigations with every prospect 

 of solving them, provided the sciences he has to make use of are 

 sufficiently far advanced as to be of assistance to him. It should 

 not be necessary to go out of South Africa in order to obtain the 

 assistance of such sciences. 



In conclusion, I wish to come back to one of my remarks ; 

 that the South African tends to the practical side of scientific 

 problems. If I can give him, after so many theoretical discus- 

 sions, practical advice, it will be : foster by all means the pure 

 sciences; they are, in the hands of experts, the medium of solving 

 the many economical problems of South Africa. 



