46 I'RESIDIiXTIAL ADl^KKSS SI'AT1(.)N C 



Section C— BACTERIOLOGY, BOTANY, ZOOLOGY, 

 AGRICULTURE. FORESTRY. PHYSIOLOGY , HY- 

 GIENE AND SANITARY SCIENCE. 



President of the Section: F. Evles, F.L.S., M.L.C. 



WEDNESDAY, JULY 5. 



The President delivered the following address : — 



I cannot allow this occasion to pass without reference to the 

 sad loss which the botanical world has sustained by the recent 

 death of Dr. Harry Bolus, F.L.S. For a period extending over 

 more than forty years his study has been, as it were, the head 

 centre and clearing-house for workers in South African botany. 

 His library of unrivalled completeness and beauty, and his 

 herbarium of something like 30,000 sheets, have been at the ser- 

 vice of, and have been used by, the most famous visiting 

 botanists from all over the world. His unique knowledge of 

 South African flora has always been placed at the disposal of 

 young workers in the field, who have also received encourage- 

 ment from him in other ways. His work as a botanist needs 

 no words from me. and his labours as a systematist, specially in 

 orchids and Ericacccc alone, would be saifficicnt to ensure a lasting 

 monument to his memory. I am sure you will join with me in 

 deploring the loss to Science caused by his death. 



Most men in civilized countries are under the necessity 

 to labour continuously in order to sustain existence. The 

 natural result is that knowledge, so far as it can be practically 

 applied to the acceleration of industrial processes, is highly 

 valued and highly paid. On the other hand it usually happens 

 that the pursuit of pure knowledge for its own sake is given a 

 secondary place, or is even treated with a measure of mild con- 

 tempt. There is nothing strange about this, for it is to be 

 expected that the daily struggle to secure the common necessities 

 of life should tend to obscure the true but not obvious source 

 whence have originated every one of the comforts and con- 

 veniences of modern life. The verv substance of civilization as 

 we know it will be found, upon examination, to be derived from 

 tlie " divine curiosity " of the elect few who in each generation 

 have assiduously fed the flame of knowledge, often without 

 reward, always faithfully handing on the luminous torch as a 

 sacred charge to their successors. Every new application of 

 Science to the large uses of humanity momentarily draws atten- 

 tion to the patient, silent, ceaseless work of the lovers of 

 knowledge for its own sake. 



The discovery of the mysterious properties of radium, with 

 its revolutionary influence upon the theories as to the nature 



