THE president's ADDRESS. 177 



appeared beneath the waves. This was the effect of the sudden in- 

 rush of new ideas. The remarks which some untutored minds utter 

 when they look tlirough a microscope for tlie first time, show a 

 bewilderment which, though not leading to the same disastrous 

 results, forcibly remind one of the stupidity of the unhap^Dy savage. 

 The mental phenomena arc identical in kind, though differing in 

 degree. The extreme case is, of course, the more striking, and 

 therefore, in some senses, the more instructive. On my mind, at 

 least, it forces the conviction that uncultured mental processes, like 

 erratic meteors, are apt to fly off at a tangent when subjected to 

 impulses that are entirely new to them ; but where the brain-pro- 

 cesses are trained aright, they will, despite all accidents, maintain 

 their own orbit and travel safely onwards in that legitimate sphere 

 of activity which Nature has assigned. 



Let me now offer you some other reflections. As society is at 

 present constituted, a very palpable want of sympathy exists 

 between different bodies of educated men. This arises from the 

 fact that we are hopelessly specialised, both as to our modes of 

 thinking, as well as upon the general subject-matter of our thoughts. 

 The majority are only interested in those things which belong to, or 

 rather, are supposed to be proper to their particular calling. They 

 will converse on little else than mere business or professional 

 topics ; consequently they naturally tend to group themselves in 

 coteries whose dimensions are commensurate with their neces- 

 sarily abridged sympathies. In some cases there exists a positive 

 antagonism, more or less strongly pronounced. Perhaps this is best 

 seen in the respective attitudes of the men of theology and science. 

 What a painful process it is to wade through the " History of the 

 Conflict between Religion and Science," even as it is recorded in 

 the attractive little volume by Professor Draper, of the New York 

 University. In spite of all this I sometimes do not feel very sure that 

 we ought to deplore this antagonism, since the economy of things 

 in general seems to imply that all progress is the resultant of 

 mutually conflicting agencies. Be that as it may, the facts of the 

 case are palpable. Let us take an illustration from ordinary dafly 

 life. It is only a false delicacy which refuses to face a feature re- 

 presenting a palpable blot in our social system. 



Fifty-two days in every year a large proportion of the inhabitants 

 of this country are induced by choice or habit, blended with a sense 

 of duty, to listen to pulpit teachings. I have followed and enjoyed 



