218 Meeting of the British Association* 



take when acted continually upon by forces varying in magnitude 

 and direction. When we ask ourselves such questions as these 

 naturally suggest and thoughtfully work out the answers as far 

 as we can do to their full depth, we become in some degree con- 

 scious of the immense moral benefits which the human race has 

 derived from the gradual progress of knowledge. The discoveries, 

 however, in Physical Science are ever giving man new powers, 

 enabling him to supply his many wants. I am sure the mention 

 of the subject has suggested to you some of the wonderful discov- 

 eries of later times. For instance, the production of force and 

 power, almost without limit, by heat, and its application to loco- 

 motion by land and water, the transmission of thought not slowly 

 by letter, not short distances by sound, but to immense distances 

 and instantaneously by electricity. When we look around and 

 see how man has appropriated to his use the properties of light, 

 of heat, the powers of wind and water, the materials which have 

 been placed before him in endless variety on the surface of the 

 globe which he inhabits, that he has effected all this by knowledge 

 accumulated by what we call science, it is surely not surprising 

 that we should look upon discoveries in applied science with sur- 

 passing interest. The mere utilitarian, however, has been often 

 reminded that discoveries the most important, and most fruitful 

 in practical results have frequently in the beginning been appa- 

 rently the most barren, and therefore that the discoveries of abstract 

 science are not without interest even for him. I confess, however, 

 that the gradual development of scientific discoveries ; in fact, in 

 other words, the steady flow of knowledge into the world — which 

 like a stream as it proceeds increasing in depth and breadth, points 

 to its own source, its own origin, which is the origin of man. — I 

 confess that these powers appear to me to serve far more noble 

 purposes than merely ministering to the corporeal wants of man, 

 as they increase, or are supposed to increase, with the progress of 

 civilization. (Applause). What those purposes are, I think, to 

 some extent, we can clearly see, though to fathom the full depths 

 of such an inquiry, would be beyond our powers. Looking merely 

 on the surface, we perceive that the continual springing up of new 

 facts, new discoveries, in endless procession, the rewards of indus- 

 try must tend to make man industrious, to inspire him with hope, 

 quicken his faculties, and entice him to labour — to labour with 

 his mind — the hardest of all labour. It forces him to look behind 



