LIV THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
Its influence, and that of all having the best interests of the State 
at heart, should be exerted to impress upon the community that 
scientific research is to be looked upon not as a learned kind of play or 
as a gratification of curiosity, but rather as of supreme importance for 
its permanent utility. The value of knowledge far surpasses that of 
the material things that are so much sought after, inasmuch as they 
decay and pass away, while knowledge is of those things which, not 
seen, yet are eternal. 
