12 PKKSIDENT S ADDRESS. 



under him, does not recall the vivid interest in seeinc; him in his 

 class-room and his laboratory ! 



A connection between a university and research institutions 

 will be of real advantat^e to both ; the research workers would 

 mingle with scientific workers in the departments of the univer- 

 sity, tiicy would be able to interest students in their work, perhaps 

 start senior students on some definite research work, while, on the 

 other hand, to see a research institution and know something of 

 the work done there would be a real stinnilus to the students of 

 the university. In lu-ging. in his Presidential Address to Section 

 C in 1910, the establishment of a National Botanic Garden, now 

 happily accomplished. Professor Pearson said: "The direct or 

 indirect association of university and botanic garden is nothing- 

 new ; it has endured for centiu-ies in many Etu'opean centres 

 of learning. As an aid to education — not mereh- the acquisition 

 of botanical knowledge— the botanic garden is an invaluable asset 

 to a university, and, on the other hand, the staft of a university 

 botanical department can contriluite very efi:'ectively to the re- 

 search work carried on in the botanic garden." The benefit to a 

 university by being in any way linked to the great bacteriological 

 research institution at ( )nderste])oort, under Sir Arnold Theiler. 

 is so obviotis that I need not linger over it. 



It is not to be forgotten that research at a tiniversity is for 

 the purpose of extending our knowledge, and that it cannot be 

 measured by merely its utilitarian value. The work is worth 

 doing if it enlarges the bounds of knowledge and discovers new 

 truths, the university must do its best to encourage the investi- 

 gator, but he must be allowed to go on his own lines. 



" He who seeks for immediate practical tise in the ])ursuit of 

 science may be reasonably sure that he will seek in vain. Com- 

 plete knowledge and complete understanding of the action of 

 forces of nature and of the mind, is the onlv thing that science 

 can aim at. The individual investigator nmst find his reward in 

 the joy of new discoveries, as new discoveries of thought over 

 resisting matter, in the itsthelic 1)L'ant\ which a well-ordered 

 domain of knowledge afl'ords. wliere all parts are intellectually 

 related, where one thing evolves from another, and all show the 

 marks of the mind's supremacy ; he must find his reward in the 

 consciousness of having contributed to the growing capital of 

 knowledge on M'hich depends the s\i])reniac\- of man over the 

 forces hostile to the sijirit."*' 



It is true that many investigations of apparenth- the most 

 theoretical character have led to im])ortant developments in ])rac- 

 tical science. A recently-quoted e.xamplet is interesting of how 

 " j)ure science" research can result in a i)rofit in .actual 

 money. in the routine examination (»f oceanic deposits 

 on the ChaUcnijcr Ex])edition, .Sir John Miu-ray detected 

 a fragment of phosphatised limestone, and found out 

 that it came from Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. 



'■■•'' Vortriigc and Kcdni," by H. llclnihnhz. \'ol. I, ]). 142 



t Proceedings of tlic Ko.val Socict\- of F.diii1)iirf>!i, Vol. XX W. p. 305. 



