1904-1905-] Address by the President. 229 



ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, 



Mr JAMES EUSSELL, 



October 25, 1905. 



It is only in mythology that Athena springs fully equipped 

 from the cleft brain of the Olympian Zeus. In actual life 

 things are very different, — knowledge has to be gained by slow 

 and laborious processes. The secrets of ITature do not lie upon 

 the surface ; they must be searched for earnestly and diligently, 

 but to those who do so they offer a rich reward. In the 

 physical world as in the spiritual, it is true that they who 

 seek shall find, and that to those who knock it shall be opened. 

 In the past much knowledge of the secrets of ISTature has been 

 gained by diligent searchers, and their gains, which have 

 become the common property of humanity, form a starting- 

 point for others. At the present day there is hardly a con- 

 ceivable branch of human knowledge which has not its earnest 

 workers, and I would wish you one and all, and especially the 

 younger members of the Society who have life's heyday still 

 before them, to become co-workers in one or other of these 

 branches of knowledge. You may perhaps ask, — What branch ? 

 That is a question which every one must answer individually 

 to himself or herself. I am addressing the members of a Field 

 Club and Microscopical Society, and of course my remarks will 

 be more particularly applicable to the subjects cognate to the 

 objects of such a Society ; but I am far from thinking that 

 such objects are those which should chiefly occupy your atten- 

 tion, or that they are those which can most fully satisfy the 

 longings of every mind, although the fact of your becoming 

 members shows that you have a certain inclination towards 

 them. Each one must choose the branch of research from 

 which it is thought the greatest satisfaction will be derived, 

 and work at it with a whole-heartedness. ISTothing is to be 

 gained unless you bring your mind and energy to bear upon 

 the subject you have . chosen. Some — in a Society such as 

 this I would think the number would be few — may, however, 

 ask, Qui bono ? My answer is, — For the good of yourselves 

 and your fellows. You have tasted of the fruit of the tree of 



