IG Transactions of the 



bringing about an improvement, I feel sure you will give me 

 credit for the heartiest interest in the welfare of the Society, 

 and that interest would not be a thorough one if I were to gloss 

 over our defects, and make people think that we had already 

 attained to the highest perfection. 



Now, first and foremost, I will tell you honestly that I do not 

 believe one half of us here value our privileges, and properly esti- 

 mate our responsibilities as members. There are many fellows 

 who think that they have done ample when they have attended 

 three-fourths of the meetings, listened attentively to the interest- 

 ing papers, and sat quietly during the dull ones. They are very 

 vigorous with their applause ; but if we go and ask them to pre- 

 pare a lecture of some kind, we meet with a ready refusal, — " No, 

 thank you ; I don't know what to write about ; I 'd rather not." 

 I ask you, is that fair? You call yourselves members of the 

 Scientific Society, and yet you leave all the duties to other people, 

 and take no more real part in its working than those sham armies 

 and villagers play whose presence is needed for filling up the 

 dramatic stage and giving an air of reality to the entertainment. 

 With us the minority, fortunately, is a zealous one, and I thank 

 these working members heartily for their zeal. On them rests 

 all the onus of the Society, and but for them it would long ago 

 have dwindled into insignificance. But I say emphatically, and 

 I say it advisedly, that it is not fair or right for the idler and the 

 lounger to continue in our ranks. I would rather see the Society 

 cut down to half its numbers than filled by mere puppets, whose 

 concern for its welfare was expressed by an occasional hour's attend- 

 ance on Friday nights, and nothing more. There is far more to 

 be done than this, and I will tell you how it may be done. 



You will remember how I said, a few moments ago, that among 

 the innumerable diversities of natural gift and bent, it was impos- 

 sible to expect all people to follow the same pursuits with equal 

 energy. And so is it with regard to the affairs of the Scientific 

 Society. There will always, I hope, be a few members ready, 

 willing, and able to take the lead in its management, and a few 

 who will give to the natural sciences the same time and attention 

 that others expend on classics or mathematics, or even the no less 

 important games. But of the great majority of the Society, — its 

 rank and file, so to speak, — this is not to be expected. Yet all 

 may do something, while but the few do much ; and I think I can 

 show you what I mean. We have a great many various studies 

 and pursuits fostered, in name at least, by the Clifton College 

 Scientific Society. Excepting only the British Association itself, 

 I know of no other whose range is so wide. Botany, Zoology, 

 and Entomology ; Geology, Chemistry, and Physics ; Antiquities ; 



