Inauyural Address. 9 



do a real service to themselves and others by throwing an interest 

 over many an object which otherwise would be passed by un- 

 noticed ; their work is good and will last. 



Gentlemen, let me entreat you to aspire to the condition of 

 being corals. And assuming that you do so, or have already 

 exercised the functions of these useful creatures, let me venture 

 on one piece of advice. There are various kinds of coral : there 

 is white coral, and red coral, and, 1 believe, black coral. Acting 

 on this suggestion of nature I would advise you to take some 

 particular branch of those enquiries which we group loosely 

 under the head of Natural Science, and make that your strong 

 point. It is the old story of the subdivision of labour. I suppose 

 the ideal of a Scientific Society would be one in which every two 

 or three members had their special subject on which they were a 

 safe authority, and yet all were sufficiently acquainted with the 

 subjects studied by other groups or members, as to be able to 

 bring an intelligent appreciation to bear on all that was brought 

 into the common stock. The man against whom the joke is 

 older than history that " he knew lots of things and knew them all 

 badly," would not have been condemned to point so many morals 

 if he had known any one thing thoroughly. 



Leaving the consideration of the branches of study, let me 

 suggest a few special subjects which are quite unambitious, and 

 might afford occasion for very good and interesting papers. A 

 clear account of rain ; how it is formed, when and why it falls, 

 and how we measure its fall, would be sure to interest. So would 

 the treatment of the kindred subject of the formation of dew, the 

 very name of which refreshes the imagination. In another field, 

 the funguses of the neighbourhood may be mentioned as a likely 

 subject. In another, an explanation of those gossamer films and 

 their belongings, which surprise us in the still air this autumn 

 weather. Again, in summer, a paper on trees read, with specimens 

 at hand of the foliage of the various trees of the neighbourhood, 

 would contain a good deal of information which I have often 

 vainly asked for. 



Again, we have not yet, I think, had our attention much called 

 to chemistry, and yet I suppose a very little knowledge of that 

 would afford occasion for numerous communications, which how- 

 ever elementary, could scarcely fail to be instructive to us. 



Finally, I will make bold to advise all those who wish to make 

 way in the study of physical science to give their best attention to 

 their mathematics. Whatever path, almost, you follow, you will 

 find yourself after advancing a little way mortified and arrested, 

 or at any rate greatly hindered, if you are not a fair mathematician. 

 You will feel like a workman without his tools, or like a poor 



