10 



a standing and reputation which they have kept ever after- 

 wards, and greatly to their advantage in the further prosecution 

 of their researches. It is hy being thus brought into contact 

 with the scientific world, that men see and learn what others 

 are about as well as themselves ; that they discover, in some 

 instances, that what they had supposed new is well known, — 

 that they are made more thoroughly acquainted with the pre- 

 sent state of our knowledge in any given department of science, 

 and that they are kept back from putting forth views and 

 opinions not thoroughly matured, or which need further sifting, 

 such as can in no way be got better than by being made the 

 subject of public discussion. 



They also get enlarged views by having their attention drawn 

 to other branches of Science beside that which they themselves 

 study. 



These are days in which the sciences are fast advancing 

 towards higher generalizations than they have ever yet attained 

 to. The most intimate connection is found to exist amongst 

 them, so that a student cannot successfully follow up one 

 without knowing something of the others. There is a correla- 

 tion of the physical sciences, and there is a correlation of the 

 natural sciences. Even the physical and the natural sciences 

 seem to find a bond of union in chemistry, which has to deal 

 with inquiries relating to both. For while chemistry investi- 

 gates the nature and constitution both of organic and inorganic 

 substances, it has at the same time to consider the influences 

 of those subtle agents, — light, heat, electricity and magnetism, 

 — upon the ultimate particles of matter, employing, too, 

 formulae of an algebraical character, by which to express more 

 precisely the results of its analyses. Chemistry, again, is closely 

 connected with mineralogy ; insomuch that the latter is now 

 considered by many as more properly a branch of chemistry 

 than as a distinct science : yet mineralogy, in all that relates 

 to crystalline forms, is dependent upon geometrical laws, and 

 requires, on the part of the student, some knowledge and ap- 

 plication of mathematical reasoning as indispensable. 



With the Physical Sciences this Club has nothing to do. But 

 confining ourselves to the Natural Sciences, all who attend 

 much to them must be struck with the mutual bearing they 

 have on each other. From Mineralogy, already spoken of, 

 there is an easy passage to Geology. But Geology is entirely 

 dependant upon zoology for ascertaining the true characters 

 and structure of those fossil organic forms, which abound 

 more or less in all rocks and strata from the highest nearly to 

 the lowest, and which help mainly to determine the relative 

 ages of that succession of beds which form the crust of our 

 earth. With respect to the affinities existing between the 



