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I have thus touched upon the principal matters of inquiry 

 which I think might fairly come under the consideration of this 

 Clulj. I proceed now to speak of the second object these Clubs 

 have in view, viz., the bringing together men of the same pur- 

 suits. I prt-sume it will be generally allowed that men's minds 

 l^rofit much 1iy a mutual interchange of ideas on subjects they 

 study in common. Each learns something from the others, or 

 has his mistakes corrected, while he imparts something to them 

 in return. ■ Advantage arises even out of the collision of opposite 

 opinions Avhicli sometimes takes place on the comparison of their 

 respective views. Truth is never so surely elicited as when those 

 who have long held opinions, which in their own estimation 

 rest upon a firm basis of facts, are compelled to reinvestigate 

 questions, and to judge by the light thrown on them by others. 

 But it is especially to students of science that this intercourse 

 with others is so valuable. When working alone, we know how 

 apt they are to flag at times from the want of fellow-workers to 

 encourage them in their researches ; — or if, from an ardent love 

 of the pursuits they have taken up, they need no such stimulus to 

 keep them to the mark, they yet fall short of what they might 

 accomplish, if they had others at hand to direct or assist them in 

 any particular inquiry. These Clubs (and the remark applies 

 equally to Natural History Societies, and all gatherings for scien- 

 tific purposes) have sometimes been the means of bringing men 

 into notice, who might otherwise have remained all their life in 

 obscurity, unknown perhaps even to some following up the same 

 pursuits in the same neighbourhood. This is one of the good 

 results that has arisen out of the yearly meetings of the British 

 Association. Almost in every town in which that body has met 

 for the first time, men, whose names were before quite unknown 

 in the ranks of science, have come forward on the occasion of the 

 meeting being held in their native place, — have attached them- 

 selves to the section that dealt with the particular subjects they 

 studied, and gained for themselves a standing and reputation 



