]20 



habitants of Batii whatever we may have of new to tell them 

 respecting the history of their own neighbourhood. 



These are not days surely for going back, but rather for 

 pressing onwards in the path which we have opened out for 

 ourselves. All around us is on the move. Everywhere are 

 men's eyes busily looking into the recesses of Nature, trying 

 to fathom her lowest depths, to reveal, if possible, her most 

 concealed processes, to bring to light the marvellous powers 

 by which she elaborates her productions, even in their veiy 

 first beginnings, the laws by which she works, and the ends 

 she has in view. And everj'where are men's minds on 

 the alert — eager to catch from others, if they cannot learn 

 for themselves — the last new discoveries which science 

 has to unfold. 



There is no more remarkable feature in this stirring age 

 than the influence which, of late years, science has brought to 

 bear upon everything connected with the advancement of our 

 race, whether we look at man in a physical, or an intellectual, 

 or in a moral point of view. Nor can we wonder at it, when 

 we notice the extent to which the several sciences are now 

 studied, the extreme division and sub-division of the subjects 

 to which they relate, the number of Societies and Institutions 

 that exist for the cultivation of science, and not least, the slow 

 but sure way in which science is being made to take its place, 

 by the side of other branches of learning, in the education of 

 all classes of the community. 



This is what I proposed drawing your attention to at the 

 beginning of my Address. And just let us glance for a moment 

 at the past state of things compared with the present. The 

 Koyal Society, the parent of all our scientific bodies, was 

 founded, as most of us are aware, in the time of Charles II., 

 and for many a year it stood alone as the sole representative 

 of science in this country, its researches being little cared for 

 by the public generally, unknown probably to very many, and 



