10 



their ken, and to impress upon them the conviction that they 

 have been invited to explore cavernous depths and mysterious 

 passages and galleries, the end and safety of which are 

 subjects of grave doubt, to say nothing of the feehngs 

 of considerable trepidation that arise as a necessary conse- 

 quence. The annual address from the chair, however, has 

 the advantage of taking you out, as it were, into the fresh air 

 and the mountain side, and showing you the whole domain — 

 in other words, presenting to you a landscape. In this age of 

 specializing one runs the danger of burrowing in a small hole, 

 forgetful of the fact that, knowing everything about a purt, 

 and otherwise being profoundly ignorant of the %vhoh, is not 

 true knowledge. In our researches, as in every sphere of 

 inquiry, there is need to keep in mind the necessity of balance. 

 Lack of perspective is apt to render a man as unquestionably 

 stupid as he is dogmatic. 



1 would, therefore, invite your attention to a survey of the 

 difficulties attaching to scientific inquiry amongst non- 

 professional men ; keeping in view the advantage of a life 

 devoted to more than one pursuit, and freed from the bias, 

 prejudice, and jealousy that are apt to be engendered amongst 

 those whose career is one of severe professional competition, 

 stimulated by personal ambition. In the cases of both profes- 

 sional and non-professional men, brain, resolution, dauntless 

 courage and imtiring industry are factors immeasurably more 

 important than either title or social status, or even the set 

 routine of a certain type of university education. There is 

 no place to-day in any department worthy of the name 

 " honourable," for the weak or lazy man. The democratic 

 element is entering into every phase of life— I mean life in its 

 higher and nobler forms — and more and more it is becoming 

 evident that the ranks of all professions are being filled with 

 men keen to run the race and to win the crown upon the 

 merits of their personal intellectual endowments. 



It is to be admitted that there is a latent contempt, felt 

 if not expressed, amongst professional and commercial men 

 when either side ventures to intrude upon the domain 



