ADDREoS BY PROFESSOR DAUBE.VY. XXXV 



tical applications of the Arts, it would not be difficult to show ; but I 

 am ambitious to place the question on a higher ground, and the presence 

 amongst us of such individuals as I have mentionfed, will do more to- 

 wards that object than volumes of argument would effect. It will con- 

 vince us at least, that other roads to distinction, besides that of mere 

 wealth, are opened to us through the instrumentality of the Sciences ; 

 for although, thanks to the spirit of the age, which in this respect at 

 least stands advantageously distinguished from those preceding it, the 

 discoverers of important truths are not, as heretofore, allowed to lan- 

 guish in absolute poverty, yet the debt which society owes to them 

 would be but inadequately paid, were it not for the tribute of respect 

 and admiration which is felt to be their due. 



It has indeed been sometimes objected, that too large a share of 

 public attention is in this age directed to the Physical Sciences, and 

 that the study of the human mind, the cultivation of literature, and the 

 progress of the Fine Arts have been arrested in consequence. In what 

 degree the accusation is well founded, this is not the place to inquii'e, 

 although, when we look round upon the many literary characters that 

 adorn this age, we should rather suppose the remark to have arisen 

 from the increasing interest in Science, than from any diminished taste 

 for other studies. 



If this complaint however had any foundation in truth, it would only 

 supply a stronger argument in favour of an Association like the present, 

 the express object of which is to correct that narrowness of mind which 

 is the consequence of limiting ourselvea to the detjiils of a single science, 

 or, it may be, to a single nook and corner of one, and therefore to render 

 the prevailing taste of the times more subservient to mental culture, and 

 therefore a better substitute for the studies it is alleged to have super- 

 seded ; — an Association too, which, with no narrow and exclusive feel- 

 ing towards those pursuits which it is designed to foster, extends the 

 right hand of fellowship to men of eminence in every department upon 

 which the human mind can be exercised, and which would have felt 

 that no higher honour could have been bestowed upon its present 

 Meeting, than by the attendance of the great poet, and the great 

 sculptor, who own Bristol as their native city. 



To alter indeed the character of the period in which we live, is as 

 much beyond the efforts of individuals, as to fix the time of their birth, 

 or the country and station in which their lot is cast ; and it is perhaps 

 inevitable, that an age and country so distinguished above aU others 

 for the advancement of arts and manufactures, should attach an in- 

 creased importance to those sciences on which both the latter are de- 

 pendent. 



