ADDRESS. Ivii 



necessity of laying a foundation, not in the complicated details of science, 

 but in the simple and elementary principles which may pla^e the student in 

 a position to cultivate afterwards, by his own exertions, a more matured 

 acquaintance with those particular branches of science which may be more 

 immediately related to his especial avocations. If this be done, abstract 

 science will become of increased estimation in every rank of society, and its 

 value, with reference at least to its practical applications, will be far better 

 understood than it is generally amongst us at the present time. 



Under such circumstances, Gentlemen, the British Association could not 

 fail to become of increased importance, arid the sphere of its usefulness en- 

 larged. One great duty we owe to the public is to encourage the applica- 

 tion of abstract science to the practical purposes of life — to bring, as it were, 

 the study and the laboratory into juxtaposition with the workshop. And, 

 doubtless, it is one great object of science to bring more easily within reach 

 of every part of the community, the rational enjoyments, as well as the ne- 

 cessaries of life ; and thus not merely to contribute to the luxuries of the 

 rich, but to minister also to the comforts of the poor, and to promote that 

 general enlightenment so essential to our moral progress and the real advance 

 of civilization. But still, Gentlemen, we should not be taking that higher 

 view of science which I would wish to inculcate, if we merely regarded it as 

 the means of supplying more adequately the physical wants of man. If we 

 would view science under its noblest aspects, we must regard it with refer- 

 ence to man, not merely as a creature of physical wants, but as a being of 

 intellectual and moral endowments, fitting him to discover and compreltend 

 some part at least of the laws which govern the material universe, to admire 

 the harmony which pervades it, and to love and worship its Creator. It is 

 for science, as it leads to this contemplation of Nature, and a stronger sense 

 of the beauties which God has spread around us, that I would claim your 

 deeper reverence. Let us cultivate science, Gentlemen, for its own sake, as 

 well as for the practical advantages which flow from it. Nor let it be feared 

 lest this cultivation of what I may term contemplative science, if prosecuted, 

 in a really philosophic spirit, should inspire us with vain and presumptuous 

 thoughts, or disqualify us for the due appreciation of moral evidence on the 

 most sacred and important subjects which can occupy our minds. There is 

 far more vanity and presumption in ignorance than in sound knowledge ; 

 and the spirit of true philosophy, be it ever remembered, Gentlemen, is a 

 patient, a modest, and a humble spirit. 



