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attachment, and the interchange of kindness and courtesy, to which 
this Institution had trained its Members. But though those times 
have passed, and though we now stand at an elevation of which 
your founders never dreamed, yet let us not forget, in the season of 
triumph, the principle to which we owe it. That principle is 
equality of consideration and power in each of our departments. 
No doubt many will be ready to dispute its truth, and assert the 
supremacy of their favourite pursuits; but let such beware of “ the 
Idols of the Cave.” Each individual thinks that the noblest for 
which he feels himself most highly gifted; but for that very reason 
he is the worst possible judge as to the relative value of any other. 
We have already seen that this system affords the best means of 
general intellectual development; let us also consider how it bears 
on the elements of our power. 
Our power depends on the place we hold in public estimation 
at home and abroad; these two react on each other. Abroad we can 
be known only by our publications ; while they appear regularly, 
and maintain their present high standard of value, so long we shall 
command the suffrages of the world; the honour which we win is 
reflected on our country, and therefore we are upheld and cherished 
by our countrymen. But it would be unsafe to rest on this alone, 
or strain the chivalry of sentiment too far. We must also make 
our countrymen take a direct and personal interest in our proceed- 
ings; we must mark out for ourselves a range of exertion, which 
shall as far as possible conciliate the sympathy and co-operation of 
all. Now it is unquestionable that, with reference to the approba- 
tion of the world at large, the mathematical part of our Transactions 
holds the highest place. This is just; but let us never forget that, 
were our pursuits restricted to that one science, we should soon be 
unable to publish a single volume. Such investigations are not of 
general interest; the number of those who can read, much less 
appreciate them, is inversely as their value; and though there is 
probably in this room a larger per-centage of persons thus compe- 
tent than could be found in any similar assembly in Europe, you 
would wonder, if I reckoned their names, to find so few. Yet on 
those few the rest of you rely; you accept with confidence their 
estimate of the value of such researches, and in that faith you sup- 
