( cii ) 



William R. Hall. Long years of loyal and efficient service 

 have left an enduring memory. 



Before I proceed to the subject of my address there is one 

 important point upon which I feel bound to warn not only this 

 Society, but other Scientific Societies as well. I refer to the 

 enduring qualities of the paper on which scientific publications 

 are often printed, and still more emphatically the "paper" on 

 which they are often illustrated. I allude especially to the so- 

 called " art papers," assuredly named on the principle " ut lucus 

 a non lucendo." The opaque, Avhite, polished surface, which 

 yields the most successful " half-tone " and " three-colour " 

 printings, is at present only possible by means of a veneer of 

 china-clay. Dust it is, and we are assured by experts that not 

 many years will pass by before it succumbs to the fate which 

 the highest authority tells us is in store for dust. For the 

 purposes of advertisement, this is no disadvantage : the cyuic 

 may even maintain that the writings of the present day are, 

 to the great benefit of the human race, recorded upon a fitting 

 medium. But cynicism has no part in science, and every 

 Fellow of this Society will agree that an age producing scientific 

 records which cannot be made to endure, is an age to be rightly 

 scorned by the generations of the futui'e, — scorned as one that 

 sunk to the lowest level of production, that, intellectually, 

 owing its very existence to the noble standard reached by days 

 yet earlier, took the benefits, and deliberately or carelessly 

 neglected in like manner to assist its successors. 



We have only to reflect upon the paramount importance of 

 tradition in order to realize the weight of our x-esponsibilities. 

 Lloyd Morgan, discussing the trend of human development, 

 speaks of a " transference of evolution from the individual to 

 the environment," which " may leave the faculty of the race at 

 a standstill, while the achievements of the race are progressing 

 by leaps and bounds." * Or, again, he contrasts the progressive 

 evolution of the intellectual and moral edifice of society 

 with the cessation of evolution, perhaps even the declining 

 level of " the human builders that contribute in each genera- 

 tion a few more stones to take a permanent place in the 

 fabric." f 



* " Habit and Instinct," Loudon, 1896, p. 340. t I- c-, p. 345. 



