14 president's address — SECTION A. 



a,ppreciation of the relation between Mathematics and Natural Science. 

 The physicist must no longer look on Mathematics as an auxiliary 

 discipline, even if he admit that it is an indispensable one. The 

 mathematician must not continue to regard the questions which the 

 physicist brings to him simply as a rich collection of problems suited 

 to his work." 



The truth is Mathematics must be treated as any other science. 

 It does not stand in a class by itself. There ought to be no depart- 

 ment of knowledge in which the man of science should feel that he 

 has the right to ask the author of any discovery — Cui bono? The 

 only question for him should be whether it is true, and what influence 

 ifc will have in the development of the subject of which it forms ?. part. 

 The earliest astronomers may have looked upon the stars with their 

 thoughts upon navigation ; but some of them doubtless pondered 

 in their hearts the mystery of tiie Universe. Everj^ botanist does not 

 liA^e by agriculture ; nor is every geologist on the search for precious 

 stones. It was only in the dark ages that chemistry was confused with 

 alchemy. The quest for knowledge, in itself and for itself, is the 

 common heritage of every science. And " the history of natural 

 philosophy, and even of such a practical science as Medicine, show us 

 that even from the point of view of utility the subjects must be developed 

 of themselves, with the single aim of increasing knowledge." 



No one could have foretold, when Gralvani touched the nerve and 

 muscle of the frog with two difierent metals and saw the muscle 

 contract, that the discovery of the anatomist would lead in 80 years 

 to tiie world being traversed by electric cables from end to end. And 

 it was far from the minds of those who first watched the stream of 

 sparks bridging the gap of an electric machine or flowing from the 

 knob of a Leyden Jar, that the phenomena they were watching in a 

 few years would lead to the marvellous triimiphs of Wireless Telegraphy. 



To the mathematician the wonderful edifice which the geometer 

 has created, from the simple practical geometry of the Egyptian and 

 the theoretical geometry of the Greek, to the great domain of Projective 

 and Descriptive Geometry, and the realm of Differential Geometry 

 of Curves and Surfaces, is as much a matter of pride and satisfaction 

 as any of the theories which have been invented to explain and simplify 

 the facts of experiment and the wonders of nature. 



We are agreed, then, that no branch of Mathenn^tics has a claim 

 prior to any other. The mathematician turns his attention to the 

 department which appeals to himself, and in which he feels he can 

 do the best service. I wish now to give some reasons for my belief 

 that it is unfortunate that some branches of Applied Mathematics 

 are not at present attracting English mathematicians as they used to do. 

 With regard to these, I believe that recent discoveries in Pure Mathe- 

 matics make it extremely probable that renewed efforts by the Applied 

 Mathematician would meet with considerable success. 



