62 president's address — section b. 



universe gained by its study, places it in the front rank as an 

 instrument of great educational value, and one best fitted to 

 bring forward (educe) habits of observation and reflection. 



One has but to think of the enthusiasm of a Liebig, a 

 Faraday, and a Hofmann, and of the indomitaUe truth- 

 seeking spirit which animated them, their sufficient reward 

 being the inward satisfaction of having worked out, at first 

 hand, an imperishable fact direct from Nature. To such as 

 these comes the promise of the poet — 



"Thy mind 

 Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms ; 

 Thy memory be as a dwelling-place 

 For all sweet sounds and harmonies." 



Even such a mind as that of M. Renan has expressed 

 the regret that he did not dedicate his life to chemistry instead 

 of Oriental languages. Sir Henry Roscoc recently gave a 

 reminiscence of the talented chemist, Dumas, who, after 

 having declared that he had seen every phase of life — student, 

 teacher, professor, minister, senator — but no work had he 

 been called upon to perform had been so satisfactory, or had 

 been looked back upon with such pleasure, as that of carrying- 

 on original work ; and, he says, " If I had to live my life 

 over again, I would not relinquish my quiet laboratory 

 pursuits for all the splendour and influence of court favour, 

 or the turmoil and rewards of political life." 



The advance of our science may be ascribed, not so much 

 to the rewards offered by wealth, as to the disinterested love 

 of truth on the part of the worker; for what man can pursue 

 the even tenor of his way upon research work with the 

 feverish spirit engendered by some pecuniary prize dangling 

 before his eyes ? The advance of Science may, moreover, be 

 attributed to the greater freedom of the person, and to the 

 full freedom of thought that can be focussed at will upon 

 everything relating to objective truth. 



It was possible with our forefathers not to enquire, 

 but it is fortunately impossible to stem the tide of free enquiry 

 that, like the ether around us, pervades every thinkable sub- 

 ject. We remember, how^ever, that the lives of our fore- 

 fathers were overshadowed by the gaunt and chilling arm of 

 Authority, which effectually barred the road to knowledge. 

 Tempora mutantur ; and with our freedom comes the intel- 

 lectual growth and the desire to ascertain the truth as it may 

 be revealed to us by the infinitely great and by the infinites- 

 imal moleculcp Let us not close our minds to the apprecia- 



