Section X. 



LITERATURE AND FINE ARTS. 



Address by the President, 

 PROFESSOR EDWARD ELLIS MORRIS, M.A., 



Professor of English, French, and German Languages and 

 Literatures, University, Melbourne. 



One question rises naturally to the lips of a man situated as I 

 am, if he be possessed of a sense of the congruities of things, 

 and a sense of incongruities is not far from a definition of 

 humour. Que diahle fait-ii dans cette galere? " The wrong 

 boat?" is the thought that will rise unbidden, or, to 

 paraphrase Moliere's famous line, the President of this 

 Section asks himself the question, " What the dickens are 

 you doing in this boat ? " Gideon's fleece was moist when 

 all around was dry. Gideon's fleece was dry when all the 

 ground around it was dew-besprent. It may be counted 

 very fortunate that this historical parallel has thus two 

 aspects, so that anyone may choose which he pleases, when I 

 compare " Literature and the Fine Arts," surrounded by 

 Science, to Gideon's Fleece. 



Science that studies the cause of things is very fond of 

 talking of evolution and origins. It is interesting to consider 

 and even to speculate (in a philosophical sense) upon the 

 origin of this Section. It can hardly be described as lost in 

 the dim mists of ages, for, as historians tell us that this is 

 only the fourth meeting of the Association, there must be 

 some still living who can remember its inception. Literature 

 and science in the modern acceptation of the latter word 

 have not always been friends. If they be sisters, there is no 

 doubt that literature is the elder sister, and I am bound to 

 add that she has very often played an elder sister's part. She 

 has given advice, often undesired advice ; she has not 

 hesitated to snub. Now, in these last ages of the world a 

 great deal of attention has been paid to the younger sister. 

 Equipped with a much finer establishment, constantly 

 demanding and obtaining even better equipment she is 

 beginning to afford the luxury of giving herself airs. It was 



