180 TO THE NEW LAUNCH 



good general education and general information, if 

 his profession is to hold its own among other 

 professions. . . . Did I not say that you had to read 

 Huxley's address of 1874 if you wish to be abreast 

 of the times ? 



It is a somewhat portentous moment, perhaps, to 

 launch a new venture. True, it is peace, and we are 

 soon to have bonfires, but there is peace, as sudden 

 and strange, in the centre of the hurrying typhoon, 

 which but heralds its renewal from another quarter. 

 It was at some such moment that H.M.S. Caliope 

 put to sea from the harbour of Samoa, upon which 

 every other vessel there, riding powerlessly at anchor, 

 was about to be piled, and pitting the science of 

 which she was the embodiment against the forces 

 against her, came through with her flag flying the 

 right way up. Science seeks no treacherous anchor- 

 age in the wreck-strewn harbours of make-believe, 

 but a clear course with unthrottled power to drive 

 on. Let us wish then for the new launch a voyage 

 as adventurous and triumphant, and power in its 

 engine-room to tow out a whole regatta ! 



