MATTER AND FORCE. 55 



alone. But after the meeting at Nottingham, last 

 year, where the working men, at their own request, 

 were addressed by our late President, Mr. Grove, and 

 by my excellent friend, Professor Huxley, the idea 

 arose of incorporating with all subsequent meetings 

 of the Association an address to the working men of 

 the town in which the meeting is held. A resolution 

 to that effect was sent to the Committee of Recommen- 

 dations; the Committee supported the resolution; the 

 Council of the Association ratified the decision of the 

 Committee; and here I am to carry out to the best of 

 my ability their united wishes. 



Whether it tie a consequence of long-continued de- 

 velopment, or an endowment conferred once for all on 

 man at his creation, we find him here gifted with a 

 mind curious to know the causes of things, and sur- 

 rounded by objects which excite its questionings, and 

 raise the desire for an explanation. It is related of a 

 young Prince of one of the Pacific Islands, that when 

 he first saw himself in a looking-glass, he ran round 

 the glass to see who was standing at the back. And 

 thus it is with the general human intellect, as regards 

 the phenomena of the external world. It wishes to get 

 behind and learn the causes and connections of these 

 phenomena. What is the sun, what is the earth, what 

 should we see if we came to the edge of the earth and 

 looked over? What is the meaning of thunder and 

 lightning, of hail, rain, storm, and snow? Such ques- 

 tions presented themselves to early men, and by and by 

 it was discovered that this desire for knowledge was 

 not implanted in vain. After many trials it became 

 evident that man's capabilities were, so to speak, the 

 complement of nature's facts, and that, within certain 

 limits, the secret of the universe was open to the hu- 



