MATTER AND FOKCB. 55 



tlie 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 rinen of the town in which the 

 meeting is held. A resolution to that effect was sent 

 to the Committee of Recommendations ; 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 be 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 capacities were, so to speak, the 

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

 limits, the secret of the universe was open to the 

 human understanding. It was found that the mind of 

 man had the power of penetrating far beyond the 



