former of tliese subjects is perhaps trite; but as an 

 old man is allowed to become garrulous on liis own 

 hobby, so an old officer may be pardoned for lingering 

 about a favourite theme. And although the latter may 

 appear somewhat unpromising, I have decided to make 

 it one of the topics of my discourse, from the con- 

 sideration that the holder of this office will generally 

 do better by giving utterance to what has already 

 become part of his own thought, than by gathering 

 matter outside of its habitual range for the special 

 occasion. For, as it seems to me, the interest (if any) 

 of an address consists, not so much in the multitude 

 of things therein brought forward, as in the individuality 

 of the mode in which they are treated. 

 British As- The British Association has already entered its fifth 

 partVistory. ^lecade. It has held its meetings, this the 48th, in 28 

 different towns. In six cities of note, viz., York, Bristol, 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne, Plymouth, Manchester, and Belfast, 

 its curve of progress may be said to have a node, or 

 point through which it has twice passed ; in the five 

 Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, Edinburgh, 

 and Glasgow, and in the two great commercial centres, 

 Liverpool and Birmingham, it may similarly be said to 

 have a triple point, or one through which it has three 

 times passed. Of our 46 Presidents more than half (26, 

 in fact) have passed away; while the remainder hold 

 important posts in Science, and in the Public Service, 

 or in other avocations not less honourable in themselves, 

 nor less useful to the commonwealth. And whether it be 

 due to the salubrity of the climate or to the calm and 

 dispassionate spirit in which Science is pursued by its 

 votaries here, I do not pretend to say ; but it is a fact that 

 the earliest of our ex-Presidents still living, himself one 



