RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT 255 



every page of its annual reports, represent voluntary 

 effort on the part of individual ' cultivators of science.' 

 Their attitude toward their craft may be summarised 

 in the words of one of the greatest of them Rayleigh, 

 who in a sentence of singular beauty, thus concluded 

 his address to the Association in 1884 : ' The work 

 may be hard, and the discipline severe ; but the 

 interest never fails, and great is the privilege of 

 achievement. 5 



