THE AIM AM) PEOGEISS OF 

 PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 



AN OPENING ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE NATURFOESCHER 

 YERSAMMLUNG, IN INNSBRTJCK, 1869. 



In accepting the honour you have done me in request- 

 ing me to deliver the first lecture at the opening meeting 

 of this year's Association, it appears to me to be more in 

 keeping with the import of the moment and the dignity of 

 this assembly that, in place of dealing with any particular 

 line of research of my own, I should invite you to cast a 

 glance at the development of all the branches of physical 

 science represented on these occasions. These branches 

 include a vast area of special investigation, material 

 of almost too varied a character for comprehension, the 

 range and intrinsic value of which become greater with 

 each year, while no bounds can be assigned to its increase. 

 During the first half of the present century we had an 

 Alexander von Humboldt, who was able to scan the 

 scientific knowledge of his time in its details, and to bring 

 it within one vast generalisation. At the present juncture, 

 it is obviously very doubtful whether this task could be 

 accomplished in a similar way, even by a mind with gifts 

 so peculiarly suited for the purpose as Humboldt's was, 

 and if all his time and work were devoted to the purpose. 

 We. however, working as we do to advance a single 



