202 SECTION PHYSICS. 



a fresh illustration of the very old saying, that science is of no time 

 and of no country. Science, it is true, is concerned with time and 

 space, but within the range of those quantities it admits of and it will 

 tolerate no distinctions. Science is the same whether it be pursued in 

 these pleasant climes of Europe, whether it be followed out in the 

 torrid zones of Central Airica, as Cameron and Livingstone and a host 

 of others have done ; whether it be studied in the deserts of Australia 

 or in the forests of New Guinea ; or whether it be followed out again 

 as it has been done by foreign countries over and over again, and is 

 now being by this country in the Arctic Expedition, of which we hope 

 soon to hear tidings. Science is the same through all time from the 

 earliest dawn of intelligence, when the patriarchs went out to meditate 

 in the fields at eventide, or when they studied in their fashion the moon 

 and stars and the host of heaven. It is the same through all these 

 days of which we have records in this museum, and it will be the same, 

 I doubt not, until all feelings of wonderment and the like have been 

 not superseded, but swallowed up by perfect knowledge. I beg now to 

 congratulate the Section on the success which I have reason to hope 

 has attended it. 



Mr. DE LA RUE : Our Chairman has very briefly gone over the 

 ground and described the commencement of this Exhibition, and also 

 the valuable co-operation of the scientific gentlemen who have joined 

 Yvdth the English philosophers in making these meetings interesting : 

 but not only was the Loan Exhibition a bold undertaking, but so much 

 of novelty attached to these Conferences that we were doubtful, even on 

 the first day, whether they would be successful. That they have been 

 eminently so is decided by the presence of so many ladies and gentle- 

 men at our meetings ; but the success does not come of itself. It re- 

 quired organization : it required a great deal of thought on the part of 

 those who took part in the management, and to no one are our thanks 

 more due than to Mr. Spottiswoode, who opened the seance. Throughout 

 the whole of our meetings he has been daily employed in grouping 

 subjects together, and in asking gentlemen to come forward to render 

 them not only interesting but instructive. I ask you, therefore, to 

 give your best thanks to the President of the Physical Section, Mr. 

 Spottiswoode. 



