A PEACTICAL LESSON FKOM BIOLOGICAL 

 STUDIES l 



IN the name of the British Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, I beg to thank you, and those societies which have 

 joined together in presenting this address, for the kind terms 

 in which it is expressed and has been delivered to me. It is 

 most gratifying to us who believe in the beneficial results 

 upon human life conferred by the diffusion of scientific 

 knowledge, as all members of this great association must do 

 to find that our work, and the objects of our meeting are so 

 highly appreciated by such a wide circle as that represented 

 by the signatories to this address. It is, moreover, particu- 

 larly satisfactory to find such a recognition where, perhaps, 

 at first sight, we might hardly have expected it of the 

 advantages of pure or abstract science apart from its practical 

 application to the material welfare of mankind. You have 

 recognised what Js certainly known to those who have 

 followed most closely the history of science, but what is not 

 so generally known or appreciated by others, that nearly all 

 the marvellous benefits which have been conferred on man by 

 the application of scientific knowledge have been the results 

 of the discoveries of philosophers who are pursuing knowledge 

 solely for its own sake without any hope of reward, without 

 any hope of benefit to themselves or to others, and, very often, 

 amid the indifference, the neglect, and even the scorn of their 



1 Reply to an Address presented to the President of the British Association 

 by representatives of the various Trade Societies constituting the Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne, Gateshead, and District Trades-Council at the Working Men's Meeting, 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne, 14th September 1889. 



