4 llEPOKT — 1884. 



decisioD, and that, apart altogether fi-om scientific interests, great 

 advantage may be expected from this visit. We EngHshmen ought to 

 know more than we do of matters relating to the Colonies, and anything 

 which tends to bring the various parts of the Empire into closer contact 

 can hardly be overvalued. It is j)leasant to think that this Association 

 is the means of furthering an object which should be dear to the hearts 

 of all of ns ; and I venture to say that a large pi'oportion of the visitors 

 to this country will be astonished by what they see, and will carry home 

 an impression which time will not readily efface. 



To be connected with this meeting is, to me, a great honour, but also 

 a great responsibility. In one respect, especially, I feel that the Associa- 

 tion might have done well to choose another President. j\[y own tastes 

 have led me to study m.ithematics and physics I'ather than geology and 

 biology, to which naturally more attention turns in a new country, pre- 

 senting as it docs a fresh field for investigation. A chronicle of achieve- 

 ments in these departments by workers from among yourselves would 

 have been suitable to the occasion, but could not come from me. If you 

 would have preferred a different subject for this address, I hope, at least, 

 that you will not hold me entirely responsible. 



At annual gatherings like ours the pleasure with which friends meet 

 friends again is sadly marred by the absence of those who can never wore 

 take their part in our pi'oceedings. Last year my predecessor in this 

 office had to lament the untimely loss of Spottiswoode and Henry Smith, 

 dear friends of many of us, and prominent members of our Association. 

 And now, again, a well-known form is missing. For many years 

 Sir W. Siemens has been a regular attendant at our meetings, and to few 

 indeed have they been more indebted for siiccess. Whatever the occasion, 

 in his Presidential Address of two years ago, or in communications to the 

 Physical and Mechanical Sections, he had always new and interesting 

 ideas, put forward in language which a child could understand, so great 

 a master was he of the art of lucid statement in his adopted tongue. 

 Practice with Science was his motto. Deeply engaged in industry, and 

 conversant, all his life, with engineering operations, his opinion was never 

 that of a mere theorist. On the other hand, he abhorred rule of thumb, 

 striving always to master the scientific principles which underlie rational 

 design and invention. 



It is not necessary that I should review in detail the work of Siemens. 

 The part which he took, during recent years, in the development of the 

 dynamo machine must be known to many of you. We owe to him the 

 practical adoption of the method, first suggested by Wheatstone, of 

 throwing into a shunt the coils of the field magnets, by which a greatly 

 improved steadiness of action is obtained. The same characteristics are 

 observable throughout — a definite object in view and a well-directed 

 perseverance in overcoming the difficulties by which the path is usually 

 obstructed. 



