£>ec.6,i8Ss} NATURE 



139 



proper business, upon the already overburdened staff of l^eepers 

 and their assistajits. 



In I'Vancis Bacon's apocalypse of science, the " New Atlantis," 

 the Father of Solomon'^. House — he, whose countenance was 

 "as if he pitied men," — declares that the end of that foundation 

 is "the knowlediie of causes and secret motions of things, and 

 the enlarging of the bounds of human empire to the effecting of 

 all things possible." 



I think that the Chancellor would have acknowledged the 

 New Natural History Museum to be a goodly wing of such a 

 House, devoted to the former of the objects which he mentions ; 

 but, it may be, that his practical mind, looking always to fruit, 

 and caring for light chiefly as something essential to fruit- 

 bearing, would have been even better saii-fied with another 

 building hard by, which has been devoted to the encouragement 

 of those applications of science through which human empire is 

 directly extended, by the well-directed munificence of the City 

 and Guilds of London, 



This building, destined for a central institution in which 

 ample provision shall be made for thorough and practical 

 training in so mu£h of the principles and the methods of the 

 physical sciences as is needful for those who aspire to take part 

 in the development of arts and manufactures, has been com- 

 pleted at a cost of more than 70,000/., while 20,000/. has yet to be 

 spent upon fiitings and appliances, and the working expenses, if 

 the scheme is to be fully developed, cannot be estimated at less 

 than 10,000/. a year. 



Having alieady been called upon to take an active part in the 

 deliberations of the committees charged with the carrying out of 

 this great work, 1 think I am justified in expre sing the hope, 

 and indeed the confident expectation, that, before long, this new 

 Technical College will be in full activity ; and that, for the first 

 time in our hi-tory, there will be called into existence an insti- 

 tution in which, without leaving this country, masters, mana'jers, 

 and foremen of works will be enabled to obtain thorough in- 

 struction not only in scientific theory, but in the essential prin- 

 ciples of practice ; and a machinery will be created, by ^\bich 

 the poorest vi orking lad in a manufacturing town, if he have 

 ability and perseverance, may be brought within reach of the 

 best technical education that i. to be had. 



There can be no doubt that the founders of the Royal Society 

 had prominently before their minds the intention of promoting 

 the useful arts and sciences " that so (in the language of the draft 

 of the preamble to the first charter, \\hich is said to have Ijeen 

 drawn up by .Sir Christopher Wren) by laying in a stock, as it 

 were, of sever.il arts and methods of industry, the whole liody 

 [of the nation] may be supplied by a mutual commerce of each 

 other's peculiar faculties, and, coiisrquenily, that the various 

 miseries and trials of this frail life may be, by as many variuUi 

 expedients ready at hand, remedied or alleviated, and wealth 

 and plenty diffused in just proportion to every one's industry, 

 that is, to every one's deserts." It was the wish of King Charles 

 the Second that all patents for inventions should be examined by 

 the Royal Society ; and, so late as the reign of George the 

 Secoiid, the Society actually performed this duty. The steam- 

 engine itself may be said to have made its debut before the 

 Royal Society, when Savery exhibited his working model to the 

 Fellow^ in 1699. 



But the subsequent history of natural knowledge has shown 

 that, as in the moral w orld, those who seek happiness through 

 well-doing are less likely to obtain that reward than those who 

 try to do well without thinking what may come of it; s:>, in 

 the world of science, those whose vision is fixed on useful ends 

 are often left poor and bare, while those who strive only after 

 the advancement of knowledge, scatter riches along their path, 

 for the whole world to pick up. The R-iyal Society has chosen 

 the latter course, and I trust it may never swerve from it. But I 

 think that our wannest sympathy is due to the effirts of tho'e 

 who translate the language of the philosopher into that of the 

 workshop ; and by thus ameliorating " the miseries and toils of 

 this frail life," and "diffusing wealth and plenty," are executing 

 that part of the first design of thi- Society, with which we, as a 

 body, have long cea ed to occupy ourselves. 



It was not as your President, but as one of the Special Com- 

 missioners appointed by the Government, that I had some slight 

 share in another considerable undertaking directed towards the 

 impDvement of industry. But the future of the fisheries is so 

 cl sely connected with the advancement of certain branches of 

 zoological science, that I may be permitted to advert to the 

 great success of the International Fisheries Exhibition ; and 



to express my belief that, in accordance with the ititiniation 

 contained in the speech of H.K.H. the Prince of Wales at 

 the closing of the Exhibition, there will grow out of it an 

 organisation which will provide for the application of science ' 

 to the improvement of the fisheries. 



In conclusion, gen'lemen, I think that it is proper on my own 

 behalf, as it is certainly due to you, that I should advert to the 

 exceptional circumstances which have brought about my present 

 occU|iation of the Presidential office. 



The eleventh section of the sixth chapter of the statutes 

 provides for the occurrence of a vacancy in the Chair, whether 

 by death or by re.-.ignation, as follows : — 



" Upon any vacancy in the President's place occurring in 

 the intervals of the anniver^ary elections, the Treasurer, or in 

 his absence one of the Secretaries, sball cause the Council to be 

 summoned for the election of a new President, and the Council 

 meeting thereupon in the usual place, or any eleven or more of 

 them, shall proceed to the said election, and not separate until 

 the maj ir part of them shall have agreed upon a new President." 



This statute is substantiilly, and, to a great extent, verbally, 

 identical with the twelfth section of the seventh chapter of the 

 original statutes of 1663. 



Before the present year, five occasions had arisen on which it 

 became necessary to put the provisions of the statute into effect. 



Sir Isaac Newton died while President in 1727; the Earl 

 of Morton in 176S; Mr. West in 1772; and Sir Joseph 

 Banks in 1S20 ; while Sir Humphry Davy resigned in 1S27. 

 On each of these occasions a new President was at once 

 appointed by the Council, endowed with all the privileges and 

 powers of the office; and, like every other officer, however 

 appointed, he vacated his office on November 30 following, 

 when the Fellows sometimes elected him for the succeeding 

 year, and sometitues did not. 



These precedents were strictly followed on the pre ent occa- 

 sion. A Council had been summoned, in ordinary course of 

 business, for jutie 28 ; but, as the President died on the 

 27th, it was deferred until the f illowing Thursday, when it was 

 supposed the interment would have taken place. In consequence 

 of the delay inseparable from a public ceremony, however, it so 

 happened that the funeral did not take place nntil noon of 

 July 5 ; and I have known few sadder scenes than the gather- 

 ing ol the Council, fresh from the unclosed grave of their 

 President, fur the performance of the duty, imposed upon them 

 by the statutes, of choosing hssucctssorfroai their own number, 

 before they should sepai ate. 



The Ciuncil did me the great hon:)ur of selecting me for the 

 office; and mw, on this next following .St. Andrew's Day, my 

 tenure, like thit of the Treasurer and Secretaries, lapses, and it 

 is for the Fellows of the Society to say who shall be their 

 officers until the next Anniversary Meeting. 



Having served several years, in another capacity, with three 

 out of f )ur of my present colleague-, and having every reason to 

 believe that the Fellows of the Society, at large, see good reason 

 to set the same high value upon the services of all of them as I 

 do, I do not find myself able to imagine that you will fail to 

 desire that those services shall be continued ; Init I have not the 

 least difficulty in conceiving that the Fellows of the Society may 

 think many of their number better fitted for the eminent place of 

 the President than myself. 



I sh'iuld be extremely ungrateful to my colleagues of the 

 Council, whi have again honoured me by presenting me for 

 election by the Fellows, if I were to let fall even a hint of the 

 extent to which I share that opinion ; but 1 think it may be 

 permitted me to say that, should you think fit to give effect to it, 

 there is no one who will more cheerfully acquiesce in your 

 decision than I shall. 



To a man like myself, who neither possesses, nor seeks, any 

 other distinction than that of having done his best to advance 

 knowledge and to uphold the dignity and the authority of 

 science against all comers, the Presidency of this Society is the 

 highest dignity which he can attain, whatever else may befall 

 him. 



But, gentlemen, as men of science, yoa know better than I can 

 tell you, that there are things of more worth than distinction. I 

 am within measurable distance of the end of my career ; and 1 

 have long looked forw ard to the time w hen I should be able to 

 escape from the distractions and perturbations of the multitu- 

 dinous alTairs in which I have been so long entangled, to that 

 student Itfe from which the Fates have driven me, but to which I 

 trust they may, for a little space, permit me to return. 



