ADDEESS 



BY 



Professor ARTHUR W. RUCKER, M.A, LL.I), 

 D.Sc, Sec.R.S. 



PRESIDENT. 



The first thought in the minds of all of us to-night is that since we met 

 last year the great Queen, in whose reign nearly all the meetings of the 

 British Association have been held, has passed to her i est. 



To Sovereigns most honours and dignities come as of right ; but for 

 some of them is reserved the supreme honour of an old age softened by 

 the love and benedictions of millions ; of a path to the grave, not only 

 magnificent, but watered by the tears both of their nearest and dearest, 

 and of those who, at the most, have only seen them from afar. 



This honour Queen Victoria won. All the world knows by what 

 great abilities, by what patient labour, by what infinite tact and kindli- 

 ness, the late Queen gained both the respect of the rulers of nations and 

 the affection of her own subjects. 



Her reit'n, florious in many respects, was remarkable, uutside these 

 islands, for the growth of the Empire ; within and without them, for 

 the drawing nearer of the Crown and the people in mutual trust ; while, 

 durin" her lifetime, the developments of science and of scientific industry 

 have altered the habits and the thoughts of the whole civilised world. 



The representatives of science have already expressed in more formal 

 ways their sorrow at the death of Queen Victoria, and the loyalty and 

 confident hope for the future with which they welcome the accession of 

 King Edward. But none the less, I feel sure that at this, the first 

 meeting of the Britis^h Association held in his reign, I am only expressing 

 the universal opinion of all our members when I say that no group of the 

 King's subjects trusts more implicitly than we do in the ability, skill, 

 and judgment which His Majesty has already shown in the exercise of 

 the powers and duties of his august otBce ; that none sympathise more 

 deeply with the sorrows which two great nations have shared with their 

 Sovereigns ; and that none cry with more fervour, ' Long live the King ! ' 



But this Meeting of the British Association is not only remarkable 

 as being the first in a new reign. It is also the first in a new century. 



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