ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. LIII 
that “ Folks that are always telling you what they don’t believe are 
sort o’ stringy and dry. There ain’t no ’sorption got out o’ not be- 
lieving nothing.” At one time the emotional, at another the intel- 
lectual, side of the scientific man has the ascendency, and one must 
appeal from one state to the other. Were scientific thinking rigor- 
ously carried out to practical results in every-day life there would 
be some very remarkable social changes, and perhaps some very 
disagreeable ones. 
That scientific pursuits give great pleasure without reference to 
their utility, or to the fame or profit to be derived from them; that 
they tend to make a man good company to himself and to bring 
him into pleasant associations is certain; and that a man’s own 
pleasure and happiness are things to be sought for in his work and 
companionship is also certain. If in this address I have ventured 
to hint that this may not be the only, nor even the most important, 
object in life, that one may be a scientific man, or even a man of 
science, and yet not be worthy of special reverence; because he may 
be at the same time an intensely selfish man, and even a vicious 
man, I hope that it is clearly understood that it is with no inten- 
tion of depreciating the glory of science or the honor which is due 
to the large number of scientific gentlemen whom I see around me. 
A scientific gentleman—all praise to him who merits this title— 
it is the blue ribbon of our day. 
We live in a fortunate time and place; in the early manhood of 
a mighty nation, and in its capital city, which every year makes 
more beautiful, and richer in the treasures of science, literature, and 
art which all the keels of the sea and the iron roads of the land are 
bringing to it. Life implies death; growth presages decay ; but we 
have good reasons for hoping that for our country and our people 
the evil days are yet far off. Yet we may not rest and eat lotus; 
we may not devote our lives to our own pleasure, even though it 
be pleasure derived from scientific investigation. No man lives for 
himself alone; the scientific man should do so least of all. There 
never was a time when the world had more need of him, and there 
never was a time when more care was needful lest his torch should 
prove a firebrand and destroy more than it illuminates. 
The old creeds are quivering; shifting; changing like the colored 
flames on the surface of the Bessemer crucible. They are being 
analyzed, and accounted for, and toned down, and explained, until 
many are doubting whether there is any solid substratum beneath ; 
