PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. O 



kind not adapted to gauge originality and character (if, indeed, these 

 can ever be tested by examination), instead of, as on the Continent 

 and in America, trusting the teachers to form an honest estimate 

 of the capacity and ability of each student, and awarding honours 

 accordingly. 



The remedy lies in our own hands. Let me suggest that we 

 exact from all gainers of University scholarships an undertaking that, 

 if and when circumstances permit, they will repay the sum which they 

 have received as a scholarship, bursary, or fellowship. It would then 

 be possible for an insurance company to advance a sum representing 

 the capital value, viz., 7,464,9311., of the scholarships, reserving, say, 

 20 per cent, for non-payment, the result of mishap or death. In 

 this way a sum of over six million pounds, of which the interest is now 

 expended on scholarships, would be available for University purposes. 

 This is about one-fourth of the sum of twenty-four millions stated by 

 Sir Norman Lockyer at the Southport meeting as necessary to place our 

 University education on a satisfactory basis. A large part of the 

 income of this sum should be spent in increasing the emoluments of the 

 chairs; for, unless the income of a professor is made in some degree 

 commensurate with the earnings of a professional man who has suc- 

 ceeded in his profession, it is idle to suppose that the best brains will 

 be attracted to the teaching profession. And it follows that unless the 

 teachers occupy the first rank, the pupils will not be stimulated as they 

 ought to be. 



Again, having made the profession of a teacher so lucrative as to 

 tempt the best intellects in the country to enter it, it is clear that such 

 men are alone capable of testing their pupils. The modern system of 

 ' external examinations, ' known only in this country, and answerable 

 for much of its lethargy, would disappear; schools of thought would 

 arise in all subjects, and the intellectual as well as the industrial 

 prosperity of our nation would be assured. As things are, can we 

 wonder that as a nation we are not scientific? Let me recommend 

 those of my hearers who are interested in the matter to read a recent 

 report on Technical Education by the Science Guild. 



I venture to think that, in spite of the remarkable progress of science 

 and of its applications, there never was a time when missionary effort 

 was more needed. Although most people have some knowledge of the 

 results of scientific inquiry, few, very few, have entered into its spirit. 

 We all live in hope that the world will grow better as the years roll on. 

 Are we taking steps to secure the improvement of the race? I plead 

 for recognition of the fact that progress in science does not only consist 

 in accumulating information which may be put to practical use, but 

 in developing a spirit of prevision, in taking thought for the morrow; 

 in attempting to forecast the future, not by vague surmise but by 



