6 president's address. 



orderly marshalling of facts, and by deducing from them their logical 

 outcome; and chiefly in endeavouring to control conditions which may 

 be utilised for the lasting good of our people. We must cultivate a 

 belief in the ' application of trained intelligence to all forms of national 

 activity. ' 



The Council of the Association has had under consideration the 

 formation of a Section of Agriculture. For some years this important 

 branch of applied science, borrowing as it does from botany, from 

 physics, from chemistry, and from economics, has in turn enjoyed 

 the hospitality of each of these Sections, itself having been made a sub- 

 section of one of these more definite sciences. It is proposed this year 

 to form an Agricultural Section. Here there is need of missionary 

 effort ; for our visits to our colonies have convinced many of us that 

 much more is being done for the farmer in the newer parts of the 

 British Empire than at home. Agriculture is, indeed, applied botany, 

 chemistry, entomology, and economics; and has as much right to 

 independent treatment as has engineering, which may be strictly 

 regarded as applied physics. 



The question has often been debated whether the present method of 

 conducting our proceedings is the one best adapted to gain our ends. 

 We exist professedly ' to give a stronger impulse and a more systematic 

 direction to scientific inquiry.' The Council has had under considera- 

 tion various plans framed with the object of facilitating our work, and 

 the result of its deliberations will be brought under your attention at 

 a later date. To my mind, the greatest benefit bestowed on science by 

 our meetings is the opportunity which they offer for friendly and un- 

 restrained intercourse, not merely between those following different 

 branches of science, but also with persons who, though not following 

 science professionally, are interested in its problems. Our meetings 

 also afford an opportunity for younger men to make the acquaintance 

 of older men. I am afraid that we who are no longer in the spring 

 of our lifetime, perhaps from modesty, perhaps through carelessness, 

 often do not sufficiently realise how stimulating to a young worker a 

 little sympathy can be; a few words of encouragement go a long way. 

 I have in my mind words which encouraged me as a young man, words 

 spoken by the leaders of Associations now long past — by Playfair, by 

 Williamson, by Frankland, by Kelvin, by Stokes, by Francis Galton, 

 by Fitzgerald, and many others. Let me suggest to my older scientific 

 colleagues that they should not let such pleasant opportunities slip. 



Since our last meeting the Association has to mourn the loss by 

 death of many distinguished members. Among these are : — 



Dr. John Beddoe, who served on the Council from 1870 to 1875, 

 has recently died at a ripe old age, after having achieved a world- 

 wide reputation by his magnificent work in the domain of anthropology. 



