722 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION L. 
Section L.—EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE. 
PRESIDENT OF THE SEcCTION.—PriNcIPAL EK. H. GrirritHs, 
Se.D., LL.D., F.B.S: 
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11. 
The President delivered the following Address :— 
Some two thousand years ago an aged philosopher said that there were only 
three things he regretted ; the first was that he had wasted a day of his life, the 
second that he had travelled by sea when he might have gone by land, and the 
third that he had told a secret to his wife. My own regrets are of a very 
different nature, for, as regards the first of those advanced by Cato, one day 
would count for little in my wastage, and with the second and third complaints 
I have no sympathy. I have, however, a regret greater than any of these— 
namely, that I accepted the honour of being the President of this Section, 
inasmuch as that acceptance has involved the necessity of a Presidential Address. 
When I glance at the list of distinguished men who have been my predecessors 
in this chair, I appreciate more fully both the difficulty of the task and the 
deficiencies of the operator. These difficulties are not diminished by the reflec- 
tion that in speaking on Education one is not addressing a comparatively small 
audience of those interested in some definite branch of Science, but that the 
speaker has to deal with a subject on which almost every adult inhabitant of this 
kingdom regards himself as an authority. 
I may illustrate the popular attitude by relating a conversation overheard 
in a tramcar in one of our cities at the time of the passing of the Education 
Act of 1902. One of the passengers remarked that many men, who on the 
School Board had interested themselves in educational matters, would now 
cease to be members of the Education Authority, and he asked: ‘ Who is 
there on the City Council who has real knowledge of the subject?’ ‘ Oh,’ 
replied his companion, ‘ that’s all right. Councillor X. has been reading up 
the subject for the last month!’ 
I am also aware that he who ventures to express publicly his real feelings on 
educational matters is deliberately sailing into troubled waters, for, with the 
Scylla of sectarianism on the one side and the Charybdis of political partisanship 
on the other, it is difficult to steer a safe course. 
I would ask you, unpleasant though the effort may be, to recall the days when 
the Bill of 1902 was discussed in the House of Commons. In those days and 
weeks of dreary discussion it would not be easy for an anxious inquirer to find 
any debate on a topic really educational. The feelings of the general public 
were, it seems to me, admirably summarised by Mr. Godley in verses from which 
I cannot resist the temptation of giving a quotation :— 
‘Essence of boredom! stupefying theme! 
Whereon with eloquence less deep than full, 
Still maundering on with slow continuous stream, 
All can expatiate and all be dull. 
