eee Sl 
THE 
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS, 
BY 
ei; T. EDWARD THORPE, C.B., D.Sc., Sc.D., LL.D., HEV 
Hon. F.R.S., Edin., 
PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION. 
Tur British Association for the Advancement of Science owes its origin, 
and, in great measure, its specific aims and functions, to the public 
spirit and zeal for the interests of science of Scotsmen. Its virtual 
founder was Sir David Brewster ; its scope and character were defined by 
Principal Forbes. In constitution it differed from the migratory scientific 
associations existing on the Continent, which mainly serve 1 to promote 
the social intercourse of their members by annual gatherings, in that 
it was to be a permanent organisation, with a settled establishment and 
headquarters, which should have not merely its yearly reunions, but 
which, ‘by methods and by influence peculiarly its own, should con- 
tinue to operate during the intervals of these public assemblies, and 
should aspire to give an impulse to every part of the scientific system ; 
to mature scientific enterprise; and to direct the labours requisite for 
discovery.’ 
Although, for reasons of policy, it was decided that its first meeting 
of September 27, 1831, should be held at York, as the most central 
city for the three kingdoms, and its second and third meetings at the 
ancient Universities of Oxford and Cambridge respectively, it. was 
inevitable that the Association should seize the earliest opportunity 
to visit the Metropolis of Scotland where, as an historical fact, it may 
be said to have had its origin. 
The meeting in this city of September 8, 1834, was noteworthy for 
many reasons. It afforded the first direct proof that the Association 
was fulfilling its purpose. This was shown by the popular appreciation 
which attended its activities, by the range and character of its reports 
on the state and progress of science, by the interest and value of its 
sectional proceedings, and by the mode in which its funds were 
employed. In felicitous terms the President of the preceding year, the 
Rey. Professor Sedgwick, congratulated the gathering ‘on the in- 
creased strength in which they had assembled, in a place endeared to the 
feelings of every lover of science by so many delightful and elevating 
