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BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCH. 
THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 
THE SCIENTIFIC WORLD-PICTURE OF 
TO-DAY. 
BY 
GENERAL THE RT. HON. J. C. SMUTS, P.C., C.H., F.R.S. 
PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION. 
Arrer what I said at the opening this afternoon it is unnecessary for mie 
to emphasise further the significance of this Centenary Meeting of our 
Association. It is a milestone which enables us to look back upon a 
hundred years of scientific progress, such as has no parallel in history. 
It brings us to a point in the advance from which we can confidently look 
_ forward to fundamental solutions and discoveries in the near future, which 
may transform the entire field of science. In this second and greater 
renaissance of the human spirit this Association and its members have 
borne a foremost part, to which it would be impossible for me to do justice 
to-night. I shall therefore not attempt to review the achievements of 
this century of science, but shall content myself with the simpler under- 
taking of giving a generalised composite impression of the present situation 
in science. The honour of presiding over this historic meeting, which was 
_not of my seeking, and for which I was chosen on grounds other than my 
personal merits, is indeed an almost overwhelming one, and I confidently 
appeal for your indulgence in the difficult task which awaits me to-night. 
Tam going to ask the question to-night: What sort of world-picture 
is science leading to? Is science tending towards a definite scientific 
outlook on the universe, and how dees it differ from the traditional outlook 
‘of commonsense ? 
The question is not without its interest. For our world-view is closely 
‘connected with our sense of ultimate values, our reading of the riddle of 
the universe, and of the meaning of life and of human destiny. Our 
‘Scientific world-picture will draw its material from all the sciences. Among 
1931 B 
