ADDRESS. 



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the Celt, Goth, Saxon, and Dane, acquiring his strength on the hills and the 

 sea. The Aberdeen whaler braves the icy regions of the Polar Sea, to seek 

 and to battle with the great monster of the deep : he has materially assisted 

 in opening these icebound regions to the researches of Science ; he fearlessly 

 aided in the search after Sir John Franklin and his gallant companions, whom 

 their country sent forth on this mission, but to whom Providence, alas 1 has 

 denied the reward of their labours, the return to their homes, to the affec- 

 tionate embrace of their families and friends, and the acknowledgments of 

 a grateful nation. The City of Aberdeen itself is rich in interest for the 

 Philosopher. Its two lately united Universities make it a seat of Learning 

 and Science. The Collection of Antiquities, formed for the present occa- 

 sion, enables him to dive into olden times, and, by contact with the re- 

 mains of the handiworks of the ancient inhabitants of Scotland, to enter 

 into the spirit of that peculiar and interesting people, which has always at- 

 tracted the attention and touched the hearts of men accessible to the influ- 

 ence of heroic poetry. The Spalding Club, founded in this City for the 

 preservation of the historical and literary remains of the north-eastern 

 counties of Scotland, is honourably known by its important publications. 



Gentlemen ! — This is the 29th Anniversary of the foundation of this 

 Association ; and well may we look back with satisfaction to its operation 

 and achievements throughout the time of its existence. When, on the 27th 

 September, 1831, the Meeting of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society took 

 place at York, in the theatre of the Yorkshire Museum, under the Presidency 

 of the late Earl Fitzwilliam, then Viscount Milton, and the Rev. W. Vernon 

 Harcourt eloquently set forth the plan for the formation of a British Asso- 

 ciation for the promotion of Science, which he showed to have become a 

 want for his country, the most ardent supporter of this resolution could 

 not have anticipated that it would start into life full-grown as it were, enter 

 at once upon its career of usefulness, and pursue it without deviation from 

 the original design, triumphing over the oppositions which it had to encounter 

 in common with everything that is new and claims to be useful. Gentlemen, 

 this proved that the want was a real, and not an imaginary one, and that the 

 mode in which it was intended to supply that want was based upon a just 

 appreciation of unalterable truths. Mr. Vernon Harcourt summed up the 

 desiderata in graphic words, which have almost identically been retained 

 as the exposition of the objects of the Society, printed at the head of the 

 annually-appearing volume of its Transactions :— " to give a stronger impulse 

 and more systematic direction to scientific inquiry — to promote the inter- 

 course of those who cultivate Science in different parts of the Empire, with 

 one another and with foreign Philosophers— and to obtain a more general 

 attention to the objects of Science, and a removal of any disadvantages of a 

 public kind which impede its progress." 



To define the nature of Science, to give an exact and complete definition 

 of what that Science, to whose service the Association is devoted, is and 



