, NOTICES AND ABSTRACTS 
OF 
MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS TO THE SECTIONS. 
MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS. 
MAaAtTHEMATICS. 
Address by the Rev. W. Wuewe tt, D.D., F.R.S., President of the 
Section. 
Tue managers of the Association have assigned a small room to this Section. I 
hope that no one is at present inconvenienced by this. I shall be glad if it should 
be found that in this respect the managers have been mistaken. But the fact is, 
that we are very much in the habit in this Section of treating our subjects in so 
sublime a manner that we thin the room very speedily. This is true, but this is no 
fault of ours. We seek the laws of Nature, and Nature presents to us her laws in 
a form which is to many persons repulsive, namely, a mathematical form. It has 
been truly said, both by sacred and profane writers, that all things are made by 
number, weight, and measure. Now things which happen by number, weight, and 
measure, happen according to mathematical laws, according to the relations of 
number and space. According to such relations the laws of various of the appear- 
ances which Nature presents to us were studied at the earliest periods of the intel- 
lectual progress of man; and if the laws detected by man on such subjects are in 
some respects perplexing to many from their mathematical form and complexity, 
and are thus repulsive, they are at least attractive in another point of view; for 
the extent and brilliancy of the success which has been obtained in these fields 
of speculation are such as could not have been in any degree anticipated at an 
early period. And the truths obtained in this way at an early period of man’s 
intellectual progress are even still of great value and interest, and are essential 
parts of the body of scientific truth at the present time. The astronomy of the 
ancient Greeks, expressed in the mathematical forms which they devised, has been 
an important element in the formation of that astronomy of modern times of which 
I have several of the eminent masters near me. And this connected progress 
of knowledge from ancient to modern times has been exemplified in various por- 
tions of science, and still goes on appearing in new examples. You recollect, 
perhaps, that a Roman philosopher, Seneca, made a remark which, though con- 
jectural, is striking. In speaking of comets, he said: These objects now seem 
to follow no law, as the planets do. They appear unforeseen and unexpected, 
filling us with perplexity and alarm. Yet these bodies, too, he said, shall disclose 
their laws to astronomers in future years. Their returns will be predicted, their 
laws known, and our posterity will wonder that we did not discern what is so plain. 
And this prophecy has been fulfilled. Comets have had their returns predicted, and 
have fulfilled their predictions. And though this is not always the case, for comets 
still shine forth unpredicted and unforeseen, yet still, even in such cases, we are not 
1858. 1 
