THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 3 



are preoccupied to-day with some of the results of scientific dis- 

 covery of which they were certainly then only dimly conscious. A 

 part of that field, which ought itself to become scientific, is my 

 theme to-day. 



What do we mean by impact ? My subject is not the influence 

 or effect of science upon society — too vast, varied and indeterminate 

 for such an occasion. We may consider the position of the average 

 man, along a line of change we call ' progress,' at the beginning 

 of a certain interval of time and at its end. We might then 

 analyse how much is due to a change in the average man himself, 

 his innate physical and mental powers, and how much to other 

 influences, and particularly to science. We may debate whether 

 the distance covered is great or small by some assumed standard, 

 and whether progress has been rapid. We might ask whether the 

 direction has been right, whether he is happier or better — judged 

 again by some accepted standard. But our concern here is with 

 none of these questions. I ask whether the transition has been 

 difficult and distressing, in painful jerks and uprootings, costly, 

 unwilling, or unjust ; or whether it has been easy, natural, and 

 undisturbing. Does society make heavy weather of these changes, 

 or does it, as the policeman would say, ' come quietly ' ? The 

 attitude of mind of our order may be either that change is an 

 interruption of rest and stability, or that rest and stability are a 

 mere pause in a constant process of change. But these alternatives 

 make all the difference to its accommodating mechanisms. In 

 one case there will be well developed tentacles, grappling irons, 

 anchorages, and all the apparatus of security. In the other, society 

 will put on casters and roller bearings, cushions, and all the aids 

 to painless transition. The impact of science will be surprising and 

 painful in the one case, and smooth and undamaging in the other. 

 Whatever may be the verdict of the past, is society and its institu- 

 tions now learning that change is to be a continuous function, and 

 that meeting it requires the development of a technique of its own ? 

 Science itself has usually no immediate impact upon institutions, 

 constitutions and philosophies of government and social relations. 

 But its effects on people's numbers, location and habits soon have ; 

 and the resistance and repugnance shown by these institutions 

 and constitutions to the changed needs may rebound or react through 

 those effects upon scientific enterprise itself and make it more pre- 

 carious or more difficult. Thus the effect of applications of 

 electricity and transport improvements is clearly to make the original 

 areal extent of city or provincial governments quite inappropriate, 

 and the division of functions and methods of administration archaic. 

 If these resist change unduly they make it more difficult and fac- 

 tional, and the applications of science less profitable and less readily 



