PROCKEDINOS 



THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE, 



Presidential Address. By B. E. Walker, Esg., F.G.S. 



(Read 12th November, 1898.) 



The scientific student, or even the mere student of science, a quite different 

 thing, by tlie way, should be one who seeks truth for its own sake, indifferent to 

 the effect it may have on his preconceptions. If we turn to the last century, we 

 find those who were interested in the physical history of the earth readily adopting 

 the speculations of such men as Buffon and Werner, and so captivated by their plausi- 

 ble theories, based on little observation, that men like Guettard and Demarest, indus- 

 trious observers who gathered facts before they ventured to theorize, were utterly dis- 

 regarded, although their methods and conclusions were purely scientific in spirit 

 and have helped to build the body of real truth which was so lamentably retarded 

 by their brilliant contemporaries. Practically the spirit of original research and 

 of open-mindedness in accepting the results of the researches of others, is of 

 modern origin, and such liberty of obserA-ation and thought is even yet looked 

 upon by some as a dangerous use of our faculties. There are still those who 

 regard the modern spirit of enquiry as an attack upon whatever old foundations 

 may seem to constitute orthodoxy in either religion or science. But this modern 

 spirit of scientific study covers much beside the observation of truths connected 

 merely with the physical and natural world around us. It covers practically al! 

 knowledge which may be systematized. It is that state of mind toward all 

 phenomena which, if we were perfectly free from bias, would not permit us to 

 vary any conclusion warranted by the facts, in favour of our preconceived idea.s 

 or beliefs. Of course very few, if any, can entirely escape the baneful effect of 

 preconceptions, and it is to be feared that men of science are sometimes as dog- 

 matic and prejudiced as others. Too many follow a quest in science which may 

 not be truth, perhaps a quest of material gain, or of mere intellectual enlarge- 

 ment, by adding to the facts which sustain a theory already held. The scien- 

 tific student should rise above all other considerations to the moral altitude 

 of mere truth for its own sake. If it is a truth which he is unable to square with 

 other truths, he should be willing that it should remain a disturbing anomaly until 

 time shall have solved it. Let us, however, descend from these high levels into 

 the so-called practical affairs of life. 



There are those who question the importance of any new fact in the natural 

 or physical world unless the material good to flow from it to man is apparent. 

 What is the use of studying plants, or insects, or other inedible animals, or 

 fossils ' What is the use of Crookes's tube, they would have said a tew years ago . 

 And there are those of higher intelligence who although willing to admit the 

 value of studies bearing on the origin of life, on evolution or some recognized 

 philosophy, still question the wisdom of spending long years in the discovery of 



