THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 27 



night among the physical sciences, and by means of microscope, 

 and botanical specimens, electrical and pneumatic apparatus, to 

 come near to and hold converse with the minute and wonderful 

 in nature, and to see the effects of some of the hidden but 

 mighty forces of nature, I should have made a further demand upon 

 your patience, that I might speak of what is to be gained by the 

 study of Biology. 



We generally judge of the value of human pursuits by their 

 bearing upon human interests, that is, by their utility. Knowledge 

 of every kind is useful in proportion as it tends to give people right 

 ideas which are necessary as a foundation for right practice, and to 

 remove wrong ideas which, as we all know, are the fruitful mothers 

 of error in practice. And after all, our world seems to be largely if 

 not absolutely governed by ideas, and very often by the wildest 

 ideas, therefore it must be a matter of the very greatest importance 

 that our theories of things, and even of things that may seem a great 

 way from our daily lives, should be as far as possible true, and as far 

 as possible removed from error. It would be in this higher and 

 broader sense of utility that I would measure the value of the study 

 of Biology. At many of the turns ot this life of ours we feel the 

 need of some knowledge of this science. 



Those of us who had the great privilege and pleasure of hearing 

 Prof. Ramsay Wright's lecture on Microbes do not require any argu- 

 ment to convince us how intimately the theory of infectious diseases 

 is connected with biological knowledge. And surely this is of inter- 

 est to all of us. This theory is being rapidly made clear by this 

 study, and it surely behooves the general public, as well as the 

 professional Biologist, to get a sufficient knowledge of these truths 

 so as to be able to take an intelligent interest in the discussion 

 of problems relating to measures for the dealing with these 

 diseases. 



I might point you to the fact that the theory of agriculture has 

 been almost revolutionized during the last fifty or sixty years. The 

 importance of this cannot be over-estimated, and the whole of these 

 new views have grown out of the better explanation of certain pro- 

 cesses which go on in plants, and which, of course, form a part of 

 the subject matter of Biology. 



I might go on multiplying examples of the many benefits, direct 

 and indirect, derived from this branch of study, but time forbids. 



