the peesident's addeess. 325 



science, who have voluntarily passed most of their leisure hours in 

 the laboratory or the observatory, striving to add something to our 

 knowledge of the Creator's handiwork. Such eager students of 

 scientific truth — often the most modest and retiring of men — 

 feel themselves amply rewarded by some successful experiment 

 or deduction similar to those delicate researches to which I have 

 just drawn your attention. This success is not, however, ordi- 

 narily attained without many disappointments ; for at first there 

 are sure to be many instrumental anxieties to contend with. 

 These early difficulties are usually experienced in all kinds of 

 original scientific research, especially when the system of obser- 

 vation is new, as in the case of spectrum analysis, in which the 

 most delicate appliances of optical science, the most refined 

 chemical analysis, and the most perfect arrangements for produc- 

 ing the electric spark, are conjointly essential for the prosecution 

 of the enquiry. Frequently, although the goal appears to be 

 almost in sight, the difficulty of reaching it seems insurmount- 

 able. But when, by skill and patience, the observer becomes 

 more acquainted with the method of observation, these difficulties 

 gradually disappear ; and, as he advances in his research tenta- 

 tively, yet surely, he will probably soon perceive a dawn of light 

 approaching, leading him on, step by step, to his long-looked 

 for results, thus enabling him to exhibit some conclusive evidence 

 of the true philosophic value of his labours. 



In conclusion, I have now to thank you for the patient 

 attention you have given to the few remarks I have made con- 

 cerning the physical constitution and general distribution of the 

 fixed stars. You will, however, perceive that I have been 

 necessarily confined to a bare outline of only a few of the prin- 

 cipal results deduced from the analysis of stellar light, and the 

 photographic pictures of the heavens. But enough has been 

 said to show that we now have some reasonable conception of 

 what is going on in the great abyss of the firmament of stars, 

 where, up to the present time, imagination has, for the most 

 part, blindly wandered without a guide. We know also some- 

 thing of the peculiar motions that subsist amongst individual 

 stars, especially of those associated together in a common system ; 

 and we have absolute proof of a continuous activity prevailing 



