64 SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY NOTES. 
THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 
GenTLEMEN oF THE British AssocraTIoN,— 
Your kind invitation to me to undertake the office of your President for the 
ensuing year could not but startle me on its first announcement. The high posi- 
tion which science occupies, the vast number of distinguished men who labour inher 
sacred cause, and whose achievements, while spreading innumerable benefits, justly 
attract the admiration of mankind, contrasted strongly in my mind with the consci- 
ousness of my own insignificance in this respect. I, asimple admirer, and would- 
be student of scicnee, to take the place of chief and spokesman of the scientific men 
of the day, assembled in furtherance of their important objects—the thing appeared 
tome impossible. Yet, on reflection, [came to the conclusion, that, if not as a con- 
tributor to or director of your labours, I might still be useful to you, useful 
to science, by accepting your offer. Remembering that this Association is a 
popular Association, not a secret confraternity of men jealously guarding the 
mysteries of their profession, but inviting the uninitiated, the public at large, to 
join them, having as one of its objects to break down those imaginary and hurtful 
barriers which exist between men of scienee and so-called men of practice—I felt 
that I could, from the peculiar position in which Providence had placed me in this 
country, appear as the representative of that large public, which profits by and 
admires your exertions, but is unable actively to joinin them; that my election 
was an act of humility on your part which to reject would have looked like false 
humility, that is like pride, on mine. But I reflected further, and saw in my 
acceptance the means, of which necessarily so few are offered to her Majesty, of 
testifying to you, through the instrumentality of her husband, that your labours 
are not unappreciated by your Sovereign, and that she wishes her people to know 
this as well as yourselves. Guided by these reflections, my choice was speedily 
made, for the path of duty lay straight before me. 
If these, however, are the motives which have induced me to accept your 
flattering offer of the Presidency, a request on my part is hardly neccessary that 
you will receive my efforts to fulfil its duties with kind indulgence. 
If it were possible for anything to make me still more aware how much I stand 
in need of this indulgeuce, it is the recollection of the person whom I have to suc- 
ceed as your President—a man of whom this country is justly proud, and whose 
name stands among the foremost of the naturalists in Hurope for his patience in 
investigation, conscientiousness in observation, boldness of imagination, and acute- 
ness inreasoning. Yon have no doubt listened with pleasure to his parting address, 
and I beg to thank him for the flattering manner in which he has alluded to me 
in it. 
The Association meets for the first time to-day in these regions, and in this ancient 
and interesting city. The poet, in his works of fiction, has to choose, and anxiously 
to weigh, where to lay his scene, knowing that, like the painter, he is thus laying in 
the background of his picture, which will give tone and colour to the whole. The 
stern and dry reality of life is governed by the same laws, and we are here living, 
feeling, and thinking under the influence of the local impressions of this northern 
seaport. The choice appears tome a good one. The travelling philosophers have 
