AuGust 20, 1897. ] 
In the closer circle of personal friendship 
it is hard to speak with impartiality while 
the sense of bereavement is still fresh. A 
man’s personality penetrates into all that 
he’ does, into his writings quite as un- 
mistakably, if less positively, than into his 
conversation and the atmosphere of his 
home. Ina eulogy on Joseph Henry, to 
which I listened at Cambridge just seven- 
teen years ago, Professor Mayer said: 
“‘ His best eulogy is an account of his dis- 
coveries; for a man of science, as such, 
lives in what he has done, and not in what 
he has said, nor will he be remembered for 
what he has proposed to do.”” In compar- 
ing Henry with Faraday he remarked: 
“Each loved science more than money, 
and his Creator more than either.’’ Mayer 
proved himself a worthy pupil of Henry, and ~ 
their friendship grew in strength until bro- 
ken by the last great Destroyer. His words 
may now be properly applied to himself. 
The characteristics of the gentleman, the 
high-toned man of honor, were born in him. 
They needed no cultivation beyond the nat- 
ural development and confirmation which 
accompany the attainment of maturity. 
Those who were favored with his friend- 
ship need no reminder of his generosity, 
his ready sympathy, his quick insight and 
hearty appreciation, his enthusiasm verging 
sometimes almost upon that of boyhood. 
The value of Mayer’s work will be tested 
by time. For some parts of it he will un- 
questionably be long referred to as an 
authority by stranger as well as friend. He 
dwelt in an atmosphere essentially un- 
favorable to the spirit which directed his 
work, for nowhere in the world can there 
be found so high a degree of general civil- 
ization conjoined with so small a degree of 
general appreciation of pure science as in 
America. This may be said with full 
recognition of the abundant rewards here 
accorded to science successfully applied in 
industrial fields, and of the rich endow- 
SCIENCE. 
269 
ments given by wealthy individuals to some 
of our educational institutions. But the 
man who advances theoretical science in 
_ America receives not a tithe of the recogni- 
tion given to the inventor who puts on the 
market a merchantable device which pleases 
the multitude. Professor Mayer would have 
done his scientific work to better advantage 
in France or Germany. But be this as it 
may, we who knew him in his work must 
now know him only in memory. To have 
had him as a co-worker and friend is now a 
sad pleasure, and one that nothing can take 
away. 
Wey, W. LeContE STEVENS. 
ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF TRE BRIT- 
ISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCE- 
MENT OF SCIENCE.* 
Once more has the Dominion of Canada 
invited the British Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science to hold one of the 
annual meetings of its members within the 
Canadian territory, and for a second time 
has the Association had the honor and 
pleasure of accepting the proffered hospi- 
tality. 
In doing so the Association has felt that, 
if by any possibility the scientific welfare 
of a locality is promoted by its being the 
scene of such a meeting, the claims should 
be fully recognized of those who, though 
not dwelling in the British Isles, are still 
inhabitants of that Greater Britain whose 
prosperity is so intimately connected with 
the fortunes of the Mother Country, 
Here, especially, as loyal subjects of one 
beloved sovereign, the sixtieth year of 
whose beneficent reign has just been cele- 
brated with equal rejoicing in all parts of 
her Empire; as speaking the same tongue, 
and as, in most instances, connected by the 
ties of one common parentage, we are bound 
together in all that can promote our com- 
mon interests. 
* Delivered by: Sir John Evans at Toronto, August 
18, 1897. 
