A COMPREHENSIVE SOCIETY. 



The greatest feature of the British Association is its breadth. It is divided 

 up into eleven different sections, and each of these receives its own share of time 

 and opportunity- We all know that even among scientific men jealousies arise. 

 The mathematician with his severe methods thinks little of the anthropologist 



SIR DAVID BREWSTER 



Originator (1831) and President B. A. 



S. (1850). 



with his guesses and his plausible theories. The biologist looks askance at the 

 geologist, with his hammer, breaking senseless rocks, while the former is dealing 

 with the problems of sensation and intelligence; and so also the physicist with 

 his knowledge in practical demand for the Brodwissen-schaften looks with sub- 

 lime pity upon the archaeologist occupied with dry-as-dust investigations. But 

 this is all wrong. Every department in education, every department of know- 

 ledge contributes something to the uplift of society and the world. In 1855 the 

 Duke of Argyll was President of the Society. The Duke brought not only dis- 

 tinction from a long line of ancestral achievements in war, diplomacy, religion, 

 society and letters, but was himself a scientist and a publicist. No doubt his 



