16 Anniversary Address. 



with redoubled ardor to tlie task of rendering our monthly 

 meetings profitable and agreeable. A noble field lies before 

 us. Tlierc is ample room for all ! 



Let evcr}'^ one set earnestly to work in his own sphere for 

 the advancement of science ; he who never did so before 

 taking up some branch in which more accurate knowledge is 

 still desirable. Let those who find aught worthy of being 

 communicated favor us with papers^ to be discussed with 

 moderation of language^ and in entire oblivion of bygone bick- 

 erings. Let this be done^ and we shall hardly fail to achieve 

 results of importance; for^ in the words of an eloqiient Avriter 

 on natural history in the CornMll Magazine, " from the illu- 

 mination of many minds on many points, truth must finally 

 emerge.'^ Association for scientific research is, in fact, no 

 longer matter of choice, but of necessity. The collection and 

 classification of facts is the essential element of modern pro- 

 gress, and it cannot be attained without division of labor and 

 widespread publicity. In earlier stages of the workVs his- 

 tory the brain of a single man, of an Aristotle or a Pliny, 

 sufficed to comprehend all that was yet discovered regarding 

 Nature, but such knowledge is now too vast to be grasped in 

 sufficient clearness of detail by any individual intellect. Even 

 the giant mind of Humboldt quailed before the task of giving 

 a physical description of the universe, and confessed the com- 

 pletion of his '' Cosmos," according to his original concep- 

 tions, to be impracticable. 



True genius is indeed ever humble. The great Newton 

 described himself towards the end of his career as having 

 only gathered a few pebbles on the shores of a boundless 

 ocean. Who in our day shall venture to boast of doing more 

 than sift some grains of the sand which brims that ocean's 

 shores ? JNIay we united pursue the path of scientific 

 inquiry, in a like spirit of humility, and with an eye to truth 

 alone. 



