Anniversary Address. 9 



expenditure TTOuld in many respects be the truest economy^ 

 and that in others the fame which would accrue to the colony 

 would far more than compensate for the immediate outlay. 



Oiu" present position in regard to scientific researches 

 strikes me as not very dissimilar to that of some quartz- 

 crushing Company on our gold fields^ possessing stacks of 

 auriferous stone ready to yield untold treasure, together with 

 a first-rate battery of stampers, but begrudging the fuel re- 

 quisite for working the steam-engine by which that battery 

 is to be driven. 



This Colony has gone to great expense in engaging the 

 services of men of first-rate ability : it has provided each 

 with certain apparatus suited to his vocation, or given him 

 the aid of a costly staff. HaAdng done this, will it be con- 

 tent to rest in ignorance of what is being accomplished, or 

 delay, for the sake of a few extra thousands, the successful 

 completion of their allotted tasks ? 



I have enlarged, gentlemen, at the risk of wearying you, 

 upon this portion of my subject, because I am con^dnced that 

 the Royal Society may do much to remedy such a state of 

 things. It must, however, first of all, begin at the begin- 

 ning, and acquire more of the confidence of the people than 

 it at present commands. It must make science popular. 

 Not in the false sense of that word. Not by patronising 

 the exhibition of pretty tricks and ingenious experiments 

 (though let me, in passing, observe I should be glad to hear 

 lectures on scientific subjects, delivered by qualified lecturers, 

 in our new Hall). Not by promoting the publication of cheap 

 manuals and trashy guide books to science, in which facts are 

 generalised until their indi^idual significance is lost, and the 

 student is persuaded that he can run before he really knows 

 how to walk alone. Not by such means would I have you 

 popularise the objects we have in view, but by teaching your 

 fellow- colonists to believe in the earnestness of yom* purpose 



