464 Proceedings. 
tion. It will perhaps be objected that in a colony the daily tasks of life 
leave men little leisure for intellectual pursuits; but some of the busiest 
men have been eminently devoted to science and literature: witness Lord 
Bacon, and in our times Lord Brougham, the late Lord Derby, Mr. Gladstone, 
and many others. The fact is that such men resort to science and literature 
as a recreation, and the change from the active business and contests of life 
is found to be a refreshment. Until lately we could only look back with 
regret at the educational advantages which we seemed to have forfeited by 
leaving our homes. Happily we may now congratulate ourselves on the 
advancement which has been made here towards providing facilities for 
obtaining a superior education. However our legislators may differ on the 
subject which is exciting so much agitation in England as well as here, as 
to whether national education should be denominational, unsectarian, or 
secular, all are agreed that the utmost facilities should be afforded for educating 
the youth of both sexes and of all classes. The apathy on this subject which 
at first prevailed, and which was perhaps not unnatural, considering the 
difficulties which the early settlers had to encounter, has given place to an 
earnest desire, not only to place general education within the reach of all, 
but also to open the way, by scholarships and other inducements, for those 
who are desirous of advancing to the higher branches of science and 
literature. 
Independently of the value of knowledge for its own sake, to which I have 
very inadequately adverted, there never was a time when eminence in science, 
literature, or art, was more appreciated or more amply rewarded than now. 
Among the many instances which will occur to you as immediately within 
our own time, I need only mention the names of Humboldt, Herschel, 
Faraday, Murchison, Playfair, Niebuhr, Carlyle, Tennyson, and Landseer. 
Such men are not only claimed with pride by their own countrymen, but are 
admired and welcomed by the most gifted men of every civilized nation. 
Although I fear I have already occupied too much of your time, I am 
unwilling to conclude my address without saying a few words upon a subject 
which seems to me of very great importance. Until lately an impression, 
more or less general, prevailed, that the tendency of the study of science was 
to lead men to conclusions at variance with revelation. This fallacy is well 
nigh exploded, and it is indeed singular that it should ever have been 
supposed that anything in nature could be at variance with the revelation 
which proceeded from the God of nature. If the student of science should 
meet with difficulties which he may be unable to reconcile with God's word, 
surely it would be more reasonable to attribute them to his own limited and 
imperfect conceptions of truth than to conclude that they are irreconcileable. 
We do not really know the cause of anything in nature. We only know that 
