Inaugural Address. 483 



thence the network of canals which traverses the 

 eastern part of England. In these sluggish waters it 

 increased to such an extent as to render navigation 

 almost impossible, and hundreds of pounds had to be 

 spent in the endeavour to keep it within bounds. 



But the practical applications of xS^atural History 

 are far from being exhausted by their utility to the 

 farmer and cattle-breeder. Man himself is part of 

 the garrison maintained by constant struggle against 

 surrounding foes ; he is the subject of attack by 

 minute plants and animals of all kinds, which find in 

 his body a fertile field for their development, with the 

 results of disease and death to him. Our heathen 

 ancestors attributed disease to evil spirits and magic ; 

 our more immediate progenitors to climatic conditions, 

 dust of comets, and I know not what else. Only in 

 recent times has it gradually dawned upon us that 

 disease is merely the outward and visible sign of the 

 conflict which outside J^ature is waging with us, the 

 highly cultivated and somewhat abnormal product. 



But whilst many would be ready to admit that a 

 study of zoology and botany was of importance to the 

 experts at the Experimental Farm at Ottawa, and to 

 the specialists who devote themselves to the study of 

 disease, they would probably be inclined to doubt 

 whether such study as is pursued by a society like our 

 own would be likely to help either the farmer or the 

 doctor. 



Against this position there are the strongest argu- 

 ments to urge. It is a remarkable fact that the 

 discoveries which are of the greatest use to the human 

 race have hardly ever been made by direct search for 

 them. They have come as the indirect result of the 

 pure search for knowledge. 



