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attachment, and the interchange of kindness and courtesy, to which 

 this Institution had trained its Members. But though those times 

 have passed, and though we now stand at an elevation of which 

 your founders never dreamed, yet let us not forget, in the season of 

 triumph, the principle to which we owe it. That principle is 

 equality of consideration and power in each of our departments. 

 No doubt many will be ready to dispute its truth, and assert the 

 supremacy of their favourite pursuits ; but let such beware of " the 

 Idols of the Cave." Each individual thinks that the noblest for 

 which he feels himself most highly gifted ; but for that very reason 

 he is the worst possible judge as to the relative value of any other. 

 We have already seen that this system affords the best means of 

 general intellectual development; let us also consider how it bears 

 on the elements of our power. 



Our power depends on the place we hold in public estimation 

 at home and abroad ; these two react on each other. Abroad we can 

 be known only by our publications ; while they appear regularly, 

 and maintain their present high standard of value, so long we shall 

 command the suffrages of the world ; the honour which we win is 

 reflected on our country, and therefore we are upheld and cherished 

 by our countrymen. But it would be unsafe to rest on this alone, 

 or strain the chivalry of sentiment too far. We must also make 

 our countrymen take a direct and personal interest in our proceed- 

 ings ; we must mark out for ourselves a range of exertion, which 

 shall as far as possible conciliate the sympathy and co-operation of 

 all. Now it is unquestionable that, with reference to the approba- 

 tion of the world at large, the mathematical part of our Transactions 

 holds the highest place. This is just; but let us never forget that, 

 were our pursuits restricted to that one science, we should soon be 

 unable to publish a single volume. Such investigations are not of 

 general interest ; the number of those who can read, much less 

 appreciate them, is inversely as their value; and though there is 

 probably in this room a larger per-centage of persons thus compe- 

 tent than could be found in any similar assembly in Europe, you 

 would wonder, if I reckoned their names, to find so few. Yet on 

 those few the rest of you rely; you accept with confidence their 

 estimate of the value of such researches, and in that faith you sup- 



