president's address. 117 



time were adapted to climate and situation must, when change 

 of condition takes place, gradually cease to be accommodated, and 

 thus the persistence would be endangered. If variability, how- 

 ever, increased with increased disaccommodation, there might be 

 one amongst the many variables which, suited to the new condi- 

 tions, would have full scope, and might continue to exist, while 

 the others less accommodated would disappear. There are two 

 ways in which this might occur : change in combination with 

 " natural selection," might be the agent; or, which will appear 

 to some a preferable supposition, matter endowed with life might, 

 in consequence of some inherent quality, be able to accommodate 

 itself to outward circumstances. 



These interesting speculations will afford ample matter for re- 

 search, and I trust that some member or members of the Club 

 will be induced to prosecute such enquiries, and by observation 

 and experiment endeavour to throw additional light upon this 

 question of hybridity. Here, then, it is time for me to pause, 

 for I have detained you much too long ; I will, therefore, only 

 add how sincerely I wish success to this and other kindred asso- 

 ciations. As a clergyman, I would say with confidence that re- 

 vealed truth has nothing to fear from the true spirit of scientific 

 research. Some traditional interpretations of particular phrases 

 or passages, some received impressions, may need revision in the 

 light of modern knowledge, but as the excavated mounds of 

 Babylonia and Assyria have so singularly borne their testimony 

 to the truth of Bible history, so we may confidently expect to 

 find from scientific research evidence of other kinds, all tending 

 to establish in our minds how safely we may rest upon the truth 

 that holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy 

 Ghost. Indeed, if the book of nature and the book of revelation 

 have the same Author, they cannot really be at variance. Only 

 we should remember that it is not the object of Holy Scripture 

 to teach science systematically, or even systematic theology, and 

 that as regards natural objects Holy Scripture often speaks of 

 things not as they arc in themselves in their tfeal inner nature 

 and connection, but as they appear to an ordinary observer; and 

 that it is less the object of revelation to explain the laws according 



