Inaugural Address by the President. 25 



" We must not value unduly the admirable conquests won 

 by science in this century. Admirable as they are, they are 

 yet nothing as compared to the great mystery beyond. 

 Newton compared our science to that of a child, who should 

 pick up a pebble on the seashore, and think he has penetrated 

 the secrets of ocean." 



" After all our searching and all our eflForts, we to-day can 

 hardly say more. The shades that surround us are as deep as 

 in the time of Newton ; and in this universe, vast and obscure, 

 at most, scattered glimmers of light, few and far between, reach 

 our straining eyes. We need all the co-operation of all men 

 of science, of all nations, to dispel some of these shades." 



'' What madness it would be not to unite, not to walk hand 

 in hand, but to strive apart ! The reward of this union 

 will be above all price ; the conquest of truth, the control of 

 brute matter, the gift of a life less precarious and less painful to 

 man, feeble man." 



Also his closing words, 



" Vast as is the world, mighty as are the fires of the infinite 

 stars, the intelligence of man is of a higher order than these ; 

 and I would fain exclaim with the great philosopher Immanuel 

 Kant : ' More than the starry heaven above my head, one 

 thing fills me with admiration : the moral law in the heart of 

 man.'" 



Dr. Charles Sheldon in proposing a vote of thanks to the 

 lecturer, said that the President was not the least notable 

 among the members of the Workman family, who had done so 

 much in various forms to increase research in Belfast. They 

 had been delighted with the manner in which he had revealed 

 to them the results of his own investigation, and he (Dr. 

 Sheldon) hoped that the President's desire might be gratified 

 that the British Association would visit them at a future date. 



Mr. G. W. Ferguson seconded and Mr. W. Gray supported 

 the motion, which was passed by acclamation. 



The President thanked the mover of the vote of thanks and 



