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to the operation of those hitherto hidden laws that govern the 

 course of storms. I might multiply examples, but these indica- 

 tions as to the direction in which I think we might endeavour 

 to influence discussions here, advocating the application of 

 scientific discovery to practical aims, may suffice for the present, 

 and I therefore pass on to another branch of my subject. 



It is generally admitted that the United Kingdom has long 

 enjoyed a position of industrial and commercial supremacy over 

 the rest of the world. That position she still maintains, but 

 no longer so far ahead of some of her competitors as formerly ; 

 and it may not be unprofitable to inquire what first led to this 

 supremacy, and why it is now threatened. On both these 

 points, especially on the latter, differences of opinion prevail, 

 but I believe what mainly led to it was the partly natural and 

 partly acquired aptitude of the people to adapt themselves to 

 circumstances, and their ability to take full advantage of the 

 enormous mineral wealth with which the country had been so 

 richly endowed by nature. The people, too, had plenty of 

 working enterprise and energy, but along with this they 

 possessed the characteristic of seeing quickly, almost by intui- 

 tion, when their work ceased to be fairly reproductive, and 

 when it was time for them to turn and change. Then there 

 arose from time to time men of exceptional reflective, inventive 

 and mechanical talent, whose names will be remembered as 

 long as British science and British commerce endure ; men like 

 Watt and Arkwright and the two Stephensons, like Davy and 

 Faraday and many others ; men, I say, like these arose often 

 to have to combat prejudices and meet opposition, but finally 

 to conquer, and to find an army of workers ready to follow their 

 lead and to devote their own energy to the development of our 

 resources. Again, these countries have produced men of the 

 most profound genius in every walk of life — authors, poets, 

 statesmen, soldiers and sailors, historians, philosophers, artists, 

 and scientists in all branches. It is only with some of these 

 latter that we have now specially to deal, although all the rest, 

 and many others too numerous to mention, have not been with- 

 out much influence in moulding the national character, a pro- 



