14 president's address. 



water. He is drawing with a lavish hand on the mighty but 

 still finite stores of energy which he has discovered lying ready 

 in the bowels of the earth, and already sees himself face to face 

 with the necessity of finding means to draw on solar radiation, 

 the interior heat of the globe, and tidal energy. Incidentally by 

 disturbing the balance of Nature he has introduced foes into his 

 own household, and among the organisms which he has taken 

 under his protection. By nursing his sick and cherishing his 

 weak, he has unwittingly fostered an army of diseases, and by 

 the greatly increased facility in transit and transport he has 

 spread them far and wide. And in the same way he has intro- 

 duced and maintained diseases amongst his domestic animals, 

 and pests amongst his domestic plants. 



In consequence of these and other extraordinary displacements 

 of the ordinary arrangements of Nature which had become 

 established by immemorial usage, man, as the disturbing body 

 arouses the resistance of all bodies disturbed. He can only 

 maintain his position by the exercise of tremendous energy, and 

 by a precise and extended knowledge of the stresses to which he 

 has exposed himself. Using a different metaphor, Lankester 

 styles him Nature's Insurgent Son. Pursuing this conception, he 

 shows that, having advanced so far into the provinces of Nature, 

 man must fortify the position he has won, and must advance still 

 further until he has the keys of the kingdom in his possession. 

 To hold his own, and to advance further, he must learn well the 

 nature of the country, and the resources and disposition of the 

 opposing forces. This knowledge he can only obtain from his 

 scouts and pioneers — the workers in Science. 



That this essential fact is not sufficiently recognised either by 

 the public or by politicians is only too manifest. How far can 

 our legislative bodies claim to be qualified by a scientific know- 

 ledge of the material resources of the State, and of the laws 

 under which they may be utilised and developed and conserved 

 in the interests of the State as a whole regarded as a permanent 

 institution, an enduring nation 1 They have to consider in a 

 minor degree the scientific development of manufactures, but far 



