Opening Address. 3 



have been the Great Exhibition of 1851, which seems to have set 

 all nations in motion, enjoying an international intercourse pre- 

 viously unknown, and with friendly emulation striving for progress 

 and improvement. 



I do not mean to affirm that the patronage and assistance of a 

 society is indispensable to success. We know that many great 

 and valuable discoveries have been made and perfected withouq. 

 any assistance whatever beyond the perseverance and means of 

 the originator. On the other hand is there not many a solitary, 

 unintrusive individual who may possess all the elements of success, 

 but for want of interest, capital, or assurance, his talents and 

 knowledge are constrained to lie under a bushel, and ideas or 

 discoveries which might have benefited mankind, remain to be 

 adopted or propounded by some one more fortunate than himself — 

 " Pull many a flower is born to blush unseen 

 And waste its sweetness in the desert air." 



I do not know what is the exact number of societies on the 

 Continent and in America, but at the present time there are in 

 London alone, no fewer than sixty-two, separately working for 

 the advancement of some particular branch of knowledge, each 

 sailing under a different colour, but all having one common ob- 

 ject in view — the happiness and welfare of mankind. Most of 

 these societies may be said to derive their existence from one 

 common stock, and it is natural that it should be so, when we 

 consider that every branch of natural and physical science forms 

 but a part of a great whole — the science of the universe ; to em- 

 ploy the appropriate, but oft-quoted language of Francis Bacon — 

 " No natural phenomenon can be adequately studied in itself 

 alone, but to be understood, it must be considered as it stands 

 connected with all nature." 



But, however expedient it may be that there should be distinct 

 and independent scientific communities, it is evident that such a 

 disintegration can only take place with advantage in a large 

 metropolis where lovers of science with adequate means abound ; 

 and where little bands of congenial minds prefer meeting together 

 for discussing their favourite study at any time, rather than trust 

 to an occasional opportunity for doing so at a meeting of a society 

 more general in its objects. In young communities, a society 

 such as this is the only one likely to be effectual in promoting 



