PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 6 



We shall proceed then to consider some aspects of nature 

 showing Uniformities and by contrast, other aspects show- 

 ing Irregularities and Discontinuities. 



Law and Order in Nature. 

 In a general survey of nature, our attention is arrested 

 by becoming acquainted witli the laws and regularities 

 which have so far been shown to exist in regard to natural 

 phenomena. But it is quite as arresting to examine certain 

 phenomena and the results of observations of nature which 

 indicate abruptness of change, discontinuity or irregularity. 

 So anxious is the human mind to believe in the orderliness 

 of nature, that all such cases of irregularity or abrupt 

 change are usually considered to be cases which are only 

 apparently irregular or abrupt, and that an intimate enough 

 acquaintance and deep enough understanding of nature 

 would show that this belief was justified. For example, 

 where some apparent irregularity occurs, it may be suffici- 

 ent that a certain law (which we thought should hold good) 

 be altered in such a way as to include the new observation, 

 or it may be that some new unsuspected condition exists 

 in our observation which has not hitherto been taken into 

 account. At any rate we all expect that the anomalous 

 result of to-day will probably be cleared away before long 

 on account of the discovery of other facts and sometimes 

 of more comprehensive laws; and our expectations as a 

 whole may be said to be justified. This desire to evoke 

 order out of disorder is undoubtedly on the right lines. 



Alteration of Laws to meet new facts. 

 One's first idea in discovering some new fact, which does 

 not fit in to the known laws, is to discredit the accuracy 

 of the observation or the deductions from it; if, however, 

 the observation can be repeated and the deductions there- 

 from can be shown to be proper, the second thought to 

 some of us is one of annoyance or impatience with nature, 



