766 



recommendations of the two English societies, acting on foreign Go- 

 vernments through our own. To the Foreign Secretary of the Royal 

 Society, in conjunction with Dr. Lloyd of Dublin, was confided the 

 important task of drawing up the regulations under which the in- 

 quiries of associated nations, instead of associated individuals, were 

 to be carried on. 



In the case, too, of the South Polar Expedition, the Royal Society 

 was applied to by the Government for scientific recommendations ; 

 and your Council, in conjunction with your different scientific Com- 

 mittees, drew up a Report of the highest value, not only to the par- 

 ticular voyage for which it was specially prepared, but also for all 

 other similar undertakings, and even for every scientific traveller in 

 little-known regions of the globe. 



It would be invidious, Gentlemen, to allude to individual papers 

 that have been published in your Transactions during the term of 

 my Presidency. I should not, indeed, be capable of doing justice to 

 all, even if time permitted, which it certainly does not. I may per- 

 haps, however, allude to one philosophical invention described in 

 them, as being most important to the great inquiry on Terrestrial 

 Magnetism — I mean Mr. Brooke's Photographic Self-Registering In- 

 strument, which I have already mentioned. On the same head, I 

 may take the opportunity to return the thanks of the Society to 

 Colonel Sabine for the labour he has bestowed on the Magnetical 

 Observations made at Toronto and elsewhere. 



You w^ill all rejoice. Gentlemen, I am sure, to see the zeal that is 

 shown without as well as within the Royal Society in the cause of 

 science; to see the continued prosperity of the British Association; 

 to see our new as well as our old Societies flourishing ; to hear of 

 fresh discoveries in Astronomy ; to see the great collections of Na- 

 tural History in the British Museum and the College of Surgeons 

 augmented every year; to find our knowledge of the wonderful 

 animals now extinct, — of the Dinornis, Iguanodon, and other mon- 

 sters of antiquity, — increased by the labours of an Owen, a Mantell, 

 and others ; to see a magnificent pile rising to contain specimens of 

 the economic geology of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the 

 finished products of Art that owe their existence to it. 



These, Gentlemen, are all reasons why we should rejoice, and 

 also to see the increased degree in which the importance of science 

 is acknowledged for ship-building, for agriculture, and for the pre- 

 servation of human life and health in our great cities, in the great 

 hives of human industry. But they are not only reasons for rejoi- 

 cing, they are reasons whj^ we should return our hearty thanks to 

 Almighty Providence for thus blessing our land. Lastly, we should 

 remember that where so much has been given much will be re- 

 quired, and that it is our duty to extend these blessings as far as we 

 can for the happiness and comfort of our fellow-men. 



On the motion of Sir R. H. Inglis, Bart., the thanks of the So- 

 ciety were voted to his Lordship for his Address, with a request that 

 he would allow it to be printed. 



