Prcrfessor Hamilton 's Address. 



ly acquainted with each other, than can be supposed to be the case in any 

 less general body ; the general' meetings bring- together the cultivators of 

 all different departments of science ; and even the less formal conversa* 

 tions, which take place in its halls of assembly during every pause of 

 business, are themselves the working together of mind with mind, and 

 not only excite, but are co-operation. — Express requests also are syste- 

 matically made to individuals and bodies of mem, to co-operate in the 

 execution of particular tasks in science, and these requests have often 

 been complied with. But more perhaps than all the rest, the reports 

 which it has called forth on the existing state of the several branches of 

 knowledge are astonishing examples of industry and zeal exerted in the 

 spirit, and for the purpose of co-operation. No other society, I believe, 

 has yet ventured to call on any of its members for any such report, and, 

 indeed^ it would be a difficult, perhaps an invidious thing, for any one of 

 the other societies or academies so to do. For such a report should con- 

 tain a large and comprehensive view of the treasures of all the academies ; 

 and would it not be difficult for a zealous member of any one of them, 

 undertaking the task at the request of his own body, to form and to express 

 that view with all the impartiality requisite? Would there not be some 

 danger of a bias imsome things to palliate the defects of his own particu- 

 lar society, and in other things to exalt, beyond what was strictly just, 

 its true and genuine merits? But a body like the British Association, 

 which receives, indeed, all communications, but publishes (except by 

 abstract) none, save only those very reports which it had previously and 

 specially called for ; — a body such as this, and governed by such regula- 

 tions, may hope that, standing in one common relation to all the existing 

 academies, and not belonging to the same great class of societies publish- 

 ing papers, the members whom it has selected for the task may come be- 

 fore it to report what has resulted from the labours of all those different 

 societies, without any excessive depression or any undue exultation, and 

 in a more unbiassed mood of mind than would be possible under other 

 circumstances. Accordingly, the reports already presented by those 

 eminent men who were selected for the office (and rightly so selected, 

 because a comprehensive mind was not less needed than industry), ap- 

 pear to have been drawn up with as much impartiality as diligence; they 

 comprise a very extensive and perfect view of the existing state of science 

 in most of its great departments : and if in any case they do not quite 

 bring down the history of science to the present day (as certainly they 

 go near to do), they furnish some of the best and most authentic ma- 

 terials to the future writer of such history. But we should not only un- 

 derrate the value of those reports, but even quite mistake the character 

 of that value, if we were to refer it at all to its connexion with distant 

 researches, and some unborn generation. They will, indeed, assist the 

 future historian of science ; but it was not solely, nor even chiefly, for 

 that purpose they were designed, nor is it solely or chiefly that purpose 

 which they will answer. They belong to our own age; they are the pro- 

 perty of ourselves as well as of our children. To stimulate the living, 

 not less than to leave a record to the unborn, was hoped for, and will be 

 attained, through those novel and important productions. In holding up 

 to us a view of the existing state of science, and of all that has been done 

 already, they show us that much is still to be done, and they rouse our 

 zeal to do it. Can any person look unmoved on the tablet which they 

 present of the brilliant discoveries of this century, in any one of the re- 

 gions of science ? Can he see how much much has been achieved, what 

 large and orderly structures have been in part already built up, and are 

 still in process of building, without feeling himself excited to give his 

 own aid also in the work, and to be enrolled among the architects, or at 

 least among the workmen ? Or can any one have his attention guided to 



