55 
our honorary Secretary, and since that time he has worked with indefatigable 
zeal and with very great success. (Applause.) 
Dr. C. B. Radcliffe then delivered the Address. 
Dr. Radcliffe, in commencing his address, stated that he was taking the 
place of another. Professor G. G. Stokes, P.R.S. (Lueasian Professor of 
Mathematics at Cambridge). 
[It is necessary here to mention that in 1878 Professor Stokes had kindly 
consented to give the Address at the Annual Meeting in 1879, intending to 
take as his subject, “The Nature and Limitation of Scientific Inquiry/ 5 
As the time drew near Professor Stokes — having in the interim been placed 
on the Universities Commission — found himself so pressed for time as to 
render it impossible for him to fulfil his engagement with the Council ; under 
these circumstances Dr. Radcliffe, one of the Vice-Presidents, most generously 
undertook to prepare an Address, although at a period of the year when his 
heavy professional duties made the greatest demands upon his time, he had 
therefore to prepare the address under very great disadvantages, and con- 
sequently in a manner unsatisfactory to himself, and he has since specially 
asked permission to withdraw from publication what he had so prepared. 
The Council feel, however, that Dr. Radcliffe, by the kind and generous way 
in which he, at a short notice, sought to supply the pressing need of the 
Session, has indeed earned for himself the special gratitude, and hearty thanks 
of every Member and Associate.*] 
Mr. James Bateman, P.R.S. , in rising to move, “ That our best thanks be 
presented to Dr. Radcliffe for the Annual Address now delivered, and to those 
who have read papers during the session, 55 said : — My Lord, I have been 
requested to move this resolution, and I need not say I have great pleasure in 
doing so. Dr. Radcliffe’s Address, I think, has greatly added to our know- 
ledge of the tides; but, at the same time, we must not allow ourselves to 
forget that there is another tide, an inexorable tide, the tide of human time, 
which is still flowing, and which has begun to beat upon the beach of ten 
o’clock ; and therefore I think it is almost time that we should move our- 
selves and beat a speedy retreat. One remark I would venture to make in 
connection with Dr. Radcliffe’s Address, — he said that science and religion 
ought to be excellent friends, united and wedded together. It has hitherto been, 
and, I trust, will always be the office of this excellent Institute thoroughly 
to elucidate the truth, and thereby remove all stumbling-blocks, so that 
science and religion may be in harmony. 
Mr. D. Howard, P.C.S. — I have very great pleasure in seconding the vote 
of thanks to Dr. Radcliffe for the Annual Address now delivered, and to those 
* Professor Stokes has since read a paper before the Institute, and it will 
appear in this volume. — Ed. 
