ADDRESS OF STR WILLIAM HAMILTON. 
xlv 
to shun the commerce of their kind ; who accept gladly, and with ac- 
knowledgedjoy, all present and outward marks of admiration or of 
sympathy, and who are willing, and confess themselves to be so, to do 
much for immediate reward, or speedy though perishing reputation. 
Look where we will, from the highest and most solitary sage who ever 
desired “ the propagation of his own memory,” and committed his 
lonely labours to the world, in full assurance that an age would come, 
when that memory would not willingly be let to die, down to the hum¬ 
blest labourer who was ever content to cooperate outwardly and sub- 
ordinately with others, and hoped for nothing more than present and 
visible recompense, we still perceive the operation of that social spirit, 
that deep instinctive yearning after sympathy, to use the power, and 
(if it may be done) to guide the influences of which, this British Asso¬ 
ciation was framed. Thus much I thought that I might properly pre¬ 
mise, on the social spirit in general, and its influence upon the intellect 
of man; since that is the very bond, the great and ultimate reason, of 
this and of all other similar associations and companies of studious 
men. But you may well expect that in the short remaining time which 
your leisure this evening can spare, I should speak more especially, 
and more definitely, of this British Association in particular. And 
here it may be right to adopt in part a more technical style, and to 
enter more minutely into detail, than I could yet persuade myself to 
do, till I had eased myself in some degree of those overflowing emo¬ 
tions, which on such an occasion as this could hardly be altogether 
suppressed. Presuming, therefore, that some one now demands, how 
this Association differs from its fellows, and what peculiar means it has 
of awakening and directing to scientific purposes the power of the 
social spirit; or why, when there were so many old and new societies 
for science, it was thought necessary or expedient to call this society 
also into being : I proceed to speak of some of the characteristic and 
essential circumstances of this British Association, which contain the 
answer to that reasonable demand. First, then, it differs in its mag¬ 
nitude and universality from all lesser and more local societies. So 
evidently true is this, that you might justly blame me if I were to oc¬ 
cupy your time by attempting any formal proof of it. What other 
societies do upon a small scale, this does upon a large ; what others 
do for London, or Edinburgh, or Dublin, this does for the whole triple 
realm of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Its gigantic arms stretch 
even to America and India, insomuch that it is commensurate with the 
magnitude and the majesty of the British empire, on which the sun 
never sets; and that we hail with pleasure, but without surprise, the 
enrolment of him among our members who represents the sovereign 
