40 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAE SCIENCE. 
are of little importance,—that at the best they afford harm¬ 
less occupation or pastime for leisure hours. Well, ladies and 
gentlemen, even if this were all it would yet be a sufficient 
reason for their existence. But you shall find, that those 
who pooh-pooh our work in this way, are hardly the people 
who are qualified, either by natural intelligence or a liberal 
education, to express any opinion on the subject. They 
move smoothly enough, it may be in a little orbit which 
satisfies all their aspirations, but they need not feel sur¬ 
prised if to others it should appear that there is more in 
heaven and earth than is dreamt of in their philosophy. 
Ask any thinking man what it is that distinguishes 
our times above all the ages that have passed 
away, and he will tell you it is the spirit of scientific 
inquiry,—it is the great advance made in conquering and 
rendering subservient to our will the mighty forces of 
Nature. In no other respect are we in advance of 
our predecessors. Nay, in many departments of human 
attainment we lag far behind them. In literature, 
art, and philosophy we have doubtless great names, 
—names which will probably go down to a very re¬ 
mote posterity; but none of these can equal the greater 
lights of earlier centuries. Homer and HSschylus, 
Virgil and Horace, Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, 
and many other stars of song, are still unequalled as 
lights of the first magnitude. The architecture and sculp¬ 
ture of ancient Greece are at once our envy and despair; 
and what painter of modern days can place his canvas on 
a line with the splendid efforts of a Michael Angelo, a 
Titian, a Raphael, or a Murillo? Among our recent 
philosophers, what name dare we put on a level with 
Plato ? not to mention any of the intellectual giants of 
later times. Does not most of our recent work in philoso¬ 
phy consist chiefly of criticisms and reviews,—or of more 
or less feeble reproductions of speculations and theories 
which greater minds evolved centuries ago ? Or, if there 
be anything original and of lasting value in it, does not it 
draw its inspiration directly from the results obtained by 
the study of natural and physical science ? 
If we wish, then, to live up to the spirit of the present age, 
surely we ought to take an intelligent interest in science. It 
is our privilege not less than our duty to do so. I might even 
go further, and say that those to whom scientific studies 
are merely an idle pastime might just as well have been 
living in the Middle Ages. They are a kind of fossils, 
representative of conditions which have passed away. To 
understand and appreciate the many great problems 
which are engaging the attention of the more active 
minds in our day, some knowledge of science and scien¬ 
tific modes of thought is indispensable. Were a practical 
acquaintance with some science or another more general, 
we should be less subject to those ignorant fears and 
foolish panics which every fresh advance of scientific 
thought would seem to give rise to, as if the foundations 
of morality and religion were in danger. Again, were the 
limits of inquiry in the physical and natural sciences 
better understood, we should be able to estimate at their 
proper value the speculative opinions of theorists who, 
professing to base their views on the evidence of those 
sciences, yet venture into regions where observation and 
experiment are alike impossible, and imagine they can 
discover all the secrets of the unknowable with a rush- 
light, and measure the infinite with a foot-rule. 
It is not without solid grounds, therefore, that we claim 
for such studies as ours a high and important place in any 
curriculum of education. Animated as we are—and, I 
hope, will continue to be—with the earnest desire to foster 
the study of science in this neighbourhood, we may antici¬ 
pate the time when this institution will greatly outgrow 
its present limits. We would look upon it as only the 
nucleus of what may yet be an important school of 
science—physical not less than natural. 
On the present occasion, however, I would rather speak 
of the certainties of to-day than try to picture forth the 
probabilities of to-morrow,—believing, as I do, that if the 
work which we now find ready to our hands be done 
honestly and faithfully, the future will be all, and more 
than all, we can anticipate. 
The founders of the Perthshire Society of Natural 
Science were wise, I think, in deciding that the 
Society should be available to all, for which purpose 
they fixed a low annual subscription. And the same 
spirit has continued to animate the various Councils 
which have successively administered the affairs of the 
Society. Their desire has always been to make the 
Society as open as possible, and not an exclusive institution 
for the benefit of the few. The annual subscription, I 
may remind you, is only 5s, upon the payment of which 
any one may become a member, and share in all the 
privileges of the Society, whether he be a student of 
natural science or only a well-wisher of such studies, and 
desirous of aiding the Society in its work. But this is not 
all. Small as is this annual subscription, there are still 
some to whom it is prohibitive, and to meet the case of such 
we instituted another class, called Associate-members, who 
pay only half-a-erown annually. These associates, how¬ 
ever, must be naturalists. There is yet another class of 
associates, who must be naturalists, and help the Society 
in some form or another, but who pay nothing. Although 
we have nearly 200 members on our roll, yet, considering 
