THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 
325 
vice to the public, but to that extent they vacate the function of 
scientific teachers. It is due to the real interests of truth that plain 
facts be given, and conclusions be drawn straight from them. In 
due time they cannot but carry conviction, if the conclusions are 
strictly warranted, and if they do not of themselves carry it, no 
conquests of dogmatism and newly-created authorities will be of 
permanent value. 
In view of the suspicions and distrust with which the Scientific 
Spirit has been regarded by some, it is very desirable on all sides 
that popular and ignorant exaggerations of it should be separated 
from the form of it cherished among actual investigators. Unfor- 
tunately those who know little of the history of human thought 
have, in their excessive zeal, compromised the position of the more 
sober and reflecting by using language which conveys the impres- 
sion that the intense love of truth which the pursuit of Physical 
Science generates and fosters, the habits of accurate observation 
and keen analysis it promotes, and the almost passionate search of 
unity it developes, are something new in the mental history of our 
race. As I have indicated, the presence of these qualities in a 
notable degree is one of the many blessings which Science has 
brought in its train. The example set by real scientific investigators 
is most wholesome ; and considering what shams there are in the 
world, how multitudes of Philistines care only for food and raiment 
and as much well-to-do ease as wealth can give, it is refreshing to 
meet with men whose craving for knowledge is so keen, and who 
regard the mental life as more than meat and raiment. I say this 
with all my heart, but yet have to remember that this is not a new 
phase of human life, nor is it confined to the pursuit of truth in 
Physical Science. Intense, all-absorbing love of reality is not born 
of Modern Physical Science, though this affords scope for its mani- 
festation in a high degree and over a very wide area. The possi- 
bility of gratifying this noble passion more fully by means of a 
better method yielding larger results is greater now than in any 
past age ; but it is due to the memory of those memorable Greeks, 
who, turning away sick and weary from the fables and mythologies 
of their superstitious countrymen, bent their eager gaze on the great 
system of Nature then lying unexplored before them, and sought, 
with such poor means as their limited knowledge afforded them, to 
penetrate into the heart of things — it is due, I say, to them to re- 
cognize that they lived and died as intensely in love with truth as 
