THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 
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moral influences derived from a broader area of thought, shape all 
the private feelings towards the more unfortunate of the race. 
There are here and there symptoms of a hardening of the heart 
against the sickly forms of infantile life and the helplessness of 
old age ; and, judging from signs rather than distinct words, 
there is maturing in some quarters a secret judgment, to the effect 
that in the case of many of the poor feeble creatures that enter 
life it would be well not only to acquiesce in the law of the 
Survival of the Fittest, but even to shape conduct more decidedly 
in conformity with it. A small literature has appeared on the 
Continent distinctly in this direction, and in our own country we 
now and then read satirical articles as to the time of life when it 
would be useful to the world for feebleness to cease to be a burden 
to the strong and vigorous. Satire does not exist where there is 
no tendency requiring to be satirized. 
Now I venture to think that it is in the interests of human 
nature that this tendency of the Scientific Spirit, however logical 
may be its outcome from the interpretation of the course of 
Nature in the physical sphere, should be regarded with great 
jealousy, and be regulated in its action by another tendency 
which is also the logical outcome of an Order of Nature as real 
and enduring as the physical. Conduct to be wise, and in harmony 
with the course of Nature in the twofold sense of moral and 
physical, has to be governed by considerations mutually restrictive. 
All the value of human life does not lie in strength and energy. 
The most perfect animal type is not necessarily the most perfect 
form of man. There is such a thing as moral beauty, moral 
power which may and often does coexist with great and hopeless 
physical weakness; and no scientific method will enable us to 
learn the extent to which the higher and sweeter moralities of the 
world's life have been enriched by the constant tenderness, the 
compassion and gentle sympathy which the dependence of the 
feeble, the diseased and unfortunate on our care and consideration 
calls forth and nourishes. It would be the beginning of a devo- 
lution from the noblest type of life were the feelings and deeds of 
the healthy and vigorous towards those who may be unequal to 
the struggle for existence, and who therefore cannot contribute 
anything toward the future strength of the race, to be rendered 
hard and unsympathetic by reason of the cherished notion that it 
is Nature's course to push them aside in the evolution of a superior 
