THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 
283 
been produced by the discussion. Possibly it may be thought 
that both Philosophy and Science are doubtful oracles, and that 
c ' the wise man " is, as an ancient writer said, " no better than the 
fool. 7 ' Yet surely it cannot be without intellectual and moral 
advantage to be brought face to face with some of the great 
problems pertaining to our existence. There is a gain even in 
knowing our own ignorance, and especially in an intelligent view 
of the conditions that circumscribe the acquisition of knowledge. 
The survey we have taken, though necessarily brief and imperfect, 
may serve the important purpose of opening up distant vistas of 
thought along which we may in days to come be induced to travel; 
it may exalt our estimate of the daring and persistence of the 
human intellect that seems to leave no hidden corner, and no 
tangled intricacy of thought and fact, unscrutinized ; and it may 
deepen our humility and reverence by causing us to feel how vast 
is the mystery connected with our own existence. Coming here 
as we do from our respective daily occupations and professions 
in which, from the sheer force of habit, we are prone to allow 
our thoughts to move tamely and unvaryingly along one contracted 
groove, it may be that a reminder of the intellectual aspirations 
and the strong thinkings of others whose faculties go out into the 
mighty courses of Nature, and the vision thus brought us of far- 
reaching ideas, unlike those of our daily routine, may be to our 
life what the fresh moorland breeze, and the distant view of 
rolling hill and dale, are to the jaded toiler who for a while escapes 
from his common round of duties. There is in life surely some- 
thing more than meat, and more than raiment. And whether 
we can solve the question of Life and Consciousness and their 
origin or not, I am sure we cannot have traversed the field of 
thought just now passed without, on the one hand, having felt a 
longing to bring our intelligence more fully into a line with the ever 
advancing thought of the age, and, on the other hand, cherishing 
profound respect for men of all schools who have laboured hard, 
it may be successfully or unsuccessfully, to swell the sum of human 
knowledge, and, who, by their failures as well as by their triumphs, 
have taught us what carefulness, what patience, what pure love of 
truth are needful, if we for ourselves would ever get an insight 
into the secrets of Nature, and form a rational estimate of the 
system of things of which we form a part. It is true life has its 
sorrows and its joys, but a wise Providence is surely leading it on 
