THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 203 
might be accepted by the members of a certain learned Associa- 
tion : 
1. The earth was without form, and void. 
2. A meteor fell upon the earth. 
3. The result was fish, fowl, and flesh. 
4. Thence came the British Association. 
5, And the British Association pronounced it all tolerably good. 
It is more to the purpose, perhaps, to recall the pertinent 
suggestion of Dr. Temple, in his genial speech at Exeter, that 
differences of opinion on very serious points are in themselves 
sufficient reason, not for a greater separation, but for a closer 
intercourse between the disputants. : 
Mutual concession and mutual respect will be the outcome; and 
the truth, whether-in older or newer fashion, will step forth with 
a beauty that will draw all after her. 
Our Institution, ladies and gentlemen, offers, as we think, 
unusual facilities for the mutual interchange of feeling and 
opinion which is thus suggested to us. Established in 1812, it has 
now for the long period of sixty-five years been a source of pleasure 
and advantage such as few towns of the size of Plymouth have 
enjoyed. The hour spent in listening to the carefully-prepared 
paper, embodying the thought and conclusions of many months’ 
study of some favourite subject, followed by a discussion often 
really able and discriminating, supplies to our members an oppor- 
tunity of extending the range of their knowledge in Science, 
Literature, and Art, which is as pleasant in method as it is useful 
in results. 
There seems no reason to think that the Session upon which we 
are now entering will fall short of any of its predecessors. The 
number of members and associates is quite equal, if not in excess, 
of former years. The conversazione, next week, will have more 
than usual interest by the exhibition of photographs of places 
visited and curiosities collected by an officer on board H.M.S. 
Challenger, which he has kindly placed at our service. The list of 
Lectures includes several papers of local interest, as well as those 
of a more general character, and it remains therefore only for each 
to do his part by attendance at the Lectures, and by sharing in the 
discussions which will arise upon them, to make this Session all 
that the founders and friends of the Plymouth Institution could 
hope for or desire. 
