have hitherto had at their command. These discoveries, the Lord Chief-Justice Cockburn said, "perfectly overwhelmed him with astonishment," and as the Royal Commissioners said, may justly invoke national pride, that so many of them should be due to the unaided efforts of individuals. What, then, may we look forward to in the next half century, with the additional appliances which these Commissioners recommend? But, perhaps, here a word of caution, even from so humble an adviser as myself, may be allowed. Lord Chief-Justice Cockburn, on the occasion to which I have referred, says "No one bows with a more profound and reverent worship at the shrine of science than I do. No one values more than I do classical attainments. Nevertheless, allow me to say, that I know of no study more valuable to an Englishman than the study of English. Nothing is more valuable than the power of English composition, English oratory, and English elocution; and greatly as I value classical knowledge, and the knowledge of foreign languages, I still say, that the English language and English composition are of the first importance to Englishmen." These remarks he followed up by announcing his wish to give a prize of twenty guineas annually for a piece of English composition. Much to the same purpose, our distinguished colleague Mr Lyon Playfair, when assisting the other day to inaugurate the Science College at Leeds, expressed a hope that the institution would not be confined to science, but would embrace letters and the arts. These views suggest one danger to be avoided by those who are anxious to establish colleges and schools for scientific teaching. The country, willing as it undoubtedly is to supply deficiencies in this respect, will certainly not agree that a knowledge of science shall be all that a well-educated Englishman or Scotchman ought to possess. But there is another danger, and one more serious. Mr Gladstone, when distributing the prizes of the science and art classes at Greenwich, three weeks ago, made these impressive remarks:"Whatever I may think of the pursuits of industry and science, and of the triumphs and glories of art, I do not mention any one of these things as the great specific for alleviating the sorrows of ! human life, and meeting the evils which deface the world. I believe firmly in science and art, for their own purposes. I believe in their reality, their efficacy, and their value; I believe they are efficacious and valuable for the purposes for which they are ordained, but not for purposes for which they were not ordained. If I am asked what is the remedy for the deeper sorrows of the human heart-what a man should chiefly look to in his progress through life, with which to sustain him under trials nd affliction-I must point to something very different, to something which in a well-known hymn is called the old, old story.' It is this 'old, old story, told in a good old book, with the teaching to be found there, which is the greatest and best gift ever given to mankind, a gift carrying with it and imposing upon all alike, the most solemn trusts and responsibility, because arousing the fullest recollections of the past and the brightest hopes of the future. I venture upon this observation for myself, lest, in speaking of the immense value which is to be attached to the subjects with which we are dealing to-night, it should be supposed I was setting them up as having some exclusive right to allegiance upon your minds and hearts, or, at any rate, a right paramount to every other." I much fear that this warning of the ex-Premier is needed. I fear it may be said, not merely of men of science, but of others also, that they often allow their hearts and minds to be so occupied -so engrossed with pursuits and studies, as to leave no room for other things which should find a place there also. Men of science have sometimes been charged, not merely with allowing their minds to be too much engrossed in this way, but with conceit and arrogance, engendered by the consciousness of possessing wisdom above the great bulk of their countrymen. The true man of science, is fairly amenable to no such charge. So far from possessing that "pride, and arrogance, and froward mouth," which is condemned in the good old book referred to by Mr Gladstone, he is, and at all events should be, the reverse of all this; for whatever amount of knowledge he acquires, whatever the discoveries he achieves, no one sees so clearly the immensity of what still remains to be discovered. Even in our own planet, how little do we yet know of the composition of the earth's interior, how VOL. IX. F little of its deep oceans, how little of ne great atmosphere which surrounds us! And even if we knew and understood all and every part of our own habitation, what is that, when we think what a tiny atom that habitation is in the great system of the universe, seen and unseen! The true man of science, knowing all this, is humble-minded, not arrogant or supercilious; diffident, not presumptuous; forbearing, not intolerant. If these are the qualities which men of science possess and show, whilst prosecuting their studies and researches, they will secure favour for themselves and for their noble pursuits. They will be accepted and respected as the expounders of the grand and beautiful laws by which God governs the universe-laws, a knowledge and a right application of which will assuredly conduce, alike to the prosperity of nations and to the happiness of the human race. The following statement in regard to the number of the present Fellows of the Society was laid on the table by the Secretary: 1. Honorary Fellows Royal Personage His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, British Subjects John Couch Adams, Esq., Cambridge; Sir George 1 17 Foreign Brought forward, Claude Bernard, Paris; Adolphe Théodore Brong- Total Honorary Fellows at March 1875, . 18 35 The following Foreign Honorary Fellows were elected in Dove, Kekule, Kolbe, Kummer, Lionville, Motley. The following are the Honorary Fellows deceased during Foreign-M. Comte de Remusat, British-Sir Charles Lyell, Bart., Sir W. E. Logan, 3 4 49 2. Non-resident Fellow under the Old Laws Sir Richard Griffiths, Total Honorary and Non-resident Fellows, 6th Dec. 1875, 50 3. Ordinary Fellows Ordinary Fellows at November 1874, . B. Baden Powell, formerly elected, but not admitted 24 345 2 26 371 Deduct Deceased.-Rev. Dr Aitken; John Auld, Esq.; Dr Resigned.-Rev. Thomas M. Lindsay; John L. . 10 i Cancelled.-Charles Lawson, Esq., 1 13 Total number of Ordinary Fellows at November 1874, 358 50 Total Ordinary and Honorary Fellows at commencement 408 of Session 1875 (6th December), The following Communication was read: The Volcanic Eruptions of Iceland in 1874 and 1875. By Shortly after reading "Volcanic Eruptions in Iceland" (the "Scotsman," May 21), and "An Appeal for Iceland" (the "Times" July 1), I made a trip to Arctis, partly with a view of inspecting and inquiring into the last outbreaks. Ferhaps your energetic Society may not be unwilling to have an unprejudiced account of what was seen and heard. |