the stellar universe, of the chemical composition and physical properties of matter in its various forms, and to analyze, comprehend and subdue the forces of nature.
By the application of these discoveries to his own purposes Man has, to a large extent, overcome time and space; he has studded the ocean with steamships, girdled the earth with the electric wire, tunneled the lofty Alps, spanned the Forth with a bridge of steel, invented machines and founded industries of all kinds for the promotion of his material welfare, elaborated systems of government fitted for the management of great communities, formulated economic principles, obtained an insight into the laws of health, the causes of infective diseases and the means of controlling and preventing them.
When we reflect that many of the most important discoveries in abstract science and in its applications have been made during the present century, and, indeed, since the British Association held its first meeting in the ancient capital of your county sixty-nine years ago, we may look forward with confidence to the future. Every advance in science provides a fresh platform from which a new start can be made. The human intellect is still in process of evolution. The power of application and of concentration of thought for the elucidation of scientific problems is by no means exhausted. In science is no hereditary aristocracy. The army of workers is recruited from all classes. The natural ambition of even the private in the ranks to maintain and increase the reputation of the branch of knowledge which he cultivates affords an ample guarantee that the march of science is ever onwards, and justifies us in proclaiming for the next century, as in the one fast ebbing to a close, that Great is Science, and it will prevail.
