Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/143

 of it; and greater encouragement given to it by the public. I know how great an interest in these examinations my honoured predecessor took; I know how much he impresses upon you the great advantage the community would derive by the promotion of a knowledge of scientific subjects, and I would venture on this occasion to say a few words to supplement what he has said in earlier times, and impress it still more earnestly on your attention. What does the study of science mean? Well, it means that in the operations of life in which we seek to turn to account the gifts of Divine Providence, we should be guided by the skill which rises out of knowledge, rather than by haphazard work or groping in the dark. It is not that we should work upon theory rather than common-sense and practice, but it means that we should ground our theory and practice upon ascertained laws. It means that instead of going on blindly in the path that our fathers trod, or adopting one invention or another at haphazard, we should from our practical knowledge comprehend them and judge of their right application. It means that we should turn to good account not only the talents that are given us, but the liberal gifts of Providence by which we are surrounded. In days past, when this great country was separated from the rest of the world by a waste of waters, communications were slow, and when it was dependent upon itself and its people for its supplies of manufactured material, rude and simple inventions might suffice to utilize the products of the land. I do not for a moment forget the great knowledge of the science of beauty possessed by many of the inhabitants of the country, and marvellous perfection to which certain arts were carried; but I mean in the prosecution of the industries which form the main staples of this country the arts were rude and simple, and are not calculated to compete in the present day with the science and inventions of the world. The wonderful development of steam, which has rendered the sea not a barrier but a bridge to connect one land with another, has borne in upon us the manufactures of other countries to which all the inventions of science have been applied, so that they are produced with marvellous cheapness, and compete, nay, almost exclude, the simple manufactures of our people. Well, what is the moral, what is the policy to be followed under circumstances to which that is but one illustration? Not, surely, that we should tax the people of the country to maintain their industries in their own rude, extensive, and therefore expensive, form, but that we should bring and apply to the industries of the country the science which has cheapened production and produced prosperity elsewhere. The Natives of this country are surely not