Page:Inaugural address, delivered before the members of the Victorian Institute, on Friday the 21st of September, 1854 (IA inauguraladdres00barr).pdf/12

8 It must, however, strike you obviously, as of no inconsiderable moment, that an organised body should exist, round which those ardent in the pursuit of science, and zealous in unfolding its enlarged adaptation to the peculiar wants of this country, should be able to group themselves; in which they could see the steadfast countenance of recognised authority; in the archives of which they could find the large stores which sagacity and unwearied diligence have laid up in hours saved from tedious indolence or snatched from profitless self-indulgence to quicken intelligence, and incite to that ambition which extorts praise: and where they may encounter that variety which will afford a chord on which each distinctive mind may strike its ample tone; lend a completeness to the full diapason, and thereby enliven and relieve the exact and monotonous uniformity.

One solid advantage to be reaped, were that the only one, is that by the practice of original investigation the intellect will become fertilised; and as by ploughing and harrowing the soil new elements of vegetation and reproduction are brought to the surface, such exercises will embue the mind with an elasticity and a capacity for analysis and induction, enlarged as occasion presents new objects with which it is called on to grapple.

this is by no means an unimportant consideration, while the printing press is daily sending forth works written with the fascination of what is termed a popular style, introducing every species of scientific question, stripped of all severity of demonstration. When readers once acquire a habit of perusing such works hastily and without method, indiscriminately and without reflection, or the necessity for mental exertion, they become prone to lean on the memory rather than to rely on the understanding, thereby underrating and necessarily impairing the higher powers of reason. Those who are satisfied with a medium so acceptable to the indolent may be displeased with what they may deem a depreciating allusion to such books. It is not my desire to undervalue, but to stamp a right value upon them. Many of them are of considerable merit, and the authors of them have distributed much useful instruction in quarters to which it had never