instinct gave way to the love of discovery. To show this
passionate love of sport, he mentions that when as a boy he had just shot
his first snipe, his hands trembled so that he could hardly reload his
gun. Yet the same boy on the voyage of the _Beagle_ found out how much
more entrancing than shooting was the chase of new facts and new
theories, and he handed over his gun to his servant. And something of
this delight one may have as the merest learner. You are not likely to
find out things that nobody knew before, but you may easily find out
things quite new to yourself--which to you personally are as good as the
brand-newest discovery. Lastly, there is another excellent reason for
scientific work, namely, that the bodily welfare of the human race and of
its friendly animals and plants depends on accurate knowledge of the
nature and behaviour of everything in the world. It is this truth that
makes us believe that every fact has its value. Its value may remain
unrecognised for long periods, and then it may suddenly find its place in
the great jig-saw puzzle of knowledge. The two most exciting sciences
just now seem to me to be Physics and Pathology; one as bringing us
nearer to the knowledge of the structure of matter, the other in
disentangling the causes of deadly and mysterious diseases such as
malaria, diphtheria, hydrophobia, sleeping sickness, in a manner and with
a success hitherto undreamt of. But because the advances in these
sciences are so brilliant and hopeful, no civilised worker will venture
to despise the pursuits of less fortunate people whose work seems rather
humdrum. There are botanists who spend their whole lives in describing
and classifying dried plants in a herbarium. But these are really doing
highly valuable work, for the simple reason that we cannot make any
accurate use of plants until they have names. I am omitting the purely
commercial use of such work, which is very great. I only want to insist
that the mere naming of living things is an indispensable stone in the
building of the palace of science. All who work at science may recognise
that they belong to a guild which makes for the happiness of the human
race. And this they must do, not with any pride, but humbly
acknowledging how small is their personal share in the total of progress.

The Darwin Buildings, that is to say, the three new laboratories which
are open to-day, were absolutely needed to carry out the Head Master's