A Valedictory Address1

Hitherto whenever it has fallen to my lot to accept any honour or compliment I have been able to do so, and thus support my natural diffidence, in the name of the many colleagues whom I happened to represent. But on the present occasion, when the gift takes the form of a portrait of myself, and is accompanied by the establishment of an annual lecture in my name, it did not need your President's over-kind words of gratulation to assure me that this time there could be no mistaking the very personal expression of friendliness it was being my fortune to receive. For this I thank you with the warmest reciprocal feelings. We know how few are those who are entirely free of any need of recognition, or craving for the reassurance that it brings, and I do not claim to be of that elect band, if indeed it exists at all; but I can surely say that any such response is overshadowed by the more positive one of sheer pleasure in such gratifying tenders of friendship, tenders to which I can never remember failing to respond. Believe me, therefore, when I say that you have succeeded in your evident aim of giving me very great pleasure.

May I add a word or two about the gifts themselves? A leading newspaper said of the portrait, when it was being exhibited, that it was of a man who possessed no sense of humour, which, my friends will agree, only shows that even art critics are not always infallible. Since ancestral galleries are not in harmony with current fashions I shall be proud if the Institute will consent to accept the portrait as a memento of its founder. As to the lecture, it should seem to me to fulfil a most useful function if it can continue to lure from the outside world distinguished men of Professor Adrian's elevation to address us periodically and inspire us with broader perspectives than our specialized work can in its nature do.

You will expect me on this occasion, which may well be a leave-taking from the Society to which I have given so much of my life, to pass