briefly expressed, would be accepted as an evidence of the strong feeling and anxiety he had with regard to the future prospects of the society. (Cheers). In following out their original intentions, of course the society would continue to visit new places as long as possible, and thus to make known to others the merits and labours of scientific men in the provinces, who had previously been in comparative obscurity. No doubt, there would be many difficulties in the way, but they would all be overcome; the modes of proceeding of the association were not so inflexible as not to admit of adaptions according to the circumstances of the place. With regard to their returning to places where they had already been, that course should be, of course, delayed as long as possible. Perhaps in this respect, an exception might be made of that city which might be looked upon as the mother of the society, and which might naturally feel an anxiety at no distant period again to see her offspring; after looking on it with all a parent's natural solicitude, it must have a desire to see her child, who had been so well received in every part of the empire, coming back full of life and vigour, and laden with honours to gladden her eyes. (Applause). With regard to the third course the having the activity of the association suspended for a time, he saw no evil in it. This however was an event which would not arrive for many years; and the more remote the contingency was, the better satisfied should he and all the friends of the association be. (Cheers). The association had accomplished much of what it had, at its formation, proposed to itself: no one now could say that Englishman were not aware of the state of science on the continent, and had not done what they could to advance science in their own country. But that was no reason why they should not go eagerly on; and he for one should be ever ready to do what ever seemed most likely to carry them in the advance. (Hear). It was with peculiar gratification he found himself called back on such an occasion as this to his native county: called back to scenes within sight and reach of those who were endeared to him by all the ties of childhood: to be brought again in contact with friends some of them the most cherished he possessed, and in this way knitting up the ties of childhood in the maturer period of his life. He also came here with peculiar pleasure, because he met with a kind and valued friend of many years: a man who belonged not to one but to all of us, by ties of a far wider and more exalted kind. It was with peculiar pleasure and gratification they all found themselves gathered around that exalted, that great philosopher, who belonged peculiarly to Manchester, but whose name was the highest name in chemistry in every part of the globe. (Loud applause). He (Mr. Whewell) could not describe, but the meeting felt for themselves, the pleasure it gave him to see his venerated head appearing in our sectional rooms, bearing about him a halo of well merited honour and reputation as wide as the world. They felt in the veneration which they entertained, and which they knew the whole world entertained for him, a pledge of the dignity and the purity of that love of science, and veneration for science which brought them together. (Cheers). Nothing now remained for him (Mr. Whewell) but to resign his chair to his successor; and he hoped he might be allowed to express his gratification he felt in resigning the sceptre with which he had been invested into the hands of one so accomplished, and so well versed in literature and art one in whose occupation of the first seat of the British Association for the advancement of science they might see a recognition of the bond that binds together all branches of literature, and departments of human cultivation. (Cheers). He hoped he might be excused for recalling to the recollection of his successor a portion of his classical studies : "Me vero primum dulcis ante omnia Musæ, Quarum sacra fero ingenti joculans amore which I may translate thus : "Him who has loved the muses well and long, And won their smiles in fields of art and song,- Where stars and worlds no less their empire own." The Rev. Professor sat down amidst loud applause. Lord Francis Egerton, M.P., then, amidst considerable applause, took the chair, and said that the first duty he had to perform was to call upon the general treasurer for his report. John Taylor, Esq. the treasurer of the association, stated, that the balance in hand from last year's accounts was £367 3s. 10d.; life compositions and annual subscriptions at the meeting at Plymouth, £1,131 1s.; ladies' tickets there, £261; compositions from members for the delivery of future volumes of the reports, £513 2s.; half-year's dividend on £6,000 in three per cent. consols, £90; proceeds of the sale of £500 of that stock, £452 Is. ; for reports sold £89 3s.; making a total of receipts of £2,903 10s. 11d. The payments were for the expenses of the Plymouth meeting, and sundry disbursements by the general treasurer and local treasurer, £321 15s. 3d.; paid for printing and engraving for the volumes of reports, £288 3s. 4d.; salaries of the assistant general secretary and the accountant, £305. The total of a long list of payments to the scientific grants, £1,449 17s. 8d.; balance in the hands of the bankers and local treasurer, £538 14s. 6d. : that was the present state of the accounts. The property of the association was that balance of £538; £5,500 in the three per cents. valued at £5,018; and the value of the stock of books on hand, estimated at £1,130; making the whole property of the association, £6,687 9s. 6d. Since their arrival in Manchester, 771 tickets have been taken by new and old annual members, for which £1,396 had been received, and £265 for ladies' tickets (£1 each); making the total amount received in Manchester, £1,661. (Applause). The chairman then called on the assistant general secretary for his report. Professor Phillips, the assistant general secretary, then made his report, with respect to the general arrangement of the meeting. As to the working of the body, as regarded the advancement and promotion of science, there would be no material change; it had been gradually improved, and at present, within the limited period of six working days, it did not appear capable of any considerable change for the better. This was a place where great exhibitions of mechanical ingenuity were produced; and those who saw the two classes of exhibitions here would be much delighted. Whole collections had been moved -whole societies had been thrown into disarrangement to make preparations for the meeting of the association. Individuals had contributed their own valuable cabinets of natural history to enrich the valuable stores of the Manchester Geological Society. After referring to the mechanical exhibition, to the admissions, to manufacturing, and the excursions, in much the same terms as already reported in his explanatory address at the general meeting of the committee on Wednesday, he said that the Sheffield Railway Company, had made an offer to the association to inspect the great tunnel now making, after the meeting. Another excursion also, after the meeting, was to those subterranean collieries and unparalleled tunnels at Worsley, which the noble president had given an opportunity of inspecting. (Applause). On this occasion there had been great success in the preliminary arrangements for this meeting. If there should be a material failure in any part of the arrangements for this meeting, he should be greatly distressed; but they were all greatly indebted to the local secretaries and officers, whose arrangements had given such satisfaction in the sections to-day to all the members. It would be a painful feeling on the part of many persons, if they thought they were not to visit again more than once, indeed many times, the places where they had derived so much gratification at these meetings. (Applause). He expressed his gratification to see the head of Dr. Dalton stamped upon the cards of membership for this meeting. (Applause). Lord Francis Egerton, M.P., then rose, and said, Gentlemen, as your late president has informed you, eleven years have passed since the great prototype of this meeting was held at York; and such was its success, that, as you know, the experiment has been annually repeated ever since, and with similar and augmenting results. His lordship then referred to the practice of the president of the year giving on these occasions a brief, but instructive, retrospection of the state of science as connected with the past and contemplated proceedings of the association; which, he said, was however, inconsistent with its other practice of admitting to the temporary honour of its president an individual like himself, selected not for any scientific pretensions, but solely from the accident of local connection with the place, rather than with the objects of the association. (Applause). I cannot forget (continued his lordship)—I wish you could-under what auspices the last meeting in Plymouth was held; I cannot be unconscious of the fact from whom I have on this occasion received the seat which I have now the honour to fill. Could it be forgotten, it were hardly to my interest to awaken the recollec tion of the fact, that Professor Whewell filled at Plymouth, last year, the situation which I have the presumption to fill at Manchester. If I do so, it is only for the purpose of observing, that if he, who has "run through each mode of the lyre," and proved himself to be "master of all," should express his sense of the difficulty of endeavouring to convey to a mixed audience, within the limited time allowed him, such a summary view of the state of science, it would not be for me to make an apology for not imitating his example, but rather to call upon the council to give reasons for not calling upon some other functionary of the association immediately to execute that purpose for which I am so utterly inadequate. Some observations, indeed, before I sit down, I may allow myself, which I consider illustrative of the advantages of the society, and of the reasons which have impelled me, and many others similarly situated to myself, to give whatever feeble influence we can to its proceedings. But before I proceed to such topics, allow me to indulge for a moment in the expression of my feelings of satisfaction upon the subject of the locality which sees us assembled on this occasion. On this subject strangers and guests will excuse me, inhabitants will sympathise with me, if I express some feelings of complacency upon that topic. (Applause). It not merely that the place which sees us here together, has from various causes attracted to itself, as to one of the principle centres of the world, so vast an amount of mechanical skill and invention: it is not merely that a neighbourhood so rich in mechanical treasures offers in itself attractions to the followers of many most important branches of natural science; there is another reason, equally weighty, I think, and upon which I dwell with even greater satisfaction now. It is because this town is the birth-place, and is still the residence,' of one whose name is mentioned with the greatest respect in whatever part of the civilised world knowledge is cultivated ;-(applause)-one whom I am happy to see here to-night near me, to enjoy the honours which he has won by a life of persevering exertions in the cause of knowledge; and I beg him to accept from myself, if he will condescend to do so, the expression of my most sincere regret (and no one here can feel it more than I do), that the increase of years, which to him has been but the increase of wisdom, should make him, with reference to his physical strength, reluctant to fill an office which in this case would receive more honour than it could confer. (Applause). I do regret that from this, or from any other cause, such an assemblage as this within his native town, should miss the opportunity of being associated with the honoured name of Dalton as its president. The council well know my own views and feelings on this matter, and that if my humble services could have been available, I would gladly have served as a doorkeeper in any house in which the father of science in Manchester was holding the office of president. (Applause). I must offer this apology for my occupying this situation, that I may at least do no prejudice to the cause which we are met to support. To those who have originated this institution, who have tended it from birth, who have watched it from its cradle at York to its vigorous maturity at Manchester, who manage its affairs and regulate its proceedings, and who have called upon me to occupy this chair, I respectfully leave the task of my vindication. In addressing you upon any topic connected with this society, I can only do so in one manner. All readers of German literature and works of science, cannot have failed to notice the frequent recurrence of the word steinkee, which signifies the place from which the speaker or writer views the object which he is discussing. My position, in reference to this association is dim, indistinct, and shadowy. I am not even a proselyte of the gate, far less a Levite or a priest of the sanctuary; my lips cannot pronounce the shibboleth of the temple of science; and though I would fain worship at a distance, yet the sound of the ritual falls too faintly on my ear to allow me to join in the service of the altar. Yet I can approach the the edifice near enough to know that the architects are busy, that the builder is at work; I hear with you the clink of the hammer and the trowel. The pile is a vast one, but what man shall ever call that pile complete? Many a shaft remains yet to be polished, and many a capital to be elaborated into new forms of fitness and beauty. The architects are now busy on that ground where Bacon shaped the rugged top of that Moriah of philosophers, and smoothed the way removing the rubbish of centuries, and shaping it into a vast, splendid, and solid basis, for the subsequent discoveries of Newton and his followers. (Applause). I hear the sound of their labours; but it is not for me to attempt to instruct you in that of which I am ignorant: the progress or the details of their labours. These are points which you will learn in those sectional departments into which the builders have wisely divided themselves. There the electrical inquirer will be enabled to learn into what new shapes and channels his fellows are directing that subtle fluid which Franklin snatched from heaven; and what forms they have compelled that Proteus to assume whom they have enslaved to do their bidding. Mr. Lyell, I believe, is still pursuing his investigations in the remoter regions of the new world; and my friend Mr. Murchison, has returned rich in treasures from his travels and researches in an important part of the old and returned to tell you of the favour he received from the sovereign of those vast dominions. (Applause). With the power, the schemes for conquest, or the military projects of that monarch, or any other sovereign, we have nothing to do, and our thanks are justly due to him for the homage he has thus rendered to science. "Quid bellicosus cantabes aut scythus agat ?" is no topic for us; but it is a topic for the just acknowledgment of our gratitude that our friend Mr. Murchison should have received from the sovereign of those vast realms the reception by which he was entertained, and which stamps that sovereign as the friend of science. (Applause). The communication and discussion of such past achievements and researches as these is one of the useful and legitimate objects for the operations of the society. Fortunately, we are now arrived at a pe |