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FIRST REPORT

PROCEEDINGS

OF

THE GENERAL MEETING.1831.

ON the morning of September the 27th, 1831, the Theatreof the Yorkshire Museum was filled by an assemblage of morethan three hundred persons *, including many distinguishedmembers of learned and scientific bodies in different parts ofthe united kingdoms, who were collected together in conse-quence of a general invitation to the friends of science, whichhad been issued by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society. Athalf past twelve o'clock, on the motion of Dr. Brewster, ViscountMilton, the President of the Society, was called to the Chair,and addressed the Meeting nearly in the following words :

Gentlemen, You have been kind enough to call me to the Chair

of this Meeting, which is indeed one of the most important de-scription ; and I only regret, that you have not turned youreyes towards a person, whose acquirements would render himmore qualified to fulfil the duties imposed on him. But I trustthat, although I may be in some respects deficient, at least I m not deficient in an anxious desire to promote those objectswhich have been in the view of the authors of the PhilosophicalSociety established in this city, and also those which will bebrought under the consideration of the M eeting now assembled.It must undoubtedly be highly satisfactory to the Members ofthe Society who have taken an active part in making the arrange-ments for the purpose, to see that we are honoured with theattendance of persons from all parts of the kingdom, w ho testify,

* The number of Tickets issued, was three hundred and fifty-three.

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16 FIRST REPORT-1831.by coming from so great a distance, their desire to cooperatewith the movers of this Meeting, and to carry its objects intoeffect. Similar Meetings, it is well known, have taken placeon the continent of Europe, which have been attended by themost beneficial effects, and I trust that the same effects willattend those that we are now commencing here. In our insularand insulated country, we have few opportunities of communi-cating with the cultivators of science in other parts of theworld. It is the more necessary, therefore, to adopt means foropening new channels of communication with them, and at thesame time of prom oting a greater degree of scientific intercourseamong ourselves. Nor do I see any reason to doubt the suc-cessful issue of this undertaking. When I consider what theYorkshire Philosophical Society has accomplished,when Iview the establishments it has founded, and when I recollect,that it has not existed for more than eight or ten years ; havingowed its origin, I believe, to the curious discoveries which weremade at Kirkdale,-when, I say, we can trace the progress ofa body now so considerable, to so inconsiderable a source,may we not entertain a confident hope, that the Meetings thusauspiciously begun, will rapidly advance to still greater import-ance, and become the source of incalculable advantage toscience hereafter ? In addition to other more direct benefits,I hope they will be the means of impressing on the Government

of this country the con viction, that the love of scientific pursuits,and the means of pursuing them , are not confined to the metro-polis; and I hope that when the Government is fully impressedwith the knowledge of the great desire entertained to promotescience in every part of the empire, they will see the necessityof affording it due encouragement, and of giving every properstimulus to its advancement. Perhaps the m ost effectual methodof promoting science is by removing the obstacles which op-pose its progress ; though I am aware of the fact, that thereare some investigations which require to be carried on upon sogreat a scale, as to be beyond the reach of individual enterprise :and to these, undoubtedly, the energies of Government shouldbe directed. We all know, that the laws of this country,Imean in particular the fiscal laws of this country,offer nume-rous obstacles to scientific improvements. I will name onlyone instance. In the science of optics very serious obstaclesare found to result from the regulations relative to the m anufac-ture of glass. I mention only this ; but it must occur to manyof the persons present, that there are various other instances,in which the laws interfere materially with the progress ofscience. With regard to the more direct advantages whichwe have a right to anticipate from these Meetings, I have no

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PROCEEDINGS OP THE MEETING. 17doubt, that, if they shall be extended to different parts of thecountry, and held in well-selected places, this result will beobtained : the men of science, now scattered over the empire,will be enabled to meet each other, and m utually communicatetheir ideas ; they will state the advances which h ave been m adein their own respective spheres of action, and also what thedeficiencies may be. Thus not only will an extraordinary im-pulse be given, but the individuals and the Societies takingpart in the Meetings will learn what parts of science they can

cultivate with the greatest utility, and will give their researchesthe most advantageous direction. Such, Gentlemen, are a fewof the benefits which, it appears to me, will be derived fromMeetings of this description; and if they shall be extensivelyheld, and shall be found thus pregnant with important conse-quences, sure I am that it will redound to the honour of thisSociety to have been the first to set the example.

Lord Milton concluded by expressing the sense which heentertained of the services which, his friend and predecessorin the office of President, Mr. W. V. Harcourt, had renderedto the Institution, within whose w alls they were assem bled.

The Rev. William Vernon Harcourt, Vice-President of theYorkshire Philosophical Society, and Chairman of the Com-mittee of Management, then addressed the Meeting:

" Gentlemen, I am desired by the Council of the Yorkshire Philoso-

phical Society to submit to your consideration a plan, whichthey beg leave to propose for the conduct of this Meeting, andfor the establishment of a system, on which similar Meetingsmay continue to be con ducted hereafter.

The Meeting, Gentlemen, owes its origin to some distin-guished cultivators of science* here present, who were ofopinion that great advantage might be expected from an Associ-ation for scientific intercourse in these kingdoms, formed uponthe model of that which has subsisted in Germany for severalyears,an Association which appears to have answered thehopes of its founders, as well in approximating men of scienceto each other, and promoting am ong them friendly feelings andan instructive interchange of ideas, as in giving to their union

a collective efficacy, and bringing their aims and views moreprominently into public notice.

The Meeting was proposed by Dr. Brewster to the Yorkshire PhilosophicalSociety in a letter to one of the Secretaries (Mr. Phillips). The proposal wasapproved and encouraged by the Society, and it received the most zealous andeffective support from Mr. Robison, Mr. Forbes and Mr. Johnston in Edinburgh,and from Mr. Murchison in London.

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18 FIRST REPORT-1831. Fully concurring in the utility of such objects, our Societycordially embraced the proposal which was made to us, thatthe first Meeting should be held in these apartmentshappy ifthe accommodation which we have to offer could be made ser-viceable to a purpose of so much public interest, and not in-sensible, Gentlemen, to the honour and advantage which thepresence of so distinguished an assembly w ould confer upon ourown Institution.

In conformity also with the express desire of the promotersof the Meeting, we undertook to make all the arrangements

for it, and to prepare the plan of a permanent Association. Iwill request the Secretary of the Committee of Management tostate, in the first place, what arrangements were made, and willafterwards proceed to give an account of the plan which Ihave to offer to your consideration.

Mr. Phillips, Secretary of the Society and of the Committeeof Management, made the following statement:

The Committee, Gentlemen, being of opinion that the invi-tations to this preliminary Meeting should be co-extensive withwhatever desire there might be in the country to promote theobjects of Science, drew up in the first instance a circularletter inviting the attendance of all persons interested in scien-tific pursuits, which, in case any one who is here present shouldnot have received it, it may be proper for me to read :-

Sir, The Council of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society having

received intimation from men of scientific eminence in various partsof the kingdom, of a general wish that a Meeting of the Friends ofScience should be held at York during the last week in Septembernext, we are directed to announce that the Society has offered the useof its apartments for the accommodation of the Meeting, and that ar-rangements will be made for the personal convenience of those who mayattend it. It will greatly facilitate these arrangements, if all who intendto come to the Meeting, would signify their intention as early as pos-sible to the Secretaries.

The apartments, which the Yorkshire Philosophical Society hasto offer for the use of the Meeting, consist of a Theatre, which affordsseats for about three hundred persons, five rooms containing the Mu-seum of Natural History, a Library, Laboratory, and Council Room.

All persons interested in scientific pursuits are admissible to theMeeting.

WILLIAM VERNON HARCOURT, VICE-PRESIDENT.JOHN PHILLIPS, SECRETARY.

Yorkshire Museum, York,July 12 1831.

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING. 19 Copies of this circular letter were sent to the Presidentsand Secretaries of all the Scientific Institutions in England,metropolitan and provincial, which were known to the Com mit-tee, with a request that the invitation might be communicatedto any mem bers of those Institutions who might be disposed toaccept it. The number of Societies in London thus addressedwas THIRTEEN ; the number in other parts of England wasTWENTY-SIX, NINE of these being in the County of York.

The letter was sent individually to the more distant Mem bers

of our own Society, and to persons, whether belonging to anySociety or not, who were known to be active cultivators andpromoters of science. One hundred and eighty-nine copieswere issued on the latter account. In this list, and even in thelist of Societies, it is more than possible that the Committeemay have been guilty of some omissions, which they hope,however, will be pardoned, when the number of letters sentout is considered, amounting, in the whole, to more than fourhundred. One hundred copies were also transmitted for simi-lar distribution to Societies and individuals, by the correspond-ents of the Committee in Scotland and Ireland ; and two orthree eminent foreigners were in like manner individually in-vited, though the Com mittee did not deem it prudent to extendinvitations abroad, ti ll it should be seen what reception theplan of the Association might meet with at home. Lastly, toensure more general publicity, advertisements of the Meetingwere inserted in the Philosophical Magazine for the months ofAugust and September, an announcement of i t having beforeappeared in the Edinburgh Journal of Science."

Mr. Phillips then proceeded to read the answers which hadbeen received to these invitations from persons who had beenprevented, by unavoidable engagements, from being presentat the Meeting :answers, which, whilst they excited a deepregret for the absence of the distinguished writers, showedwhat valuable support the Association m ight justly count u ponreceiving from them hereafter. He stated, that in severalinstances deputations had been appointed by provincial Institu-tions to attend the Meeting, and that gentlemen were present,who had come for that purpose from London, Edinburgh, and

Dublin, from Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, and Birming-ham, and even from Bath and Bristol. The great distance ofthe Plymouth Institution had prevented any of its membersfrom being present ; but the official letter received from thatbody was a gratifying proof of the general interest felt in theseproceedings, and of the benefit to be expected from a migratoryAssociation, which might another year be as conveniently at-

B 2

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING. 21ings, as it was proposed to admit a more popular audience tothese.Mr. Phillips having concluded his statement,-Mr. WilliamHarcourt again rose and read extracts from letters which hadbeen addressed to him by Mr. Chantrey, Mr. Faraday, and Dr.Buckland, who had been reluctantly prevented from attendingthe Meeting by pressing engagements. Mr. Chantrey, he said,had given the Yorkshire Philosophical Society another proof ofhis liberal disposition to promote science, by presenting to itsMuseum on this occasion, a Cast of the celebrated specimen

of Plesiosaurus in the Duke of Buckingham's collection. Hethen read a letter which he had received from the Duke ofSussex, who had been invited to honour the Meeting with hispresence. The letter stated, that nothing would have affordedHis Royal Highness greater pleasure than to have complied withthe invitation, if he had not been unfortunately pre-engaged. You will, therefore, His Royal Highness added, be so kindas to express my regret on the occasion, accompanied with mybest wishes for the success of so praiseworthy an object, and anassurance on my part, of my warm cooperation in promoting ny measure which may be suggested, and sanctioned by such arespectable Meeting.

Mr. Harcourt then com menced his exposition of the OBJECTSAND PLAN OF THE ASSOCIATION.

When we came to meditate, Gentlemen, on the means ofgiving stability and continuance to such Meetings as these, whenwe considered how little command of time men of science in thiscountry enjoy, and how difficultly they are drawn from their oc-cupations and homes, we could not but entertain a doubtwhether the inducement of meeting one another, without a moreimperative call, would be powerful enough to bring them an-nually together from distant parts of the kingdom. But, if therewere objects of more essential consequence, which a yearly ag-gregate Meeting might propose to accomplish, objects now un-attempted, and yet of the highest moment to the advancementof science, then we apprehended, that those who have any zealto advance it would not lightly absent themselves from such aMeeting, and that thus the benefit of personal intercourse wouldfollow in the train of still more important advantages.

Views of this extent, however, were not to be indulged with-out consultation ; and, before we ventured to bring them for-ward, we inquired the opinions of several of the most distinguish-ed among the lights of British science : from some of those whowere consulted, we received warm encouragement and valuablesuggestions, whilst to others we were indebted for cautions, of

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2 1 FIRST REPORT 1831 reduce to practice the splendid fiction of the New Atlantis*.The same comprehensive mind which first developed the truemethod of interpreting nature, sketched also the first draughtof a national Association for undertaking, by a system of dis-tributed and combined exertion, the labour of that work.

This philosophical romance was not composed by its greatauthor to amuse the fancy, but to dispose the minds of thelegislature towards the foundation of a public establishmentfor the advancement of science. His plan for its maintenance

The actual and immediate effect produced by Bacon on the general spiritof philosophy has been underrated : His writings were quickly circulatedthrough Europe, and their value was appreciated abroad even sooner than athome : he himself translated the New Atlantis into Latin, in gratiam exte-rorum apud quos cxpeti inaudiverat, and his most important works wererendered into that language and into French before his death. His letter toBaranzon, who lectured on Natural Philosophy at Annecy in Savoy, and who,it appears, bad consulted him on the substitution of his inductive method forthe syllogisms of Aristotle, deserves attention not only as containing the mostperspicuous summary of his views, but as showing how far the authority and in-fluence of his writings had reached in 1621. It has been said by Playfair thatDescartes, who became afterwards the head of so numerous a school, does notseem to have been acquainted with Bacon 's works; and another eminent histo-rian of philosophy, Dugald Stewart, has admitted that, if he ever read them hehas nowhere alluded to them in his writings. But the fact is, that in the corre-spondence of Descartes with Mersenne, published in 1642, there are, in severalof his letters, passages in which he has referred to the works of Verulamwith a respect which he yielded to no other writer, and has shown that he hadboth studied them and adopted the methods which they contain ; so that thereis no longer any difficulty in accounting for the remarkable coincidence withBacon's views and language which Mr. Stewart has noticed in the principleslaid down by Descartes for studying the phaenomena of the mind. The passagesto which 1 refer are these : Scribis praeterea velle to scire modum aliquemfaciendi experimenta utilia ; ad quod nihil est quod dicampost Verulamium qu ihac de re scripsit, nisi quod omissis minutioribus circumstantiis oporteret inqualibet materia potissimum facere generales observationes rerum omnium

maxim vulgarium et certissimarum et quae sine sumptu cognosci possint, ut,ex. gr. cochleas omnes in eandem partem esse contortas, atque utrum ideasobtineat trans aequinoctialem ; om nium animalium corpus esse divisum in trespartes, caput, pectus, et ventrem, et alia id genus, hujusmodi cairn observa-tiones ad veritatis investigationem certo deducunt. (Ep. LXV.) Gratiastibi ago pro qualitatibus quas ex Aristotele desumpsisti; majorem illorum cata-logum, partim ex Verulamio desumptum, partim a me collectum jam conscrip-scram, illasque imprimis conabor explicare. (Ep. C. V.) Scripsisti ad me

aliquando esse tibi notos viros quibus volupe erat scientiis propagandis dareoperam, (these were probably the persons whose m eetings at Mersenne's houselaid the foundation of the French Academy,) adeo ut nullum non experimen-torum genus propriis sumptibus se facturos profiterentur. Illorum siquis vellet

conscribere historiam phaenomenorum coelestium secundum me thodumVerulamii,atque omissis rationibus et hypothesibus accurate describeret coelum prout nuncapparet, quern situm singuke stellae fixae respectu circumjacentium obtineant,

quae sit aut magnitudinis, aut coloris, aut luminis, aut scintillationis,&c. differentia;

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING. 2 3is detailed in 'A speech, touching the recovering of drownedmineral works, prepared for the parliament by the Viscount ofSt. Albans, then Lord High Chancellor of England.' Forthat end he would have proposed, by legislative enactment, tobring those deserted mineral riches into use by the assiduouslabours of felons and the industry of con verted penitents, whosewretched carcasses the impartial laws have dedicated, or shalldedicate, as untimely feasts to the worms of the earth. Bythis unchargeable way, my Lords, have I proposed to erect the

item numquid ea consentiunt cum iis quae de illis veteres Astronomi scripserunt,quave in re differant, (neque enim dubito quin stellae situm inter se suum aliquan-tulum mutent quamvis fixae habeantur) bisque subjiceret observationes Come-tarum, tabellam conficiens de uniuscunque motu, quemadmodum Tycho detribus aut quatuor a se observatis fecit, denique variationes Eclipticm et apogo -eorum planetarum, opus esset u tilius quam forte p rimo intuitu videatur, essetquemihi magnum operae com pendium; sed non sperohi facturum quenquam. Ep.LXVII.) If any one will compare these suggestions with the letter to Baran-zon before referred to, he will find them almost a literal transcript of Bacon'srequest to the Savoyard philosopher to undertake this identical task. Theseextracts show the philosophical character of Descartes in a light somewhat dif-ferent from that in which it is com monly regarded ; like other great geom etersbefore and since, he carried the use of abstractions and hypotheses too far a ndtoo soon into physical reasoning ; but though he did not, with the wisdom ofNewton, abide by the fundamental principle, laid down by Bacon, non fin-gendum, nec excogitandum, sed inveniendum, quid natura faciat aut ferat,he was no stranger to the inductive method of collecting axioms from observa-tion and experiment. In a letter addressed to Descartes, and prefixed to hiscelebrated treatise on the passions, a strong appeal is made to the public liberalityto enable him to pursue those m ultiplied experiments for which he had o ccasionin order to carry on his investigations into nature. It is stated in this letter,that Gilbert had expended more than 50,000 crowns on the magnet alone, andthat to execute all the experiments which Bacon had designed, would requiremore than the revenue oftwo or three kings. The writer (probably Mersenne)refers to l'Instauratio magna et le Novus Atlantis du Chancelier Bacon, quime sem ble estre de tons ceux qui ont escrit avant vous celuy qui a en les m eil-leures penses touchant la methode qu'on doit tenir pour conduire la Physiqueen sa perfection.

In England meanwhile an experimental school was forming, more faithfultothe principles of the inductive philosophy. Foremost among the founders ofthe Royal Society, Mr. Boyle, the ornam ent of his age and country, succeededto th enius and inquiries of the great Chancellor Verulam 1 ; and he has leftus no doubt as' to the master by whom he had been taught; for in recording hisexperiments he has retained not only the method, but the peculiar idiom andtechnical phrases of Bacon. Thus this great interpreter of nature stood amongphilosophers like the pilot among the crew ; he constructed the chart of know-ledge, he marked up on it the place of the ship, he took the bearings of the land,he pointed out the variation of the compass, he n oted the force and direction ofthe winds, and taught the adventurer to steer a certain course over the wideand trackless sea. -.

Boerhaavc.

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2 6 FIRST REPORT--1831.academical fabric of this island's Solomon's house, modelledin my New Atlantis, and my ends are only to make the worldmy heir, and the learned fathers of my Solomon's house thesuccessive and sworn trustees, in the dispensation of this greatservice, for God's glory, my prince's magnificence, this parlia-ment's honour, our country's general good, and the propagationof my own memory.' From this speech it appears that thebasis of the great Institution, which Bacon meditated, was apublic provision for the maintenance and prom otion of science.It was one of the defects noted by him in his masterly surveyof the state of learning, that science had never possessed awhole man; and he exerted all the influence of his high stationand com manding talents, to promote the supp ly of that defect.In a letter to the king respecting the foundation of the hospitalat Dulwich by Allen the actor, he remarked, that though hewas glad to see him play the last act of life so well, yet hethought Sir H. Savile's endowments of geometrical and astro-nomical Professorships of much greater necessity and moredeserving of royal encouragement ; and his own last bequestwas one w hich, had it been executed, would have endowed twosimilar offices with salaries of two hundred pounds a year. Inhis opinion it was n ecessary to the progression of sciences, thatthose who are to generate and propagate them should be placedin such a cond ition as may content the ablest man to appropriate

his whole labour, and continue his whole age, in that functionand attendance ;' and he added, there will hardly be any mainproficiency in the disclosing of nature, except there be someallowances for expenses about experiments, whether they beexperiments appertaining to Vulcan or Daedalus, furnace orengine, or any other kind ; and therefore, as secretaries andspials of princes and states b ring in bills for intelligence, so youmust allow the spials and intelligencers of nature to bring intheir bills, or else you shall be ill advertised.'

These desiderata no means have yet been found of sup-plying in an adequate degree ; and science, even to the pre-sent day, can scarcely be said to possess more than fractions ofmen. The Royal Society did not attempt to execute this partof Bacon's plan ; but in other respects it copied as closely aspossible, the model of the six days College. It was not then anassociation of individuals throwing their contributions casu allyinto a common stock, but a body politic of philosophers actingin a corporate capacity and with systematic views, allotting toits members their respective tasks, and conjunctively debatingand consulting for the advancement of knowledge. It bad, inthe figurative language of Bacon, its merchants of light, wh o

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING. 7were dispatched in various directions at home and abroad, togather information and bring back specimens of the productionsof nature ; it had its depredators who were deputed to examinehistories of countries, and to question the travellers who hadvisited them, in order that queries might be framed which werethen addressed to the Society's correspondents in foreign lands,among whom Consuls and Ambassadors were proud to benumbered. It employed some of its members as auxiliaries tothe arts; to som e it proposed the solution of the most importantproblems in mathematics, whilst it referred to others the chargeof experimental researches, the mode of conducting which w asdiscussed before-hand, and the results re-examined by a publicMeeting. I may mention as examples of the effect of this sy-stem, that we are indebted to it, practically, for Evelyn's Hi-story of Forest Trees, by which the planting of the countrywas so materially promoted, and, theoretically, for the determi-nation of the law of the collision of bodies, simultaneously ob-tained from Huygens, Wallis, and Wren.

This was indeed to execute a noble plan in the spirit inwhich it was designed. The noise of works and inventionsresounded on every side ; new facts and original discoveries ofthe laws of the universe were daily brought to light ; the con-veniences and safeguards of life, the measurem ents of time, theconstruc tion of ships, the tilling and planting of the earth began

to be rapidly improved. But the vigour of these exertions soondeclined, and within thirty years we find Leibnitz suggestingto one of the original founders * of the Royal Society that itwanted new warmth to be infused into its constitution, and re-commending that it should be remodelled after the example ofthe French Academy.

Leibnitz indeed had no right to consider a Society effete,which within a few years had elicited a work t from Newton,that eclipsed the fame even of the great German philosopher.Nor to this hour has it ever lost i ts title to public respect. Itstill em bodies in its list every name which stands high in Britishscience ; it still communicates to the world the m ost importantof our discoveries; it still crowns with the most coveted honoursthe ambition of successful talent; and when the public servicerequires the aid of philosophy, it still renders to the nation theablest assistance, and the soundest counsel. Nevertheless itmust be admitted, Gentlemen, that the Royal Society no longer

Dr. Wallis.1' The Principia, as well as the Opti cs, of Newton were pu blished at the

solicitation of the Royal Society.

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2 8 FIRST REPORT-1831.performs the part of promoting natural knowledge by any suchexertions as those which we now propose to revive. As a body,it scarcely labours itself, and does not attempt to guide thelabours of others. Hence it happens, that when any science becomes popular,

and those who interest themselves in its advancement perceivethe necessity of working for it by united exertions, that scienceis detached from the central body ; first one fragment falls off,and then another ; colony after colony dissevers itself fromthe declining empire, and by degrees the commonwealth ofscience is dissolved. The new Societies distinguish themselvesby their diligence and activity ; the parts of knowledge whichthus receive more distinct attention, and are propelled by moreundivided labour, make rapid advances ; and each separateundertaking justifies itself by the most promising appearancesand u ndeniable fruits.

This is a new stage, Gentlemen, in the progress of science;a new state of things, which, whilst it is attended certainlywith great advantages, has some consequences of doubtfulaspect to the highest aims of philosophy. As the facts andspeculations in any department of knowledge are multiplied,the study of it has a tendency to engross and confine the viewsof those by whom it is cultivated ; and if the system of separateSocieties shall encourage this insulation, science will be in the

end retarded by them more than it is at first advanced. Thechief Interpreters of nature h ave always been those who graspedthe widest field of inquiry, who have listened with the mostuniversal curiosity to all information, and felt an interest inevery question which the one great system of nature presents.Nothing, I think, could be a more disastrous event for thesciences, than that one of them should be in any manner dis-sociated from another ; and nothing can conduce more topreventthat dissociation, than the bringing into mutual contact menwho have exercised great and equal powers of mind upon dif-ferent pursuits ; nothing more fitted to shame men out of thatunphilosophical contempt which they are too apt to feel foreach other's objects ; nothing more likely to open to them newveins of thought, which may be of the utmost importance to thevery inquiries on which they are more peculiarly intent.

I remember, at the Meeting of a foreign Society, to haveheard a memoir read, in which a specific and original differencewas inferred between two animals (commonly considered of onespecies), not from any difference in the higher and more essentialparts of their organization, but from a dissimilarity of colour in

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING. 2 9the skin or fur, and from minute anatomical distinctions ; andI heard the error of the Zoologist corrected by a Botanist, oneof the most eminent in Europe, who illuminated the wholesubject of generic, specific and individual difference, by thelight of a powerful mind which had been directed to the studyof the question, considered in a different aspect, and with amore extensive survey. In like manner it is easy to conceive,on the one hand, how much advantage might be derived togeological debates from the presence of a sober and rigorous

mathematician ; and how, on the other hand, the abstract analystand geom eter might have his calculations restricted or prom otedby listening to the detail of facts, which those could give himwho cultivate the sciences more directly dependent on observa-tion and experiment.

But there is a defect in these separate Societies, in respectto their own immediate objects, which I am sure no member ofthem wou ld wish to dissemble, and which arises from the narrowbasis on which they are of necessity built. It is not only thatthe constant converse of men, who, to borrow the expressionof Goldsmith, have often travelled over each other's minds, isnot half so effectual in striking out great and unexpected lights,as the occasional intercourse of those who have studied natureat a distance from each other, under various circum stances andin different views ; but it is also, Gentlemen, that none of ourexisting Societies is able to concentrate the scattered forceseven of its own science : they do not know, much less can theyconnect or employ that extensive and growing body of humblelabourers who are ready, whenever they shall be called upon,to render their assistance. I have the pleasure of seeing herethe President of the Geological Society of London ; and I begleave to ask him, whether in a science, the most complex of allsciences in its object, because it aims at deciphering the historyof nature not only as it is but as it has been, in a science ofwhich very few even among the lowest generalizations are asyet so settled as to be able to bear the weight of any theoreticalsuperstructure whatever,I ask him whether in the science ofGeology there is not a multitude of facts to be ascertained inevery district, on which he would be glad to see a much greater

number of observers employed ? And if it be so, let me remindhim that we have heard today of nine Philosophical Societiesin this county alone, which could doubtless find m embers readyto prosecute any local inquiry that this Meeting might, at hissuggestion, request them to undertake. It is the same with allparts of Natural History, with Meteorology, and indeed withevery science which is founded upon observation, or even upon

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FIRST REPORT-1831.

experiment ; for the lower order of experiments, in subjects ofthe utmost ultimate abstractness,such as the relations, for in-stance, of heat and of light,are not only abundantly wanted,but by a m oderate degree of industry and talent are by no m eansdifficult to be supplied.

What numberless suggestions, what a crowd of valuablebut abortive hints are continually floating in the thoughts ofphilosophers, for the pursuit of which time is wanting to them-selves Now I say, Gentlemen,-that we have among us, scattered

through the country, men willing to adopt these unexecutedhints, as they arise out of the profound and varied meditationsof more experienced minds, men not incapable of surveyingwith accuracy a limited district, though they may not pretendto draw the general outline of the map, or fill up the whole ofits details. Many such there are who only wait for instructions,and who require no other stimulus than that of being invited,to render the most essential service to researches and calcula-tions of the highest order ; and it is upon this ground especiallythat we venture to pronoun ce an Institution wanting, which shallnot hesitate to make such invitations and to offer such instruc-tions; it is upon this ground that if we now propose to revivein the nineteenth century a plan devised two centuries ago,we see a difference, Gentlemen, in the probability of success.Scientific knowledge has of late years been more largely infusedinto the education of every class of society, and the time seemsto be arrived for taking advantage of the intellectual improve-ment of the nation. Let Philosophy at length come forth andshow herself in public; let her hold her court in different partsof her dominions ; and you will see her surrounded by loyalretainers, who will derive new light and zeal from her presenceand contribute to extend her power on every side.

Much, indeed, is not to be gained in the more reconditesubjects of investigation from the first essays of inexpert in-quirers; but let the number of those inquirers only be increased;collect around you, Gentlemen, a school fired with a zeal fortruth, confess to them how litt le you know compared with whatremains to be known, apprize them that there is not a subjectto which they can apply themselves where new materials are

not wanted to advance the fabric, or secure the foundations ; letthem see that the more multiplied have been your discoveries,the more additional openings to discovery have appeared,andif you will then draw the precise line of what is, and what isnot made out in every science, if you will indicate to them thosepromising points and inlets of inquiry which bid fair to lead tovaluable results,if you will thus put before them right sub-

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING. 31jects, and at the same time suggest the right methods of treatingthose subjects ; whatever more m ay be wanting to accurate andsuccessful investigation, natural sagacity an d a longer experiencewill not fail by degrees to supply.

But even the experienced in science will benefit by con-sultation with each other ; for there are different degrees ofexperience, and no solitary industry or talent can ever hope toequal the power of combined wisdom and concerted labour.Above all, consider, Gentlemen, the excitement to exertionwhich will be felt by those who are solicited to undertake aninquiry at one of these Meetings, and pledged to produce theinvestigation at another. The greatest minds require to beurged by outward impulses, and there is no impulse more power-ful than that which is exercised by publicly-esteemed bodies ofmen. Even Newton's papers might have remained unfinished,but for the incentive of such a solicitation. In a letter whichI have lately received from Mr. Conybeare, and in which heexpresses a deep regret at finding himself unexpectedly pre-vented from attending this Meeting, the benefit in these respectswhich may be looked for from a general scientific combinationis described with the energy of his ardent and comprehensivegenius. Your proposal,' he says, for ingrafting on the an-nual reunion of scientific men, a system for effecting such aconcentration of the talent of the country as might tend more

effectually to consolidate and combine its scattered powers, todirect its investigations to the points which an extensive surveythus generalized would indicate as the most important,bene-fited by all the aids which the union of powerful minds, theenlarged comparison of different views, and a general systemof intellectual cooperation could not fail to afford,-fills me withvisions too extensive almost to allow me to write with sufficientcalmness of approbation. The combined advantages, includingat once the most powerful stimulus and the most efficientguidance of scientific research, which might emanate from sucha point of central union, seem to me to be beyond calculation.If views like those you have sketched could be realized, theywould almost give a local habitation and a n ame to the ph iloso-phical academy of Bacon's Atlantis, when divers Meetingsand consults of the united body of DEPREDATORS COMPILERSPIONEERS &c., suggested new experiments of a higher lightand mo re penetrating nature to the LAMPS and these at lengthyielded materials to the INTERPRETERS of nature. '

To that great model of a national Institution for the ad-vancement of science, I have already adverted today, as I have

-formerly directed to it the attention of the Yorkshire Philoso-

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32 FIRST REPORT-1831.phical Society : i t is here referred to by Mr. Conybeare ; andby a remarkable coincidence of ideas, we have the same referencefrom Mr. Harvey, who in a letter from Plymouth, which hehas addressed to the Secretary of the Meeting, observes, thatBacon alludes to circuits or visits of divers principal cities ofthe kingdom as forming a distinguished feature of the New At-lantis. What Bacon,' he adds, foresaw in distant perspective,it has been reserved to our day to realize; and as his propheticspirit pointed out the splendid consequences that would resultgenerally from institutions of this kind, so may we hope that thenew visions which are opening before us may be productive ofstill greater effects than have yet been beheld ; and that thebringing together the cultivators of science from the North andthe South, the East and the West, may fulfil all the anticipationsof one of the greatest minds that ever threw glory on our intel-lectual nature.'

I have now laid before this Meeting the reasons for whichI think it would be expedient to form a national Association,having for its first object to give a stronger impulse and moresystematic direction to scientific inquiry. On the remaining ob-jects which I have before mentioned, it is not necessary for meto enlarge much. It is not necessary to recommend the promo-tion of a more general intercourse among the cultivators of sci-ence, to those who have come in many instances from a great

distance expressly to enjoy the gratification of meeting men ofkindred minds and congenial pursuits. I shall content myselfwith remarking, that nothing can be better calculated to preventthose interferences, and reconcile those jealousies which some-times disturb the peace of philosophy, than the mutual intel-ligence and am icable comm union of such a M eeting as this.

n the grounds which su bsist for seeking to obtain a greaterdegree of national attention to the objects of science, I havelittle to add to what the Chairman has said. In confirmation ofhis remarks on the obstacles which som e of our fiscal laws opposeto the progress of knowledge, I may adduce the recent experi-ence of this Museum. There is nothing more indispensable tothe utility of such an Institution than a complete display of thespecimens which it contains ; and for that purpose, where thespecimens are numerous, extensive glazing is required. Nowthere is a most serious impediment to this in the high price ofglass, and of that price we find that two thirds consist in theduty paid to Government. So that more than one department ofscience is injured by this tax ; the weight of the impost restrainsthe public exhibition of the objects of natural history; whilst theregulations of the Excise oppose an obstacle to the improvement

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PROC EEDING S OF THE MEETING. ;of astronomical instruments, still more to be regretted. Amongthe subjects to which a Scientific Association may be justly ex-pected to call the public attention, I would particularly instancea revision of the law of Patents. The protection which is givento every other species of property is not given in the same extentto the property of scientific invention. The protection which itdoes receive must be bought of the state at a high price ; anexpense, varying from two to four or five hundred pounds, isfirst to be sustained. Then, after encountering the risk of this

outlay, the Patentee is compelled to specify publicly and withlegal precision, the particulars of his invention ; thus it is ex-posed to be pirated, with the redress only of ruinous proceedingsat law ; and the consequence is, that no Patent is considered ofany value till it has actually maintained a litigation ; and thoug hPatents are still taken out, their chief use is understood to be,not so m uch to secure a right as to advertise a commodity. Suchis the present policy of our laws respecting the remuneration ofpractical science, a policy which seems to have no other end thanto restrain the multiplicity of inventions.

" With regard to the direct national encouragement which isdue to scientific objects and scientific men, I am unwilling tomoot any disputed or disputable question. There is a service

-of science to be rendered to a state with which it cannot dispense ;

and all, I think, mu st allow that it is neither liberal nor p olitic tokeep those, who em ploy the rarest intellectual endowments in thedirect service of the country, upon a kind of parish allowance.It would be difficult also to withhold our assent from the opinionthat a liberal public provision would have a powerful effect inpromoting those studies of abstract science which most requireartificial encouragement ; and that to detach a number of in-genious men from every thing but scientific pursuits ; to deliverthem alike from the em barrassments of poverty and the tempta-tions of wealth ; to give them a place and station in society themost respectable and independent, is to remove every impedi-ment and to add every stimulus to exertion *.' But I will not, onthis occasion, enter upon a subject on which any difference ofsentiment can be supposed to exist, nor pretend to decide whetherPlayfair judged rightly of the degree in which a provision of thiskind has actually improved the state of science in a neighbouringcountry, when he added, that to such an Institution operatingupon a people of great genius an d indefatigable activity of m ind,we are to ascribe that superiority in the mathematical sciences,

Second Dissertation prefixed to the Supplement to the Encyclop. Brit,

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31 FIRST REPORT 1831.for which, during the last seventy years, they have been so con-spicuous.' One great benefit, at least, in addition to her maritime ex-peditions, England, as a nation, has conferred on the science ofthe world. She has had reason to be proud of her astronomicalobservations ; though perhaps it is not equally gratifying to re-flect that these observations have been turned to account, of lateyears, less by her own geometers than by the national school ofmathematicians in France. But there are many other sciences,Gentlemen, on which the resources of states are no less depen-dent; and in them also there are physical data, which require tobe ascertained by masters in science, with the most rigorous pre-cision, and not without the most persevering labour. And I maybe permitted to think with Mr. Herschel, that it may veryreasonably be asked, why the direct assistance afforded by go-vernments to the execution of continued series of observations,adapted to this especial end, should continue to be, as it hashitherto almost exclusively been, confined to Astronomy.'

The Chairman of the Meeting adverting to this subject,has said that there are enterprises in science which none buta nation can undertake ;' let me add also, that there are esta-blishments for science which none but a nation can support. Iremember, Gentlemen, to have heard the greatest philosopherof this age for variety and extent of attainments, M. de Hum-boldt, speak of Great Britain, as he was showing me the splen-did collections of natural history in the Louvre. What countryin the world, said he, has such opportunities as England forcollecting in her capital specimens of all the productions of theearth I reflected, Gentlemen, on those unrivalled advantages,but felt, I confess, no elation of national pride when I recollectedthe state of the British Museum. Since that time, however, onematerial step has been taken towards improvement ; and whenan adequate building shall have been prepared, let us hope thatwe may at length see a public school of natural history in Lon-don, so furnished, and so appointed, as not to be unworthy ofthe British nation. I am persuaded that even our statesmenwould have no cause for regret, if, whilst the stores of this na-tional repository were replenished by scientific missions judi-ciously employed, a more accurate knowledge were at the sametime obtained of our distant possessions, and of their naturalriches, than has been sometimes discovered in our diplomatictransactions.

All the remarks, Gentlemen, which I have this day made,have been made with an anxious desire to say neither more norless than the truth. I have spoken both of scientific societies

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING. 5and of the national policy with all freedom, because I take freespeech upon points in which the interests of science are deeplyconcerned, to be one of the principal purposes for which weare now assembled ; but I hope I have spoken also withoutany disposition to exaggerate the deficiencies which I havethought it right to notice, or to elevate a new institution bydetracting from the merits of elder establishments. It onlyremains for me to lay before you the particulars of the plan bywhich we propose to accomplish the objects which I have

stated ; the subordinate details would be m ost advantageouslyrevised by a Committee, but the material principles on whichit is framed are points to which I would request the attentionof this Meeting.

The material principles of the plan are included in thecomposition of the A ssociation, in the constitution of its govern-ment, and in the selection of the work on which it is to be em-ployed.

Having objects in view more extensive, and at the sametime more specific than those of the German Association, wedo not recommend the adoption of the same rules. It is notour desire in the general composition of the Society to separatewriters from readers, the professor of natural knowledge fromthe student. A public testimonial of reputable character andzeal for science is the only passport into our camp which wewould require. We propose, therefore, that all Members ofPhilosophical Societies in the British empire shall be entitledto become MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION, on enrolling theirnames, and engaging to pay such subscription as may be agreedupon, the amount of which subscription, we think, ought to below ; and we propose that the m embers shall meet for one weekin every year at different places in rotation ; in order, by thesemigratory visits, to extend the sphere of the Association, tomeet the convenience of distant districts in turn, and to ani-mate the spirit of philosophy in all the places through whichthe Meetings may mo ve, without rendering them burthensometo any.

But the governing or executive power of the Association,we think, should be vested in a more select, though still nu-

merous body, and placed in the hands of those who appear tohave been actually employed in working for science. We pro-pose, therefore, that the GENERAL COMMITTEE shall consist ofall Members present at a Meeting who have contributed apaper to any Philosophical Society, which paper has beenprinted by its order or with its concurrence; taking this as thesafest definition of the class of persons intended, but leaving

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36 IRST REFORT-1831.power to the Committee to add to its own number, and to ad-mit into the Association other Members at its discretion; andwe propose that it shall sit during the time of the Meeting, orlonger if necessary, to regulate the general affairs of the Asso ciation, to manage the business of the session, and to settle theprincipal scientific arrangements for the ensuing Meeting.

We recommend, however, that these arrangements shouldbe first digested, and the particular advancement of everyscience specially looked to by SUB-COMMITTEES which thegeneral Committee shall appoint, placing severally on eachthose Members who are most conversant with the severalbranches of science. We propose that the Sub-Committeesshould select the points in each science which most call forinquiry, and endeavour, under the authority of the GeneralCommittee, to engage competent persons to investigate them ;that where the subject admits of the cooperation of scientificbodies, the Sub-Committees should recommend application tobe made for that assistance ; and that they should attend es-pecially to the important object of obtaining Reports in whichconfidence may be placed, on the recent progress, the actualstate, and the deficiencies of every department of science.

On the last of these points I beg leave to quote the opinionof an able and zealous philosopher, the Professor of Mineralogyat Cambridge, who has been prevented by his public duties atthe University from attending the Meeting, but who neverthe-less takes the deepest interest in its objects. A collection ofReports,' says Professor Whewell, concerning the presentstate of science, drawn up by competent persons, is on all ac-counts much wanted ; in order that scientific students mayknow where to begin their labours, and in order that thosewho pursue one branch of science may know how to communi-cate with the inquirer in another. For want of this knowledgewe perpetually find speculations published which show thegreatest ignorance of what has been done and written on thesubjects to which they refer, and which must give a very un-favourable impression of our acquirements to well informedforeigners.'

I must add, however, to Mr. Whewell's remarks, that thiswant of knowledge is not by any means confined to our owncountry. I do not remember anywhere a more remarkableinstance of it than that which occurred in France, to one ofthe most distinguished improvers of optical science*. As lateas the year 1815 M. Fresnel re-observed Dr. Young's impor-

* M Fresnel,

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING. 37tant law of the interference of the rays of light ; he re-con-structed the same mathematical formulas for the applicationof that law to various phaenomena, and he announced these re-searches as new, in a memoir read before the French Academ y.One of the members of that eminent body*, better acquaintedwith the progress of optics than the writer of the memoir,happily preserved an author, to whose original and profoundresearches the science has been so largely indebted, fromprinting as his own the celebrated discoveries long beforepublished by another philosopher ; but had this informationbeen earlier acquired, it would have saved all the time andlabour which were lost in a retrograde inquiry.. Even fouryears after this, when general attention had been drawn tothe subject, and the prize offered by the Academy for thebest Memoir on the diffraction of light was adjudged toM. Fresnel, the following animadversions were made by theReporter t on the u nsuccessful competitor, whom he neverthe-less represents as an experienced physical inquirer ( physicienexerce). L'auteur parait n'avoir connu ni les travaux donton est redevable au Dr. Thomas Young, ni le mmoire queM. Fresnel avait insr en 1816 dans les A nnales de Chimieet de Physique : aussi la partie de son travail qui se rapporteaux influences que les rayons de la lumire exercent on semblentexercer les uns sur les autres en se m lant, loin de Hen ajouter

ce qui tait dj connu, renferme plusieurs erreurs videntes.'"Having thus entrusted to the Sub-Committees, Gentlemen,the most active share in ad vancing their respective sciences, andconsidered them as the instruments by which, through themedium of the General Comm ittee, the impulse of the Associa-tion must be principally directed, we recommend that theyshould not be dissolved with the Meeting at which they havebeen appointed, but continue in action till the Society re-assemblesin the following year. We do not presume that the personswho may happen to compose them, far removed as they maybe from each other, may often have it in their power to meetin the interval ; but we conceive that they will feel themselvesengaged individually to keep the objects, which they haveagreed to,forward, in their view, and that the correspondencewhich they may be induced to maintain between themselves,and with the Officers of the Association, may be highly con-ducive to that comb ined exertion, the introduction of which intoscience would save much labour and ensure a better progress.

The appointments to the HIGHER OFFICES of the Society,

M. Arago . f Rapport In I'Academie 15 Man, 1819, par M . Arago.

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38 FIRST REPORT-1831.we propose should be not only annual, like the rest of themachinery by which it is kept in motion, but annually changed;in order at once to extend the interest which they may be sup-posed to kindle, and to limit the burthen which they will impose ;leaving it for future consideration, whether the appointment ofm ore perm anent SECRETARIES may not be necessary to secure asteady and uniform course : and we recommend that, when theGeneral Committee is not sitting, the whole business of theA ssociation shall be comm itted to the Of fice-bearers assisted in

scientific matters by the Members of the Sub-Committees, andin promoting the interests and objects of the Association in particular places, by the cooperation of LOCAL COMMITTEES.

I have now arrived at the last point to which it remains forme to advertnamely, the selection of the matter which is toengage the attention of the Meetings. It is evident that if theplan which I have thus far explained should be carried intoeffect, the deliberations of the Committee to be formed at thepresent Meeting will provide the chief materials for the con-sideration of the next. Those investigations and those surveysof science which shall have been suggested and procured bythe Committees and Officers of the Association, will be entitledto the priority, though other comm unications may be accepted asfar as the duration of the session will allow. Professor Whewellconceives that if this Meeting were to request from one ortwo among the most eminent men in the various branches ofscience, statements to be presented next year of the recentadvances made in each department, and the subjects of re-search which they consider at present the most important andpromising, such a request would be respectfully attendedto.' Gentlemen, I do not doubt that it would; neither do Idoubt that a request from this Meeting would be successful inprocuring new researches to be made ; and should the funds ofthe Association hereafter admit of its going further, and offeringPRIZES for particular investigations,then would another prolificsource be opened from which the scientific materials of ourMeetings would be derived.

This, indeed, would only be another and a very powerfulmethod of carrying on the system which we recommend of ad-vancing science in determinate lines of direction ; a method,which, though scarcely practised in this country, has beenfound eminently successful abroad. Dr. Brewster, I believe,will confirm me in this statement ; for he will recollect that weowe to a prize-memoir, the first announcement of that greatoptical discovery, that light may be polarized by reflection fromthe surface of transparent bodies, a discovery which has since

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PROCEEDINGS GI THE MEETING. 39been productive of so many new and admirable observations,and which has been in no hands more fertile than his own ;and he will remember also, that the first accurate investigationof all the phaenomena of diffraction, and the first complete ex-planation of them by the doctrine of undulations, was containedin a memoir produced by a similar competition*. The award ofmedals, indeed, is an honourable encouragem ent not altogetherwithheld from successful researches in British science. But theprinciple on which they are given is of a more vague and generalnature. The objects of these rewards have never been so dis-tinct as to give a direct stimulus to specific inquiries. I may add,without imputing any mercenary feelings to men of science, thatwhere the inquiry involves expense, a sum of money instead of amedal would, perhaps, be found a more useful and operativeoffer It is well known that the important improvements whichhave been made in Chron ometers have arisen, both in France andEngland, directly out of the public rewards munificently offeredby the British Parliament ; and I see no reason why adequateand well devised premiums should not be efficacious in the sci-ences as well as in the arts. No man, however high may be hisliterary or scientific pretensions, disdains to receive a pecuniaryremuneration for the labour which he em ploys in the compositionOf his works ; and there can be nothing derogatory to the cha-racter of a man of science in accepting a similar com pensationfor the successful exercise of his talents in researches especiallywhich require an expenditure of money as well as time.

Such, Gentlemen, are the provisions of the plan which wepropose for your consideration ; and you will perceive that themethods which it embraces are new in practice, though not inprinciple. How otherwise indeed, than by new methods, canwe hope to exchange the present desultory and tardy progressof philosophy, for a m ore regular, energetic, and rapid advan ce-ment? There is a light in the distant horizon to which we havelong eagerly looked, and complained that the current did not setus more quickly towards it ; and the question now before you,Gentlemen, is no less than this : Whether you are satisfied stillto float passively on the waters, or whether you will raise thesail, and ply the oar, and take the helm into your hands. The

methods now proposed are new, and therefore cannot place usin collision with any other Society. It has never yet been seenin this country, that twenty Chemists for instance, or twentyMineralogists, have met together, for the pu rpose of settling the

* This Memoir, written by M. Fresnel, gained the physical prize proposedby the French Academy for a general examination of the pbaenomena of thediffraction of light, in 1819.

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nomenclature of their respective sciences, or attempting to fixwith one consent the foundations on which they rest. It hasnever yet been seen, that the Chemical, Mineralogical, and Optical inquirers have assembled for the purpose of mutually ex-plaining and learning what light the sciences of Chemistry, Mine-ralogy, and Optics are capable of reflecting reciprocally uponeach other. You will perceive also, Gentlemen, that the Trans-actions, which we contemplate, are not to be collected by tres-passing upon ground which was already occupied. In this re-spect there is on our part not only no design, but no possibilityof interference. The course of an Association which meets oncea year, and but for a few days, is necessarily different from thatof more abiding Institutions ; we have no time, if we wished it,to encroach upon the office, or to drain away the scientific re-sources of any other Society. It will be enough for us, if we cancompress into the compass of a week's deliberations our own re-stricted objects,specific investigations into fundamental pointsof science, reviews of its recent advances, and recommendationsof subjects and methods for future research. Our plan containswithin it a new power which may perhaps accelerate the wheelsthat are already in action ; but its machinery is exclusively itsown. The enlightened Institutions with which it hopes to beassociated will regard it, therefore, not as a rival, but a coadjutor;and I trust it may prove such a coadjutor to them as the steam-

engine has been to all other kinds of mechanism, in every mine,and in every manufactory ; a coadjutor, by the aid of whosepowerful movements all their operations have been facilitated,and their productions multiplied a hundredfold.

An enterprise like this has no danger to fear, but from adeficiency of zeal and union in carrying it into effect. It mustundoubtedly fail, if it meets only with imperfect cooperation andcold support. But if it shall recommend itself to the full appro-bation of men of science, if it appears to you, Gentlemen, de-sirable to undertake it, the Association will have competentsponsors in the present assembly, who will stand pledged notonly for its early encouragement, but for those future exertionswhich will be required to ensure its success. The Council ofthe Yorkshire Philosophical Society have not the presumption

to dictate to this Meeting the course which it may be for the in-terests of Philosophy to pursue. They collected, in the firstinstance, the best opinions which they could obtain, before theyproceeded to mature their plan; and they now wait for the opinionof the eminent persons who are here assembled, before they canassure themselves that it is as feasible in practice as it appearsin theory. My own judgement waits with theirs, Gentlemen, on

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING. 41that of the High Priests of the temple, in the porch of which Iam only an humble worshiper,' parcus Deorum cultor et in-frequens',and I shall be the first to withdraw the resolutionswhich I am now ready to propose, unless I find them, by the de-liberate and cordial concurrence of this Meeting, stamped withauthority and endued with permanence.

A string of Resolutions in which were embodied the Objectsand Rules of the Association as stated in Mr. Harcourt's speech,

were then moved by him seriatim, and seconded by Dr. Brewster,by Mr. Murchison, President of the Geological Society of Lon-don, by Dr. Pearson, Vice-President of the Astronomical SocietyOf London, by Mr. Robison, Secretary to the Royal Society ofEdinburgh, &c. It was resolved unanimously that an Asso-ciation be formed, to be called The British Association for theAdvancement of Science, the objects of which shall be to give astronger impulse and more systematic direction to scientific in-quiry, to promote the intercourse of those who cultivate sciencein different parts of the British Empire, with one another, andwith foreign philosophers, and to obtain a greater degree ofnational attention to the objects of science and a removal of anydisadvantages of a public nature which impede its progress. Inthe next Resolution, purporting that the members of Philoso-

phical Societies in any part of the British Empire may becomemembers of the Association on enrolling their names and contri-buting a small subscription , several alterations were proposed ;but it was finally passed, with the remaining Resolutions, subjectto the revisal and report of a Committee, constituted, accordingto the proposed plan, of all members present who had contributeda scientific paper to any Philosophical Society, which paper hadbeen printed with its concurrence.

The thanks of the Meeting were then voted to the Chairman,and to the Rev. Mr. Harcourt for his statement of the plan ofthe Association ; and the further consideration of it was adjourn-ed till the following day.

On Wednesday, at 12 o'clock, Viscount Milton was again

called to the chair, and the Meeting resumed its deliberations.The Rev. W. V. Harcourt, as chairman of the Committee,announced that the Resolution respecting the admission of mem-bers, in which alterations had been suggested on the previousday, had been revised, and that the Committee recommendedthat the following persons should be entitled to become membersof the Association, upon subscribing an obligation to conform

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to its Rules:--1st. allpersons assembled at the present Meeting :end. the Fellows and Members of all Chartered Societies in theBritish Empire : 3rd. the Office-bearers and Members of theCouncil or Managing Committee of all Philosophical Societies:4th. all Members of such a Society recommended by theCouncil or Committee thereof. They also proposed that theamount of the annual subscription should be One Pound, andthat the composition for it should be Five Pounds ; that theaccounts should be audited annually by Auditors appointed bythe Meeting itself, and that the Treasurer of the YorkshirePhilosophical Society should be Treasurer of the Associationfor the ensuing year.

Resolutions founded on these recommendations, having beenmoved and seconded by Sir Thomas Brisbane, Mr. Robison,Mr. Dalton, Dr. Daubeny, the Rev. Mr. Scoresby, Dr. Pearson,Mr. Murchison, Mr. Marshall, &c. were passed by the Meeting;and it was resolved that any further revision which the Rulesmight require should be left to the Committee.

On the motion of Mr. Murchison, seconded by Sir ThomasBrisbane, it was resolved, that the Rev. Mr. Harcourt be re-quested to publish for the Association the exposition of itsobjects and plan which he delivered yesterday. Mr. Har-court, in assenting to the desire of the Meeting, asked permis-sion to revise what he had said, previous to its publication.

The business of forming the Association being completed,the Chairman proceeded to announce the papers to be readthat morning on subjects of Science, a report of the contentsof which, as well as of the other communications made duringthe Session, will be found in the subsequent account of theScientific Transactions.

On Thursday morning it was stated to the Meeting that theCommittee had chosen Viscount Milton, the Rev.W.V. Harcourt,and the Secretaries of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, tobe the actual President, Vice-President, and Secretaries of theAssociation ; that the Rev. Dr. Buckland had been chosenPresident elect; Dr. Brewster and the Rev. Professor Whewell

Vice-Presidents elect; Dr. Daubeny and the Rev. ProfessorPowell, Secretaries elect; and that the next Meeting was ap-pointed to be held at OXFORD.

On Saturday evening, the scientific communications and dis-cussions having been closed by some remarks of Dr. Brewster,in which, adverting to a method of rendering visible the legends

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FROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING. 43of ancient coins, he stated that he had never been more struckthan by observing on an old coin, which he had placed on hotiron, an inscription make its appearance which he could readin a dark room, bearing the words Benedictum sit nomen DeiViscount Morpeth rose, and addressed the Meeting asfollows :-

Ladies and Gentlemen, an office has been assigned to me,which, although most entirely without an y qualification or p re-tension to fulfil, I nevertheless accept, and will discharge, tothe best of my ability, with the utmost alacrity. To the cha-racter of a man of science I have, unfortunately for myself,no claim whatsoever; I have the good fortune to be inti-mately connected with the county, and consequently with thecity of York ; and I feel that they have both received greatbenefit and additional credit from the Meeting which is nowbrought to a conclusion. I say this, both with reference to thepositive instruction we have received upon so man y m ost inter-esting and important subjects, and also to the circumstance ofthis town and this edifice, already so much ind ebted to the zeal,perseverance, and ability of our Vice-President, having beennow selected as the birth-place of an Association, which, Itrust, is destined to confer fresh lustre on British science, togive a new motive and a new guarantee to the friendly inter-course and continued concord of nations ; to make further

inroads into the untravelled realm of discovery, and gleanfresh harvests from the unexhausted field of Nature; to pro-mote the com forts and augment the resources of civilized man;and to exalt above and over all the wonder-working hand ofHeaven. For it will always come out from the pursuit ofknowledge as surely as from the rusty medal of which we havethis moment heard, Benedictum sit nomen Dei.' Observe well,if you wish to appreciate rightly the true value and nobility ofscience, that while it proposes to itself distinct courses and de-finite spheres of its own, its general tendencies conduce topeace, and minister to piety. With these views and thesehopes, it is natural and it is becoming that there should bemixed feelings of gratitude to those whose efforts have contri-buted so largely to our future progress. An assembly likethat which I have the honour to address, will appreciate farmore justly than I can pretend to do, the several papers andproductions which have been submitted to our notice. I haveno scruple in leaving to your more com petent and accurate dis-crimination, the indications of enlightened and powerful thoughtwhich they have exhibited ; but I feel sure that, if you pardonme for this intrusion of myself, the proposition I now m ake will

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44 FIRST REPORT 1831.command, upon this occasion, both the grave assent of Scienceand. the soft sanction of Beauty. I move that the thanks ofthis Meeting be given to Dr. Brewster, and the other authorswho have favoured us with their communications.Mr. Murchison then rose, and on the part of Dr. Brewster

and his other scientific friends, begged leave to return thanksfor the high honour done to the contributors of scientific me-moirs, and for the valuable aid which had been received fromthe residents of York and its neighbourhood, in the promotionof the objects of the Meeting. He explained the motives whichinduced the original promoters of it to select the city of Yorkfor their first assembly. To this city, he said, as thecradle of the Association, we shall ever look back with grati-tude ; and, whether we meet hereafter on the banks of theIsis, the Cam, or the Forth, to this spot, to this beautifulbuilding, we shall still fondly revert, and hail with delightthe period at which in our periodical revolution we shallreturn to the point of our first attraction. Mr. Murchison,after expressing his sense of the kind reception and hospitalitywhich the strangers there collected had experienced from theArchbishop, and from all classes of the inhabitants of the cityand neighbourhood, concluded with a motion of thanks asfollows : That the cultivators of science, here assembled,return their most grateful thanks to His Grace the Archbishopof York, and the other Members of the Yorkshire Philoso-phical Society, for the very liberal manner in which, by theuse of their Halls and Museum, and by their obliging and un-wearied efforts to provide every accommodation and comfort tothose who have visited York on the present occasion, they haveso essentially contributed to the success and prosperity of thisAssociation.

This motion was seconded by Dr. Brewster, and supportedby Mr. Dalton. Mr. Harcourt, who was in the chair , thensaid, that it was quite unnecessary, from the feelings whichhe knew to pervade the b reasts of all, both strangers andresidents , to put to the vote of the Meeting either of theproposals so eloquently brought forward. In the long periodof its existence the ancient city of York had never greaterreason to be proud, than of the genius and talent it containedwithin its walls at that moment, and of the honour it had ac-quired in being the birth-place of an Association destined, hefirmly believed, greatly to enlarge the boundaries of science,and in so doing to advance the many interests of human naturewhich depend upon the improvement of knowledge. He thendeclared the Meeting to be adjourned to Oxford.