Natural History in the English Counties. 391 



elude us from inserting, how replete with interest and instruction are the 

 sciences proposed, Mr. Detrosier proceeds : — 



" Living at a time when truth is no longer shunned, except by those 

 who are interested in error, and when the progress of learning is no longer 

 dreaded, save by those who profit by the ignorance of the multitude, what- 

 ever useful knowledge we may gain by mutual instruction, whatever new or 

 interesting facts we may be so happy as to discover, the fate of a Galileo 

 need not deter us from communicating to each other, nor from publishing 

 to the world. Happily for mankind, the consideration of what is true, in 

 every thing which relates to the existence, prosperity, and mental culture 

 of man, is becoming more and more paramount to the consideration of that 

 which is merely expedient ; and the liberal and enlightened portion of the 

 rich and more fortunate class of mankind contemplate the rising talent 

 and increasing knowledge of the industrious artisan, not merely with com- 

 placency, but with pleasure. Still more happy, however, will it be for this 

 latter class, which constitutes by far the greater portion of the human race, 

 when the redeeming influence of knowledge shall be more largely felt and 

 more duly appreciated amongst them, and when their leisure hours shall be 

 consecrated to the attainment and communication of useful knowledge. 

 Nor can I conceive any thing more calculated to secure the realisation of 

 this happy state of society, than the establishment of institutions like the 

 present. Time has led to the acknowledgment of the gratifying fact, that 

 in the empire of mind wisdom constitutes the only true riches ; and expe- 

 rience, that best of all teachers, has confirmed the sister truth, that indus- 

 trious poverty may attain to its possession. And how gratifying is the 

 fact, to those who have little else besides their attainments of which to be 

 proud, that the possession of a full measure of talent is not confined to any 

 particular class of society ; that wisdom is not hereditary, nor yet, like the 

 unprincipled sycophant, found exclusively in the train of the rich and the 

 powerful." 



Mr. Detrosier concludes the address, from which we have taken the 

 foregoing extracts, much injured in beauty by their displacement, as fol- 

 lows : — 



" Brief, however, as this sketch has been, it has, I trust, been sufficient to 

 convince those to whom conviction was necessary, that the subjects contem- 

 plated by this Society, as the basis of its labours, are worthy of their atten- 

 tion. Of the utility of such studies no man will doubt who is conversant 

 with his own nature ; for so long as man is possessed of mental energies, 

 those energies will exert themselves on subjects either prejudicial or favour- 

 able to happiness; and as relaxation is necessary to the wearied frame, that 

 cannot be useless which combines interest and instruction with bodily ease. 

 * And even in the limited view which these sciences exhibit to the philoso- 

 phic mind, it may catch from them a glimpse of the general economy of 

 Nature ; and, like the mariner cast upon an unknown shore, who rejoiced 

 when he saw the print of a human foot upon the sand, it may be led to 

 cry out with rapture, A Deity dwells here !' " — 1 



A large Whale, of the beak-nosed kind, was taken last week on this 

 coast, near Liverpool. {Bolton Chron., May 2. 1829.) 



Somersetshire. 



Bristol Philosophical and Literary Society. — The General Annual Meet- 

 ing of the Society was held on May 29. 1828, when the report of the 

 Council was read ; from which it appears that a variety of papers, on sub- 

 jects of great interest, have been read before the Society at its public meet- 

 ings. Among these have been essays relating to experimental and natural 

 philosophy, to polite literature and the fine arts, and to various topics of 



