Dr Whewell's Inaugural Lecture. 19 



follow from a good and generally accepted sub-classification 

 of one of the lowest members of that classification which the 

 Catalogue exhibits to us. Mr Whitworth would classify 

 screws, and wheels, and axles, as the millwrights have 

 classified toothed wheels. But screws, or wheels, or axles, 

 are merely one kind of tool, one element of machinery ; 

 and tools and machinery are only one class out of thirty 

 of the great collection of which we are speaking. Ifj'^^then, 

 so great benefits arise from a common understanding as 

 to the species of one of the lowest members of our classi- 

 fication, may we not expect corresponding advantages from 

 a fixation of the names and distinctions of the higher 

 members % — of the names of tools and machines, for in- 

 stance ; and from a perception of their relations to each 

 other, which a good classification brings into view ; and then, 

 again, from a clear perception of the relation of class to class 

 and of their lines of demarkation ? And may we not expect 

 that on such grounds, the very language of Art and Industry, 

 and the mode of regarding the relations of their products, 

 shall bear for ever the impress of the Great Exhibition of 

 1851? 



There is one other remark which I should wish to make, 

 suggested by the classification of the objects of the Exhibi- 

 tion ; or, rather, a remark which it is possible to express, 

 only because we have such a classification before us. It is 

 an important character of a right classification, that it makes 

 general propositions possible ; a maxim which we may safely 

 regard as well grounded, since it has been delivered inde- 

 pendently by two persons, no less different from one another 

 than Cuvier and Jeremy Bentham. Now, in accordance 

 with this maxim, I would remark, that there are general re- 

 flections appropriate to several of the divisions into which 

 the Exhibition is by its classification distributed. For ex- 

 ample, let us compare the First Class, Mining and Mineral 

 Products^ with the Second Class, Chemical Processes and 

 Products. In looking at these two classes, we may see some 

 remarkable contrasts between them. The first class of arts, 

 those which are employed in obtaining and working the 

 metals, are among the most ancient ; the second, the arts of 

 manufacturing chemical products on a large scale, are among 



b2 



