Dr Whewell's Inaugural Lecture. 17 



I have followed this classification into the ultimate ramifi- 

 cation of the Catalogue, at the risk of being, I fear, tedious 

 for a moment ; partly because I wish to make a reflection 

 upon it ; and partly, also, that you may see what a vast work 

 is performed if this classification be really coherent and 

 sound. For, first, turn your attention to the one Head which 

 I have mentioned : this single Head includes no less than 

 this, — all machinery for the complete formation, from the 

 raw material, of all fabrics of cotton, wool, flax, hemp, silk, 

 caoutchouc, gutta percha, and hair. This is Head 1 of Sub- 

 class A. Under this Head, or under the first Particular 

 Head, cotton, are very many Articles in the Great Exhibition. 

 Besides this Particular Head, and the other Particular Heads, 

 wooU flaXy caoutchouc, ^c, included in the General Head 1, 

 there are two other Heads in this Sub-class, each of like ex- 

 tent* Along with this Sub-class A, are also Sub-classes B, 

 C, D, E, F, each of an extent not much inferior to A ; and 

 thus, this Class VI. contains a great mass of Heads, each 

 including a vast number of Articles. Yet in the Catalogue, 

 this Class VI. is one of the smallest extent of all the thirty. 

 And though this may arise in part from some of the others 

 being followed out into greater comparative detail than this 

 Class VI., yet still enough will remain in this mode of put- 

 ting the matter to shew to you how vast and varied is the 

 mass of objects which has thus been classified, and how great 

 the achievement is if this mass have really been reduced into 

 permanent order ; if this chaos, not of elements only, but of 

 raw materials mixed with complicated machines, with manu- 

 factured goods and sculptured forms, have really been put 

 in a shape in which it will permanently retain traces of the 

 ordering hand. 



What the value and advantage would be of a permanent 

 and generally accepted classification of all the materials, in- 

 struments, and productions of human art and industry, you 

 will none of you require that I should explain at length. One 

 consequence would be that the manufacturer, the man of 

 science, the artisan, the merchant, would have a settled 

 common language, in which they could speak of the objects 

 about which they are concerned. It is needless to point out 



VOL. LII. NO. cm. — JANUARY 1852. B 



