188 PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 



from the agitator and assassin. Were they but adequately pro- 

 tected, we should not see them engaged in such lawless outrages 

 as they are now compelled to commit against their general will. 

 The defenceless condition of a poor cabin-holder, having a com- 

 bustible thatched roof to his dwelling, is not qualified to resist the 

 threats and vengeance of assassins, demagogues, and agitators. 

 But how could it be otherwise ? when Ireland remains under the 

 misnomer of a government, for it has been the policj/ of one party 

 and the blundering practice of another to keep the poorer order 

 in a state of intellectual darkness as far as possible. 



This practical blundering was the attempt at diffusing " the 

 truth" in the English language instead of the native tongue; and 

 the employment, as ministers of it, those who were unacquainted 

 with the vernacular Irish idiom. The soonerdue means are taken 

 for ameliorating this island's condition the better; since it is cal- 

 culated to be either the 7/^'^^ arm of Britain or the deadliest 

 instrument of its destruction. And it would be well if those 

 whose benevolence and philanthropy led them in search of suf- 

 fering humanity to regions beyond the Atlantic and countries 

 across the Pacific — tQ the torrid climes of India and Africa, and 

 the forbidden grounds of China ; it would be well if these persons, 

 who saw want, through the magnifying power of distance, could 

 condescend to look at despised Ireland. 



In conclusion, the lecturer pointed out the moral and religious 

 darkness which hangs over many parts of Ireland, particularly 

 its islets; 140 of which contain 50,000 inhabitants; and for cen- 

 turies have not had the benefit of religious guidance, from the 

 scattered situation of some, the parish pastors cannot attend them, 

 and if they did it would be of little avail, as most of them are 

 unacquainted with the Irish language, which the inhabitants can 

 only speak. In one of these islands, Innismurry, six miles from 

 the Sligo coast, the people worship a rudely carved wooded image, 

 and have an altar of loose stones, called *' The cursing altar," to 

 whicli they apply when any one has injured them. 



These were circumstances which called loudly for the conside- 

 ration of public functionaries, and those who, in sending missions 

 to the Heathen, forget their native soil. 



August 7tii. — Mii. Adams* Lecture on Gas Illumination. 



The lecturer commenced by giving a detail of the rise and 

 progress of Coal Gas, tracing it from the earliest period in which 

 we have any account of it, tlirough its various stages of improve- 

 ment, in the hands of different experimenters, until it was first used 

 as an agent for lighting buildings, towns, &:c. He described the 

 mode of manufacturing it in the Gas establishment, of which he 

 is superintendant, and expatiated on the advantages and con- 

 venience attending the use of it. Some objections he remarked 

 had been urged against it by timorous minds, who supposed it to 



