PROCEEDINGS OF PROVINCIAL SOCIETIES. 135 



MANCHESTER MECHANICS' INSTITUTION. 



The annual meeting of this flourishing Institution was held on 

 the 25th of February, B. Heywood, Esq,, president, in the chair ; 

 when a highly interesting and able report of the society was read 

 by the secretary, Mr. Cottam. We most sincerely congratulate the 

 members of this excellent Institution on its increasing prosperity, 

 and feel the most lively satisfaction in making the subjoined extracts 

 from the report of the proceedings of the past year. It commences 

 by recording, in every department of the Institution, increased acti- 

 vity and usefulness — a large accession to the number of members — 

 a prosperous state of the finances — and, above all, a marked and 

 most gratifying advance in the accomplishment of the great objects 

 which the Institution was established to promote. The receipts 

 during the year were £2,173. 14s. 7d., the payments £2,092. 16s. 2d., 

 leaving a balance of £80. 18s. 5d. 



At the close of the year the number of subscribers was 1526. Of 

 this number there were 131 under fourteen years of age ; 626 be- 

 tween fourteen and twenty-one years of age ; 769 above twenty- 

 one years of age. The following is a general classification of their 

 respective employments : — 305 principals, engaged as merchants, 

 manufacturers, and machinists, — 117 mechanics, millwrights, and 

 engineers, — 58 overlookers, spinners, and other mill hands, — ^92 

 building trades, — 78 sundry trades, chiefly handicraft, — 164 ware- 

 housemen, — 240 clerks, — 52 artists, architects, engravers, &c., — 13 

 professional men, — 15 schoolmasters, — 111 shopkeepers and their 

 assistants, — 18 no profession, — 21 ladies, — 242 youths. 



The elementary evening classes and day schools continue to fur-' 

 nish proofs of the substantial benefit which may be derived by the 

 members from this department. The average number of pupils at- 

 tending the respective classes during the year, wa:s as follows : — 

 grammar, 91 — architectural drawing, 33 — vocal music, 30— 

 arithmetic, 104 — mechanical drawing, 38 — elocution and composi- 

 tion, 21 — landscape and flower drawing, 60 — Latin, 12 — writing, 

 80 — algebra and geometry, 25 — French, 26. The members on 

 the class-list for the current quarter shew^ a very considerable in- 

 crease ; in some instances they are more than double the numbers 

 above enumerated. It is also in contemplation to establish classes 

 for geography, natural philosophy, and to afford opportunities to 

 the young artist to draw and model from antique casts, and to ac- 

 quire a knowledge of the art of design. 



The meetings of the Mutual Improvement Society were attended, 

 on an average, by thirty-six members, and during the twenty-eight 

 sittings which took place the following papers were read : — 



On the various methods and materials used to convey ideas to posterity* 

 previous to the invention of paper. — Thos. Belshaw. 

 On iodine and some of its compounds.— .Jas. Wooliey. 



