PROCEEDINGS OF PROVINCIAL SOCIETIES. 137 



valumes. On the taUes are a great variety of English and foreign 

 jTcriodicals ; the walls are ornamented with maps of a local and ge- 

 neral interest ; and on the reading-room table may be seen nine 

 weekly, twenty-four monthly, nine quarterly, and four annual 

 periodicals. 



The directors offer their warmest congratulations on the station 

 which the institution has now attained. It ranks, unquestionably, 

 the first of similar institutions in this country, whether regarded in 

 reference to the number of its members, to the variety and value of 

 the branches of knowledge in which it affords instruction, or to the 

 efficiency of its several departments ; and, what is of more import- 

 ance, the beneficial results of its operations are manifest and in- 

 creasing, and the good which it effects bears its proportion to its 

 means of usefulness. They also express the gratification with 

 which they have seen a new and rich fountain of knowledge erected, 

 and which is already pouring its refreshing streams for the special 

 benefit of the youth of the middle classes, with success almost unex- 

 ampled. The Athenaeum and the Mechanics' Institution have 

 common objects — the intellectual and moral improvement of the 

 people ; and though each has its separate sphere of action, the inte- 

 rests of both will ever be promoted by that mutual co-operation and 

 friendly intercourse which, the directors trust, will always subsist 

 between the two institutions. 



The following apposite remarks conclude the report : — " Let it 

 constantly be borne in mind that the objects of the Institution are 

 to diffuse useful knowledge among the working classes, to afford 

 them facilities of instruction in those principles of science which 

 regulate their respective occupations, and to draw them from scenes 

 of dissipation and vice, by furnishing them with rational employ- 

 ment for their leisure. By keeping these important objects steadily 

 in view, and carefully avoiding the quicksands of party politics and 

 polemics, so that all our proceedings may be characterized by unani- 

 mity, good-will, and brotherly love, we may confidently hope to 

 receive the countenance and support of every friend to human im- 

 provement." 



WORCESTER LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION. 



Mr. Addison recently delivered a highly instructive Lecture 

 at the above Institution on Physical Power. The object of the 

 Lecturer was to shew the existence of an invisible power or energy 

 pervading matter, and giving rise, not only to the phenomena of 

 science, but, also, to changes of ordinary occurrence. He commenc- 

 ed by observing that " a mind quite unaccustomed to attend to na- 



