394 Addresses delivered at the Commemoration 



are now met to celebrate. I consider it to be one of the most for- 

 tunate circumstances of my life that I was a pupil of that eminent 

 man; and indeed I may say that my father before me was also a 

 pupil of his. It is rather a remarkable circumstance that there are 

 two gentlemen present, Dr. Bostock and myself, who were pupils in 

 the same class, and that our fathers were pupils likewise. I trust 

 we have benefited by the instructions we received from that very 

 eminent teacher of experimental philosophy. I can truly say, the 

 circumstance of my life which more than any other I have the pleasure 

 of looking back upon was the great satisfaction I had in being em- 

 ployed in assisting Dr. Priestley in his laboratory when he removed 

 from Birmingham to Hackney. 



The name of John Taylor, Esq., having been similarly associated 

 with that of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers, the assembly 

 was addressed as follows by that gentleman : — 



In noticing the Society with which you have done me the honour 

 of coupling my name, I shall have to introduce to your- notice the 

 names of many of the associates of Dr. Priestley. The Society of 

 Civil Engineers, which bears the name of Smeaton, was founded at 

 a time when general improvement was rapidly extending. Soon 

 after the year 1760, when canals began to spread over the kingdom, 

 and when many useful arts were put into motion, Smeaton, the great 

 founder of that Society, proposed the formation of this association for 

 discussing subjects of practical use and scientific interest. When I 

 mention the names of some of the members of that Society, you will 

 find there were many whose minds were congenial with the views 

 which Dr. Priestley entertained. The Society originally included 

 those of Smeaton, James Watt, Priestley, Whitehurst, Boulton, 

 Rennie, Mylne, and Jessop : these were the professional engineers 

 that were amongst the first members of the Society. To these were 

 afterwards added, as honorary members, gentlemen who took an in- 

 terest in the nature and objects of the Society, — Sir Joseph Banks, 

 Captain Huddart, Dr. Hutton, Lord Morton, Ramsden, Troughton, 

 and Sir George Shuckburgh Evelyn. This Society began with small 

 means ; and I may also notice that, with the exception of the Royal 

 Society, it was the only one which Dr. Priestley belonged to in Lon- 

 don. The evenings were spent in the discussion of some interesting 

 philosophical questions. The Society has continued to enrol several 

 distinguished names, such as Chapman, Mylne, Rennie, Walker, 

 Jessop, Jardine, Stephenson, Giles, and Cubitt ; and we have, as 

 honorary members, Davies Gilbert, Troughton, Dollond, Watt, Ewart, 

 Chantrey, Babbage, Colby, Baily, Beaufort, and Seppings, with 

 other men well known to the scientific world. With such associates, 

 and with a mind like Dr. Priestley's, which had a peculiar tendency 

 to everything that was practically useful, — for I think that if we go 

 through his most brilliant discoveries, we shall always find him taking 

 plain and practical views, and inquiring to what useful end they might 

 be employed for the good of mankind, — with such men, I say, it was 

 no wonder that his attention was directed towards experimental phi • 



