232 PLYMOJQTH INSTITUTION. 



to pay his share of the debt and concomitant taxation which has in- 

 creased 100 fold; he insisted upon the necessity of protecting 'and 

 advancing this important branch of human industry : and concluded 

 his eloquent discourse to the following effect : 



Time will not allow me to expatiate upon the rich mines of every 

 metal — the valuable coal districts — the infinite importance of the 

 natural harbours and the valuable sea coasts of Ireland. I must 

 leave her fisheries and her manufacturing capacities untouched, all 

 and each of which are worthy the gravest attention. But as Agri- 

 culture is in my opinion the foundation of all national prosperity, I 

 have dwelt long on it, although I could not enforce one tenth of 

 what ought to be said upon it. 



Ireland is a noble country for which God has done much and 

 man but little. Let England be willing to relieve her — the mere 

 expression of a wish from England — and the improvement of Ire- 

 land would be the price of that expression. Let it become the 

 fashion to encourage the gi'owth of Irish industry ; — only say " let it 

 be the fashion" and it will insure a full tide of prosperity, for no 

 limits can be prescribed to the wealth of an industrious people, 

 since none can be assigned to improvements in Agriculture, Manu- 

 factures and Commerce. 



The lecture afforded ample scope for discussion, which was carri- 

 ed on with animation and ability during the evening. 



November 7th. — Mr. J. N. Hearder*s Lecture on the Divisibi- 

 lity of Matter, was read by his friend, the Rev. W. Odgers. 



A considerable portion of this discourse was devoted to the con- 

 sideration and explanation of certain characteristics, essential to 

 matter and inseparable from it, such as Magnitude, Impenetrability, 

 &c., which however we pass over, to follow the lecturer in a more 

 generally interesting part of his paper, wherein he gave some account 

 of the extent to which the division of particles of matter has been 

 carried in the arts. 



In the manufacture of gold leaf, the gold beaters begin with a 

 ribbon, an inch broad and 150 inches long, which has been reduced 

 by passing between rollers to about the 800th part of an inch in 

 thickness. This ribbon is cut into squares, which are deposited 

 between leaves of vellum, and beaten with a heavy hammer till they 

 acquire a breadth of more than three inclies ; and are therefore ex- 

 tended ten times. These are again quartered and placed between 

 folds of gold beaters' skin, and stretched out, by the operation of 

 lighter hammers, to the breadth of five inches. The same process is 



