•8 



and geology subjects of general attention ; and every department of 

 the different kingdoms of nature offers some objects to manufactures 

 and arts. Not contented witli what is found on the surface of the 

 earth, man has penetrated into her bosom, and has even searched 

 the bottom of the ocean, for the purposes of allaying the restlessness 

 of curiosity, or of extending and increasing his power. 



The relations of animated beings, the analogy of their structure 

 and their functions, are subjects not less interesting than their uses ; 

 and upon these subjects we can hardly fail to be enlightened, for 

 they will be illustrated by a gentleman who has devoted his life to 

 the contemplation of them, and who has long justly occupied the 

 first place in our National Society, for the promotion of this branch 

 of knowledge. It can hardly he an unpleasant or an ungrateful 

 study, that of tracing the almost infinite variety of beings, different 

 links as it were, of the same great chain, beginning with mere 

 sensation, and ending in intellect, knowledge and power : to examine 

 the order and economy of the system of the earth, and to discover in 

 its intelligent arrangements, constant proofs of the Infinite Wisdom 

 by which it was designed. 



So important is Chemistry to the progress of society, that no 

 people has attained any considerable degree of civilization indepen- 

 dent of the chemical arts. The fable of the fire stolen from heaven, 

 to animate the statue of clay of Prometheus, may be regarded as an 

 image representing the earliest and most important chemical 

 invention. Without fire, food could not have been prepared : the 

 metals could not have been worked : man must have yielded to 

 the savage animals ; neither houses, nor cities, nor ships could 

 have been cultivated nor subdued. The variety of chemical 

 inventions, and the different degrees of their perfection in 

 different ages and countries, is a subject of discussion which can 

 hardly be devoid of interest. The manufacture of Porcelain, and of 

 Glass : Dyeing, Soap-making ; the preparation of Cements : the 

 various methods of applying and combining Metals, are all of them 

 connected with our commercial prosperity, our riches, and comforts ; 

 and the philosophical science rapidly increasing in perfection, is con- 

 stantly enlightening the arts. A few vague doctrines derived from 

 Pharmacy and Alchemy, and founded upon the idea of an elixir of 

 immortality, and the philosophers stone, or the substance for convert- 

 ing baser metals into gold, have gradually led by a succession of 

 investigations and experiments, to a beautiful theory, which has 

 explained some of the most important phenomena of nature, and 

 which is daily gaining new powers and instruments, and acquiring 

 new dominion, and which perhaps offers mines of discovery, more 

 rich and inexhaustible than those belonging to any other branch of 

 human knowledge. 



Though the Lectures of the Ptoyal Institution will more parti- 

 cularly relate to those departments of Science which are susceptil)le 



