Xliv EIGHTH REPORT — 1838. 



indifference those conspicuous and truly magnificent establishments 

 which exhibit, on so grand a scale, the application of those processes, 

 which have been deduced and perfected in his laboratorj', to pro- 

 ductions so important in our manufactures and arts? Can the geo- 

 logical or physical inquirer stand near its mines — those vast store- 

 houses of nature for the uses of art, the theatre of the most beautiful 

 of all the applications of science to the purposes of humanity — without 

 having his curiosity awakened ? or contemplate those deep excavations, 

 the most accessible of any that have been carried into the bowels of 

 the earth, without being tempted to investigations which may lead 

 perhaps to a better understanding of the internal condition and struc- 

 ture of our globe? Or can we survey the architectural creations 

 which surround us in the place in which we are assembled, where 

 order and magnificence have replaced confusion and meanness, with a 

 rapidity more resembling the illusions of an Arabian tale than the 

 sober anticipations of experience, Avithout being encouraged in our 

 own efforts by witnessing such noble results of individual enterprise, 

 genius, and arrangement, which have associated the triumphs of art 

 with tliose of manufactures and commerce, and combined the refine- 

 ments of wealth with the most varied productions of industry? 



" Hic portus alii effodiunt ; liic alta theatris 

 Fundameuta locant alii, imnianesque columnas 

 Rupibus excidunt, scenis decora alta futuris." 



Finally, Gentlemen, there is another reason for these migrations, 

 which it would be highly ungrateful in us to overlook, Mhich is equally 

 felt by the Association and by the place which it visits — the warmth of 

 hospitality which we see these visits call forth, the union of hearts and 

 the excitement of kind and friendly feeling acting on all our objects, 

 like oil on the wheels of a vast and powerful machine, without which 

 its every movement would be retarded, and its whole power brought 

 to a stand. Never, indeed, can the vitality of this Association be Ira- 

 paired, so long as the leaders who have borne the bark of science along 

 the waves shall lay stoutly to their oars. Assembling for a common 

 cause, and confiding in each other, may they ever glory In having 

 knit together all classes in the love of science ; and whether presided 

 over, as on this occasion, by a noble duke, alike illustrious for his just 

 appreciation and generous encouragement of our pursuits, or in the 

 ensuing year by some one eminent in their cultivation, we shall, we 

 trust, go o!T waxing in strength, and holding out the cheering example 

 of a great and triumphant commonwealth of science ! 



