XXXiv SIXTH REPORT — 1836. 



result of that increased taste for physical research to which the Asso- 

 ciation itself owes its existence, I do not pretend to determine ; this, 

 however, at least must be allowed, that many of the most important 

 truths communicated might have been long in winning their way to 

 general recognition, and in ridding themselves of those exaggerated and 

 mistaken views, which are the common accompaniments of every infant 

 discovery, had it not been for the opportunities which these Meetings 

 afford, of examinining the very authors of them, with respect to their 

 own inquiries ; of confronting them with others who have prosecuted 

 similar trains of research ; of questioning them with respect to the 

 more doubtful and difficult points involved ; and of obtaining from them, 

 in many instances, an exhibition of the very experiments by which they 

 had been led to their conclusions. 



And it is this personal intercourse with the authors of these great 

 revolutions in Science, which in itself constitutes one of the principal 

 charms of these meetings. Who would not have listened with delight 

 to a Newton, had he condescended to converse on the great truths of 

 Astronomy ; to a Jussieu, imparting to a circle of his intimates in his 

 own garden at Trianon, those glimpses with respect to the natural re- 

 lations of plants, which he found it so difficult to reduce to writing ; 

 or to a Linnseus, discussing at Oxford his then novel views with respect 

 to the vegetable kingdom, and winning from the reluctant Dillenius a 

 tardy acknowledgment of their merits ? And in like manner, who does 

 not value the privilege of hearing a Dalton discourse on these occasions 

 on his own Atomic Theory, or a Faraday, (who, however, I regret to 

 say, is on this occasion prevented by illness from attending), explain 

 orally the steps by which he has traced the relations between Electricity 

 and Magnetism, although ever^' one is aware, that the principal facts, 

 both with respect to the one and the other, have long since been made 

 public by their respective authors, and have been abundantly commented 

 upon by others. 



And nowhere, perhaps, is it more desirable to instil those sentiments 

 to which I have alluded, than within the precincts of those provincial 

 cities which the Association now proposes to visit. The inhabitants of 

 those great emporiums of Commerce and Manufactures are indeed often 

 enough reminded, that processes directed by the guidance of Chemistry 

 and Mechanics constitute the very basis of their prosperity, but they 

 are too apt to regard these and other kindred sciences, as the instru- 

 ments merely of material wealth, and to deem it superfluous to prose- 

 cute them further than they are seen to conduce to that one end. 



That such notions are short-sighted, even with reference to the prac- 



