XXXvi SIXTH RKPOKT — 1836. 



But it is at least consolatory to reflect, that Proridence has attached 

 to every one of those conditions of society through which nations are 

 destined to pass, capabilities of moral and intellectual improvement, 

 and that the very sciences which so amply minister to our physical en- 

 joyments, also afford the means of those higher gratifications which 

 spring from the exercise of the taste and imagination. Thus, although 

 it may not be easy for the citizen to indulge to any extent in studies alien 

 from the pursuits which engross his hours of business, yet it cannot be 

 deemed incompatible with the latter to mount up to the principles of 

 those sciences which are connected with the arts he practises ; to study 

 their relation one to the other ; and to acquaint himself with the steps 

 by which they have reached their present eminence. It cannot but be 

 useful to the chemical manufacturer to study the laws of that molecular 

 attraction which binds together the elements of the substances which 

 he prepares ; to the mechanic to examine the process of the arts in con- 

 nexion with the general laws of matter ; to the miner or land-sur\'eyor, 

 to inform himself with respect to the physical structure of the globe ; 

 to the agriculturist, to become acquainted with the principles of vege- 

 table physiology, and the natural relations of plants. 



For my own part, intimately connected as I am, both with the first 

 of the commercial cities, and also with the first of the universities, that 

 welcomed the British Association within its precincts, warmly interested 

 in the prosperity of both, and officiating as Local Secretary on either 

 occasion, I have felt personally gratified at seeing the selection of these 

 places justified by the cordiality-of our reception in both, and at wit- 

 nessing the new vigour which has been infused into the Association, in 

 consequence of the support it has therein received. But how much will 

 that gratification be augmented if it should be found hereafter that the 

 benefit in either case has been mutual ; that these Meetings have ce- 

 mented those bonds of union between the academical and the commer- 

 cial portion of the British community, which it is so desirable to main- 

 tain ; and that, whilst the University to which I belong has reaped ad- 

 vantage, by having its attention called to the interest felt in the phy- 

 sical sciences generally throughout the kingdom, my fellow-citizens 

 here will in like manner catch the spirit which pervades our body, and 

 will engage in the pursuit of knowledge, with a juster conception of its 

 high objects, and with a zeal and devotion to its cause, which will not 

 be less jiractically useful, because it is stimulated by a more disinter- 

 ested love of truth ; less capable of ministering to the operation of the 

 arts, because it is also rendered subservient to mental discipline and im- 

 provement I 



