xl REPORT—1849. 
though we did not originate them :—as the Fossil Icththyology of Agassiz, 
and those of Owen on Fossil Reptiles and Mammalia, which perhaps but for 
us would never have been completed; and in fine I may mention as an ap- 
proximative measure of the impulse which we have given to science, that we 
have expended in this way 15,0007. Observe, too, that to this must be 
added whatever is the pecuniary value of the labours of those members of 
the Association who have given us their services. That all is gratuitous ; 
and if you consider who many of them are, you will find it not easy to assign 
its price. But I regard as even more conducive to the advancement of 
science, another part of our labours, peculiarly our own,—lI mean the reports 
which place before us the actual boundaries of our knowledge. Much intel- 
Jectual energy is wasted in inventing what is already known; much spent on 
objects comparatively unimportant for want of a due estimate of their worth, 
many walks untrodden because it is supposed they have been sufficiently ex- 
plored. For all this a remedy is found in those admirable surveys, so many 
of which are found in our volumes; they are as it were a “ taking stock ” of 
our intellectual wealth, and tell us how much of it is real, how much doubt- 
ful, how much wanting. Whether we consider those which embrace a whole 
science, as those of Airy on astronomy or Forbes on meteorology,—or those 
which include some one of its divisions, as those of Sabine on terrestrial 
magnetism, Lloyd on physical optics, Rennie on hydraulics, those by the 
Dean of Ely and his compeers on parts of mathematical analysis, or those of 
Owen and his fellow-labourers in natural history, with a multitude of others, 
—it is scarcely possible to over-estimate their worth. You find there con- 
densed into a few pages the essence of many volumes ; the chaos of clashing 
Statements and conflicting opinions reduced to harmony and order ; truth 
winnowed from error, facts from conjecture. They place within the reach 
of the most secluded student, a treasure of certain information which it 
would be hard for him to obtain, even had he access to the libraries and in- 
stitutions of the metropolis; and even to the mind that is best stored they 
save time,-—and time is power. Suck: reports we shall I trust continue to 
receive in increasing numbers; and as long as we do, we prosper, for they 
are the surest index, though not the most showy, of our usefulness. 
I have left myself but little space to consider how far we have fulfilled the 
third of our objects—* to obtain a greater degree of national attention to the 
objects of science.” Most assuredly it was needful; for nowhere in the ci- 
vilized world is less honour paid by a nation to science, though nowhere is 
national prosperity more connected with its progress, nowhere are heavier 
penalties paid for its neglect. I do not now refer to the remarkable fact that in 
Britain alone, men whose scientific fame fills all Europe were seldom thought 
