16 



will soou have ceased to exist ; and although we can hardly expect our 

 town to attain so high a reputation for science and learning as it has 

 acquired for all that pertains to navigation and commerce, we may yet 

 hope to see it, even in the former, second only to the metropolis and 

 university cities of the British empire. There are several cheering 

 indications which justify this hope. We owe it to the enlightened 

 energy of our Corporation that Liverpool has heen among the first to 

 foUow the example set by a neighbouring borough in the establishment 

 of a Free Public Library, which, in conjunction with the Natural 

 Histoiy collections bequeathed by the late Earl of Derby, and the pro- 

 mised Free Public Museum, cannot fail to have a most beneficial 

 influence upon the habits and pursuits of the humble classes of the 

 community, while it affords facilities for prosecuting the researches of 

 the more learned. A museum of applied science in connexion with the 

 Royal Institution is being formed, mainly through the agency of one of 

 the most active members of this Society, backed by Uberal contributions 

 from various quarters. It is the desire of aU parties that this Museum 

 should be freely open to the public, and there is perhaps no kind of 

 scientific collection more calculated to engage the interest of the popu- 

 lace at large, or to convey to it a greater amount of useful instruction. 

 That the public is not disposed to neglect the advantages offered to it, 

 we have evidence in the annual reports of the Library and jNIuseum 

 Committee, and also in the gratifying fact that on the occasion of the 

 public hohday to celebrate the restoration of peace, no fewer than seven 

 thousand well-conducted people visited the collections of the Royal 

 Institution. 



Among the objects still to be desired, and which I do not despair of 

 one day seeing accomplished, may be mentioned the making of arrange- 

 ments by which the interesting collections of the Royal Institution may 

 be rendered gratuitously accessible to the public at all convenient 

 seasons ; also that the Botanic Garden, and the Town Museum (when 

 we get it), may be placed under scientific management. In expressing 

 this desire, I wish to make no imputation upon the Town Council of 

 Liverpool, and it is neither to be expected nor desired, that in selecting 

 a candidate for election to a body entrusted with the municipal govern- 

 ment of this great town, and the administration of the vast revenues, a 

 proficiency in the sciences of botany or zoology should be considered an 

 important qualification. Be this as it may, it is unfortunately a fact 

 too notorious to botanists that the Botanical Garden of Liverpool, for- 

 merly amongst the most important in the country, has for many yeai-s 

 been quite useless as a scientific institution. 



Having concluded the few remarks which I felt called upon to offer, 



