[FOR THE USE OF MEMBERS. | 
Ropal Jnstitution of Great Britain. 
1852. 
WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 
Friday, February 27. 
Ture Duke or NortTHUMBERLAND, F.R.S. President, 
in the Chair. 
Dr. Lyon Prayrarr, C.B., F.R.S. 
On three important Chemical Discoveries from the Exhibition of 
1851— A. Mercer’s Contraction of Cotton by Alkalies ;— B. 
Young’s Paraffine and Mineral Oil from Coal ;—C. Schritter’s 
Amorphous Phosphorus. 
[The following statements and arguments were supplied by Dr. Lyon 
PLAYFAIR as embodying considerations which he desired to impress on the 
attention of the Members of the Royal Institution.] 
Ir is incumbent on those who, like myself, have been connected with 
the Great Exhibition, to inculcate its teachings in order that it may 
influence the future, by being a starting point for industry. Unless 
it imparts new life to productive industry, it has failed in the attain- 
ment of its object, and will, in history, degenerate into the record of 
a gigantic show, fitted only to pander to an idle curiosity. All of us 
have, no doubt, examined it with a higher object, and have derived 
lessons varying in character and amount according to the opportunities 
which we enjoyed in their acquisition. Those who have attended to 
its teachings with regard to the comparative progress of manufactures 
in different countries, owe it as a public duty to announce their con- 
victions on a subject of such large social importance. 
My official connection with the Exhibition has enabled me to give 
more attention to it than most of those whom I have the honour to 
address, and convictions unfavourable to our position, as an industrial 
nation, have impressed themselves with such force upon my mind, 
that you will not be surprised that I seize every opportunity of 
directing public attention to them. I have already done so ina 
formal manner, on two previous occasions, and I rather depart from 
the custom of bringing before you subjects of original research at 
these evening meetings, in order that I may advocate the necessity 
of a more intimate union between science and practice in this 
country, at an Institution, whose proudest boast it is to have largely 
advanced the discovery of abstract truths, while it has always 
encouraged, at the same time, their applications to the increase of 
human resources and enjoyments. 
In this lecture, however, I shall rather urge this point as a natural 
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