Essay on the Progress of' the Useful Arts. 167 



the Geometrical Character of the Hour-lines upon the antique 

 Sun Dials," was put into my hands in November of the same 

 year. Thus, as I sent my paper to the Royal Society in June, 

 and did not know of the existence of Mr Davies's manuscript 

 till 1 saw it in November, it is impossible that my paper can 

 contain any thing taken from his. 



Mr Davies's manuscript was put into my hands by Professor 

 Wallace of Edinburgh, that I might give him my opinion of it. 

 The author was unknown to me. I kept the paper some days, 

 and after having read it, I returned it to Mr Wallace with a 

 note, in which I gave a favourable opinion of the paper as far 

 as I could judge of it. This is the only point of connection 

 that I ever had with Mr Davies's paper. This is all I did. I 

 took no other step whatever, and I was ignorant of what took 

 place respecting ihe paper afterwards, having been absent from 

 Edinburgh during the winter, spring, and summer, in some part 

 of which period Mr Davies's paper was read before the Royal So- 

 ciety of Edinburgh. 



1 have thus shewn that there was no interference on my part 

 with Mr Davies's paper, and in cotisequence of the correspond- 

 ence T have had with Mr Davies, I have received from him a 

 letter, in which he acknowledges his conviction, that his com- 

 plaints and " suspicions" regarding such supposed interference 

 were groundless. 



Second Essay, preUminary to the Series of Reports on the Pro- 

 gress of the Useful Arts, ordered by the Society of Arts for 

 Scotland. Read 27th October 1834. 



In the paper which was read at the last meeting of the So- 

 ciety, I endeavoured to point out the connection which exists 

 between the practice of the arts, and the advancement of civi- 

 lization ; and indicated, I hope with sufficient clearness, that 

 though poignant evils at times result from rapid improvement, 

 these are extremely limited both in their extent and duration, 

 and are soon reabsorbed into the mass of good. At the same 

 time, I took occasion to remark, that the natural antidote for 

 such evils is to be found in the cultivation of more than one 

 craft bv the artisan. That course was necessary, in order to 



