84 0BSEHVAT10NS ON THE DIFFUSION OF 



vancement of science, show that taste and refinement have in some 

 measure kept pace with the increase of comfort and wealth. 



Satisfactory as is the improvement in these respects, it is less im- 

 portant than that which has taken place in the moral character of the 

 working- classes. Within the memory of many, their meetings were 

 characterised by a fearful spirit of violence and outrage. With two 

 exceptions, however, one of which, I am sorry to say, was recent, 

 and which cannot be too deeply regretted or too strongly con- 

 demned, no loss of property has resulted from their assemblage in 

 periods of excitement or distress, during the last thirty years. This 

 improvement in the feelings and habits of the labouring classes is fur- 

 ther shown by the increase in the amount of deposits in the Savings' 

 Bank, and by the number and extent of the provident institutions 

 now existing — proofs the most conclusive that could be adduced. 



It would be an interesting task to trace the various causes that 

 have concurred to produce such beneficial effects as those which I 

 have enumerated ; but it would be foreign to my present purpose to 

 do so: one or two, however, of the most obvious must not be omitted. 

 It will at once be acknowledged by all, that the great increase of our 

 manufactures and riches has mainly and directly flowed from the im- 

 provements in the Steam Engines effected by the late Mr. Watt, 

 whose name will always be had in honour among all who are capable 

 of appreciating the benefits derived from his persevering ingenuity. 

 By this means the natural product of the neighbourhood, Coal and 

 Iron, were at once turned to a much larger account than they had 

 ever been. But this direct cause arose out of another more extensive 

 in its operations, I mean the diffusion of knowledge. At the time he 

 made the discovery which led to his improvement in the Steam En- 

 gine, Jame Watt was residing as a mathematical instrument maker at 

 Glasgow, where the diffusion of scientific knowledge had made some 

 progress, and where he had come within its range, and had thus been 

 prepared for making the discovery which led to such stupendous results. 



Again, it is well known that for many years the children of the 

 working classes of this town have been highly favoured with the 

 means of religious instruction ; and this will be said to be the chief 

 cause of the moral improvement that has taken place amongst them. 

 Unquestionably it is. Religion is the highest branch of knowledge, 

 that which supplies us in the pages of Revelation with a sure guide 

 during life and a bright hope in death. And here I cannot withhold 

 the meed of praise from those persons who, at an early period in the 

 history of Sunday Schools, were so deeply impressed with their im- 



