SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE IN LARGE TOWNS. 85 



portance and utility, that they established them in this town on an 

 extensive scale. To the end of time their beneficial effects will be felt. 



The history of man in all ages and countries forbids our attributing 

 the happy change I have alluded to as having taken place in the con- 

 duct of the working classes when assembled in periods of excitement 

 or distress, to the counsels or restraining influence of others, for even 

 the most heroic self-devotion, and the most fervid eloquence, have 

 failed to allay the fury of an excited populace devoid of education. 

 No : the cause is to be found in the moral improvement which has 

 taken place among the mechanics themselves — the result of educa- 

 tion ; which, while it has enabled them better to discriminate between 

 sophistry and truth, and between declamation and argument, has as- 

 sisted them to restrain their passions, and has taught them to respect 

 the laws. 



But the position of individuals or communities is not merely to 

 be judged of by what it has been, but by what it ought to be ; and we 

 must constantly endeavour to bring it nearer and nearer to such a 

 standard; enquiring whether additional exertions may not be required 

 in order to secure and increase the advantages already attained. 

 Thus, the present state of this town looks well when compared with 

 the past. But is it not still very far from what we could wish it to 

 be ? Has the increase in the number of the places of public worship 

 kept pace with that of the population ? Are the scientific institutions 

 conducted on a scale suited to so large and important a town, and fur- 

 nished with well-stored museums, accessible to all classes ? Are we 

 surrounded by airy and pleasant public parades, in which the mechanic 

 and his family can enjoy wholesome and innocent recreation ? Do 

 we still encounter profligacy and drunkenness in our streets ? and do 

 not their appalling effects fall under our daily observation ? Is not the 

 town, at this moment, swarming with the victims of improvidence? 

 And are not a large number totally unacquainted with a knowledge of 

 even reading and writing, the tools necessary for working out mental 

 improvement ? There remains obviously much to be done, to which 

 what has already been accomplished bears but a small proportion. 



I have alluded to the probability of our town being visited before 

 the expiration of two years by an assemblage of eminent men con- 

 nected with the British Association for the Advancement of Science. 

 While they will contemplate with interest our growing manufactures 

 and our stupendous railroads — while they will gaze with delight on the 

 architectural beauties displayed in two of the most chaste and elegant 

 buildings of the age, and while they will recall to their minds (he phi- 



