PROCEEDINGS OF PROVINCIAL .SOCIETIES. 



325 



gravitation. I have often thought that the elements of social con- 

 dition may be reduced to certain formulae, capable of easy and na- 

 tural comparison with similar expressions applicable to the condition 

 of other countries ; exhibiting the various forms, if not exposing 

 some of the causes, of national prosperity and revenue, and suggest- 

 ing the remedies of some at least of the incidental evils of social 

 life : a noble application, in deed, of statistical science ! 



On a subsequent evening, Mr. Dawes gave the Society an account 

 of a new and important mode of applying hydrogen gas, in the ma- 

 nufacture of iron ; being, in fact, an application on a great scale of 

 the principle of the blow-pipe. The object of Mr. Dawes's improved 

 process is, to produce a purer and better commodity by preventing 

 the oxidation incidental to the blast, which is at present so prolific a 

 source of waste, both as respects fuel and metal. It is an extraordi- 

 nary circumstance that Great Britain is still obliged annually to im- 

 port large quantities of iron, for the purpose of conversion into steel. 

 Every thing that concerns the improvement and economical produc- 

 tion of this great national staple, or which shall obviate or diminish the 

 casualties which seem inseparable from the present mode of manufac- 

 ture, is of great general as well as local moment ; and I am sure the 

 Society will be thankful to receive from Mr. Dawes the results of 

 his later experiments upon a process which, though promising, had 

 not, at the time he delivered his paper, fully realized his expectations. 

 . Having taken this imperfect review of the proceedings of the past 

 year, I will detain you onlv a few moments longer, while I recal to 

 your attention the leading objects and probable prospects of our asso- 

 ciation. It is a happy effect of societies like this to bring together, 

 for the prosecution of a common object, men of different pursuits and 

 professions, who upon other matters hold various and conflicting opi- 

 nions, which too often operate as a principle of repulsion. The co- 

 operative principle, so important as a stimulus in associations for other 

 purposes, commercial, benevolent, or political, cannot but be an im- 

 portant auxiliary in associations like ours. Our institution makes no 

 lofty pret(nsions; its members are attracted from the ordinary paths 

 of social life by the conviction that knowledge is the only imperisha- 

 ble possession, and by a mutual desire to learn and to communicate ; 

 in short, to assist in concentrating some at least of the scattered rays 

 of mental light. 



Let it not be objected that these ends are to be effected only by the 

 favoured Aristocracy of Nature, upon whom she has conferred the 

 gplendid endowment' of intellectual superiority. Some of the greatest 

 achievements of the human mind have been made by men not raised 

 above the common level of their race. What is all philosophy but a 

 search after facts, vith a view to make them the subjects of deduc- 

 tive generalizations applicable to the advancement of human happi- 

 ness ? It was tin: profound observation of that illustrious man, Sir 

 Humphrey Davv, that " the knowledge of the philosopher differs from 

 that information which is the fruit of common experience not in kind. 



