64 Royal Society. 



not therefore have stood still ; but its progress would have been 

 much slower. The desire of discovering the truth, which is so 

 strongly implanted in every educated mind, would have been to 

 some a sufficient motive for exertion; but the aid and inspiriting 

 influence of association would have been wanting, and many active 

 members of our scientific bodies would probabl}^ never have taken 

 up science as a pursuit at all. The love of ease, the fascinations of 

 society, the little prospect of advancing their material interests, 

 through the path of scientific discovery, would have been to them a 

 sufficient excuse for indolence. This point was very well put at the 

 last Anniversarj% by one of the distinguished men to whom you award- 

 ed a medal ; he said, had he been like Robinson Crusoe on a desert 

 island, the desire of discovering the truth would have been an induce- 

 ment to work, but to obtain the good opinion of his fellow-men, 

 associated together, was with him avery strong additional inducement. 

 If a man, naturally gifted, and well-educated, attends scientific meet- 

 ings, he will feel himself constrained to work, and therefore it is so 

 important for the advancement of knowledge, that able men should be 

 induced to join and attend the different societies ; but nothing I think 

 would have greater attractions than a building in a convenient central 

 situation, where the business of science would be transacted, where 

 there would be access to the best libraries, and where that kind of 

 society most valued by scientific men would always be within reach. 

 Where the question is, shall a great country like England provide 

 a suitable place of meeting for its scientific bodies, I should hope 

 there are not many who would be disposed to count the cost, I scarcely 

 think the question, ciii bono, could be asked ; should any one however 

 ask it, I should answer, the object is to promote the increase of human 

 knowledge, to extend the domain of reason ; and "it is the uzrderstand- 

 ing that sets man above the rest of sensible beings, and gives him all the 

 advantage and dominion which he has over them." To take lower 

 ground, science is a part of England's greatness : without science En- 

 gland would be nothing, and in the race with the world, if she is for- 

 saken by science, she will fall far behind. The exact sciences are 

 the foundation of navigation ; they are the foundation of engineer- 

 ing ; and many of our manufactures are based on jirinciples, which 

 have been evolved in the researches of a refined chemistry. Besides, 

 have we not sometimes been at fault where science was not ready 

 to guide us ? We have heard of failures in ship-building : some 

 ships sail slowly, and are thei'efore of little use ; others roll, and 

 strain, and are also condemned ; where we have succeeded best we 

 have taken our models from abroad, where high science has long 

 been urged to lend its aid in naval construction ; where such men 

 as the two Bernouillis, Euler, Chapman and others, have been in- 

 duced to examine and discuss the questions of most interest to the 

 practical builder. In civil engineering too, our most eminent men, 

 I am sure, would not hesitate to acknowledge their obligations to 

 our neighbours. VVc have long been almost unrivalled in the appli- 

 cations of steam ; and yet, who is there who has not sought for the 



