170 .4 Tribute to the Memory of [Sept. 



For this purpose, regular courses of lectures were delivered on 

 the belles lettres, on moral philosophy, on anatomy and physio- 

 logy, and on natural philosophy and chemistry. Mr. Henry, 

 assisted by a son, whose loss he had afterwards to deplore, and 

 whose promising talents and attainments obtained for him, at an 

 early period of life, a mark of the approbation of this Society,* 

 delivered several courses of lectures on chemistry to numerous 

 and attentive audiences. From causes, which it is not easy to 

 trace, but among which, I believe, may be reckoned, a supersti- 

 tious dread of the tendency of science to unfit young men for the 

 ordinary details of business, this excellent institution fell into 

 decay. Mr. Henry, however, continued his lectures long after 

 its decline, until deprived of the services of his son, by the pro- 

 secution of views at a distance, when he found that his own 

 leisure was not of itself adequate to the necessary preparations. 



That the scheme of establishing in Manchester a College of 

 Arts and Sciences (for so it was entitled) was not a visionary 

 project, but one which appeared feasible and promising to men 

 of sense and knowledge at a distance, is shown by the following 

 extracts from letters addressed to Mr. Henry, in reply to his 

 communication of the plan. " An attempt of this kind," the 

 late Dr. Currie, of Liverpool, observes, " I think most praise- 

 worthy ; and for this, however the matter may terminate, the 

 projectors will always be entitled to public favour and esteem. 

 It is a bold enterprize, and of course in some degree doubtful. 

 One thing appears to me probable, that if the business is taken 

 up as it ought to be by the public, you will soon find the propriety 

 of extending your plan, so as to make it embrace every object 

 of general education." Mr. Wedgwood also strongly expressed 

 his approbation of the undertaking. " The plan of your Col- 

 lege," he says, " I think an excellent one ; and from the 

 populous and commercial state of your town — from the apparent 

 utility of the institution — from the elegance and propriety with 

 which it is announced — and from the known characters of the 

 gentlemen who are engaged in it, I can scarcely entertain a doubt 

 of its meeting with success." Greater perseverance would, 

 perhaps, have gradually softened, and finally subdued, the preju- 

 dices that seem to have existed against the union of commercial 

 with literary or philosophical pursuits — an union which, under 

 proper regulation, adorns and dignifies the character of the 

 merchant, without, it may be hoped, diminishing his usefulness, 

 or interfering with the prosperous management of his affairs. 



That there is indeed nothing essentially incompatible between 

 the avocations of ordinary business and an occasional participa- 

 tion in more enlarged pursuits, must be apparent to all who 

 consider how great a share of the duties, even of some of the 

 liberal professions, consists in a minute attention to technical 

 details, and how often the professional man, familiar with the 



* See Dr. Percival's eloquent address to Mr. Thomas Henry, Jun. on present- 

 ing to him the jilver medal of the Society. — (Memoirs of the Society, vol. ii. p. 513.) 



