398 British Association for the Advancement of Science. 
ture which our philosophers had to present to them, the thoughtful and 
eloquent men who had to address you were carried by a spontaneous 
unpulse, without plan or premeditation, into elevated strains of religious 
reflection ; showing that those who take the lead in our meetings have 
their minds so tuned, that every voice which proclaims the wonders of na- 
ture, turns their thoughts to the Author of nature: that every new gleam 
of truth seems to them an effluence from the eternal fountain of truth. 
Long may such habits of thought prevail among the philosophers of this 
land; and then we need not fear but that knowledge, hallowed and ele- 
vated by the spirit in which it is pursued, will be every way a blessing 
to man,—to his soul as well as to his body—to his spiritual as a as 
to his intellectual being. 
“To those of us who, bisa the institution by our stiesition upon 
ig and our share in its labors, think thus of its value and its spirit, every 
new annual occasion of our coming together, must be an occasion of 
fresh gratification, an agreeable exercise of memory and of hope. In 
our present meeting at this place, there are many cireumstances to give 
additional animation to our anticipations of pleasure. We come to a 
part of the empire hitherto unvisited by many of us, to a great mari- 
time town, replete with objects of amusement, art, and interest. We 
know the love of science and the familiarity with its treasures which 
here prevail, for we are acquainted with the high character, the know!- 
edge, zeal, and ability of the authorities of the Dockyard—the intelli- 
gence and activity of the Plymouth Institution ;—we know and feel 
most gratefully, the kind and vigilant care with which preparations have 
made for our reception ; and we now see in this assembly, the look 
of cordial welcome and lively anticipation, of which I would say more, 
but that I would beg to leave the subject in abler hands. We hail with 
joy sah cps opening of the Plymouth Meeting of a bee 
Association. 
“ Perhaps you will allow me the gratification of saying a word, re- 
épecting special personal reasons of my own, which make it a matter of 
pleasure to me to find myself here on this oceasion. Besides that it 
brings me to the society of several valued and cherished friends, whose 
home is in this part of England, I have various ties of a scientific na- 
Ew We tee piete one iis eee The excellent observations of the 
tides made in this h hay er bject t of calculations involving 
considerable labors, which I have made or directed ; and some curious 
traits in the laws of tidal phenomena here, which were noticed as early 
ote eet Newton, have, I trust, been followed out to a tolerably 
