34 



building, to which art Science has lately rendered important aid, but 

 principally to the cause in question. 



A portion of the success of this Meteorological Department of the 

 Board of Trade is certainly due to the facilities afforded by that 

 admirable institution, the Observatory at Kew, for the verification 

 of the instruments supplied. I have already had occasion to ac- 

 knowledge the obligations which Science is under to the same 

 establishment for supplying magnetic and meteorological instru- 

 ments, duly verified, to various scientific expeditions sent out both 

 by this and other countries. Our debt of gratitude to this Obser- 

 vatory and its able Superintendent, Mr. Welsh, is likely to be shortly 

 still further augmented by valuable improvements in the photo- 

 graphic record of various phenomena, and among others, of the 

 spots on the sun's disk ; for the observation of which a telescope, 

 by Ross, has been lately erected. Surely it is a cause of great con- 

 gratulation that, by means of the fund, the income of which was 

 placed at their disposal by the liberality of Dr. Wollaston and others, 

 your Council were able to render essential aid, and at the time of 

 its greatest need, to an Institution whose efficient maintenance has 

 become a European necessity, 



In taking a general view of the proceedings of the Institutions, 

 both in this and other countries, whose common object may be said 

 to be the increase of the happiness of our species, though by various 

 and widely different methods, one cannot but be struck, first by the 

 great number of such establishments and the inadequacy of the 

 results obtained, if considered in reference to the means provided ; 

 and, secondly, by the fact, that in the same country and at the same 

 time many different bodies are at work in striving to produce the 

 same end ; but, instead of combining their forces, they often inter- 

 fere with each other's operations ; instead of helping one another, 

 they are perhaps even disposed sometimes to view with jealousy the 

 success of their rivals. Thus, to take an instance, let us consider 

 how many different bodies of men, official or otherwise, are now 

 employed in attempting, but hitherto with little success, to diffuse 

 more widely among the inhabitants of this favoured island the 

 blessings of education, including a knowledge of the elements of 

 the physical sciences. Let us reflect for a moment what might 

 be the result of so many different currents of intellectual force, 



