502 



changed the colour of the corks of the bottles in which it was con- 

 fined, suggested its employment as a bleaching agent. This sug- 

 gestion, successfully carried out by Tennant, produced a complete 

 revolution in the staple trade of Manchester and Glasgow. The 

 operations of the bleacher were shortened from several months to as 

 many hours. The discovery of iodine was the result of a not very 

 promising examination of the refuse of kelp liquors ; and a laborious 

 train of investigation into the laws of decomposition gave us chloro- 

 form. But what inestimable benefits have accrued to mankind from 

 these discoveries ! I need hardly speak of the vast alleviation of 

 human suffering which is due to the guarded use of the latter sub- 

 stance ; and the former, in addition to its medicinal value, is the 

 basis of photography, one of the most beautiful and curious of 

 modern arts, which not only adds to our rational enjoyments, but is 

 extensively used in scientific researches, and ministers efficiently to 

 the useful purposes of life. 



Then, again, Professor Owen astonished his audience at Leeds, by 

 relating how much agricultural wealth had been derived from the 

 proper application of a single once-neglected fossil. 



The hopes which I at one time entertained that the Government 

 of Victoria would erect at Melbourne a four-foot reflector for the 

 observation of the Southern Nebulae, have not hitherto been fulfilled. 

 The General Committee of the British Association have voted a sum 

 of 200 towards carrying out the project, on condition that the 

 remainder of the funds shall be supplied by the local government ; 

 and this course they have taken in testimony of the interest which 

 they feel in the proposed measure, and of their desire to see it 

 carried fully into effect. Our posterity will have just ground of 

 complaint if the task be much longer postponed of surveying and 

 delineating the forms and peculiarities of these southern nebulae 

 with instrumental means, equal to the work, and capable of supple- 

 menting what has been done and is now doing for the nebulae visible 

 in our own latitudes by the magnificent instrument, for which Science 

 is indebted to your late President. The possession by this country 

 of vast colonies in various parts of the globe, offering facilities for 

 the erection of observatories and instruments for pursuing our re- 

 searches into nature's laws under every variety of climate and po- 

 sition on the earth's surface, does seem to impose on a great and 



