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called the attention of his hearers to the advantages which the 

 world in general had derived from the cultivation of the physical 

 sciences. No one indeed can be better qualified to give an opinion 

 on this subject than the distinguished individual to whom I have 

 alluded. His first communication to the Royal Society was in the 

 year 1796, and was published in the 'Philosophical Transactions' 

 for that year. From that time to the present day he has, without any 

 intermission, laboured for the advancement of all kinds of knowledge, 

 and so he still continues to labour with all the determination and 

 energy and intellectual vigour of youth ; and I may confidently 

 affirm that little has been done worthy of note during this interval 

 of sixty-four years which has escaped his acute observation. The 

 influence, however, which the physical sciences have had in adding 

 to the conveniences and comforts, and advancing the material pros- 

 perity of mankind is too obvious to escape the notice of a much 

 less close observer than Lord Brougham. If our houses and our 

 cities are better and more economically lighted ; if our population is 

 better and more cheaply clothed ; if our fields are more productive ; 

 if we travel by steam and communicate with those who are hundreds 

 of miles distant from us by the telegraph ; if a brighter light shines 

 in our light-houses to guide the mariner at night ; these and a thou- 

 sand of things besides are but the result of the application by prac- 

 tical men, of the discoveries made in the physical sciences, to prac- 

 tical purposes. To the same cause may be attributed much of the 

 political greatness of the British nation. The British flag floats in 

 every sea ; our colonies are established in every region of the earth ; 

 we contemplate in them with a reasonable pride the germs of future 

 nations, which, when our fortune may possibly be changed, will 

 speak the same language with ourselves, inheriting our literature, 

 our political institutions, and not only our religion but our religious 

 freedom, inheriting also our knowledge, and adding knowledge to 

 it ; but none of this could have been, if it were not that the astro- 

 nomer had instructed the sailor how, with nothing but the heavens 

 above him and the waters on every side, he may find his exact posi- 

 tion on the surface of the globe. 



But it would be a grave mistake to suppose that such as those 

 which I have now enumerated are the only advantages which have 

 been derived from the cultivation of the physical sciences. To know 



