volume of biographies informs us, that the collection and combination of 

 these portraits occupied five years, for some of them, at this distance of 

 time, must have been discoverable with very great difficulty Thus we 

 have among them portraits of some of the inventors of whom we know 

 very little in proportion to their acknowledged capacities, such for ex- 

 ample as Trevithick the friend of Robert Stephenson, and Murdock the 

 Achates of James Watt and introducer of gas .... there can be little 

 doubt that the 50 physiognomies are derived from authentic originals in 

 every case, great diligence having been employed in searching for such in 

 the hands of their representatives .... as we said, this engraving must 

 not be regarded only as a work of art, but as a collection of portraits of 

 special interest, some of which are not attainable in any other form ; 

 while, as a whole, they are an appropriate monument of our greatest 

 scientific epoch. 



DAILY TELEGRAPH. 



We may fairly commence the following remarks with unqualified praise 

 of a work of art, which is intended to honour the distinguished men of 

 science who were living in Great Britain early in the present century, and 

 who, with one surviving exception, having passed into a deathless fame, 

 are yet remembered by philosophers equally great, who were their con- 

 temporaries. Mr. Wm. Walker, with the assistance of Mr. Zobel, has 

 produced a really great historical engraving from a design by Mr. Gilbert, 

 representing an assemblage of fifty eminent chemists, engineers, astro- 

 nomers, naturalists, electricians and mechanical inventors, grouped in the 

 library of the Royal Institution. The scene is thoroughly appropriate, for 

 these men were living in the years 1807-8, while the Royal Institution 

 itself dates from 1800, having been founded to promote the application of 

 science to practical uses. The period marked by the pictorial gathering in 

 question, belonged to an era as complete and brilliant as any that I'.ritish 

 science has yet passed through. A glance round the circle of intensely 

 thoughtful faces composing this great portrait group will revive many a page 

 of instructive and ennobling history. We see in the centre, seated round a 



table, James Watt, Sir Isambard Brunei, John Dalton, &c Such 



men were our fathers patient, indomitable, calmly and wisely bold, 

 modestly self-reliant; ever watching, ever toiling, ever adding to the 

 of knowlege that was to benefit not them alone but the great human race. 

 Such men are their sons who carry on the appointed work of improvement 

 and civilization. To such men do we point as examples for our children. 

 Their sterling qualities may be best summed up in the words of Lord 

 Jeffrey, written of that same John Playfair to whom we have already 



