No. XXI.] APPENDIX. 289 



No. XXI. 



AN INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE ON THE OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES 

 OF EDUCATIONAL LECTURES, IN CONNECTION WITH THE LONDON 

 INSTITUTION. With a Diagram showing the Faculties of the Human 

 Mind at different Periods of Life. Delivered by ALFRED SMEE, Esq., 

 P.R.S., on Saturday, October 14th, 1854, on commencing the season 

 of Educational Lectures. 



YOUNG LADIES AND YOUNG GENTLEMEN, 



The proprietors of the London Institution, which was founded by the 

 munificence of the merchants and bankers of London for the promotion of 

 literature and science, have resolved to give up this theatre to your use 

 upon two afternoons in each week ; in order that you may advantageously 

 partake of the inestimable benefits of instruction from well-qualified 

 teachers, and perfectly enjoy the delightful pleasure which arises out of 

 the knowledge of natural science. 



I have been requested by my fellow-managers to address you this first 

 afternoon on the general use and value of those scientific subjects which will 

 be hereafter more particularly considered by the eminent lecturers who 

 have been engaged to instruct you ; and I must also ask you to give me 

 your careful attention, and to think of nothing but that which I am saying, 

 whilst I detail what you can learn and what you cannot learn by coming 

 here and listening with your best attention to the different lectures as they 

 are delivered. 



You are not all of the same age ; and you will observe that these 

 lectures will not be attended by the young only, but occasionally even by 

 such as are advanced in years, and sometimes by those who are still in 

 the prime of life. I shall endeavour to show you the parts of the different 

 subjects which will most interest and most instruct my different hearers ; 

 for rest assured that each of us, from the time we leave the cradle till we 

 recline in the arm-chair of extreme old age, has different powers, different 

 capabilities, and different duties to perform. At no period of life can any 

 neglect be allowed, without that neglect producing a corresponding injiiry 

 at every subsequent period ; and a loss of time and opportunity now, will 

 be attended by a loss of honourable position and of happiness hereafter. 



Now, my young friends, at your age you have all your senses acute 

 in the highest degree. Nothing can escape your bright sharp eyes, if 

 rightly used. Your ears, also, are endowed with the highest faculty of 

 hearing, and your tender skin with feeling. In these respects you will 

 have great advantages over the older part of the audience. Here you 

 excel ; and it is your duty to take full advantage of the : acuteness of your 

 senses. Sharp, however, as your eyes are, you will find that to appreciate 

 all the beauties of nature, you will want much additional and artificial 

 assistance. You will first require the aid of the microscope to help you, 

 since for seeing the lovely down upon the butterfly's wing, covering and 

 protecting the wing-case, like the slates on a house, it is absolutely 

 necessary ; and you will find that when you have strained your eyes to the 

 utmost upon a drop of water, and yet have seen nothing, the microscope 

 will reveal to you thousands on thousands of living beings, enjoying their 



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