294 THE EARLY HISTORY OF [CHAP. V. 



for being partial to is the laboratory, which, though 

 formed upon a small scale and supplied with a small 

 apparatus only, may yet, by its effects, tend to demon- 

 strate the importance and uses of such a foundation in 

 the metropolis. 



4 It would be indelicate for me to be the historian 

 of the whole of the progress of tjris part of the estab- 

 lishment, nor should I have entered upon it at all 

 except in consequence of the circumstance that though 

 it is generally known that some new philosophical 

 facts have been ascertained here, yet it is not generally 

 known that the chemical apparatus of the Royal 

 Institution has given aid upon several occasions to the 

 useful arts, and that assistance has been afforded to 

 various great public bodies. 



' There is another object on which I can dwell with 

 more pleasure and more propriety ; I mean the 

 voltaic apparatus, which has been formed in con- 

 sequence of a fund raised by subscription. Without a 

 public establishment like the Royal Institution this 

 great light of new science might have been lost to us, 

 and it is not the less honourable to the character of 

 the nation that the efforts of private individuals have 

 effected what in other countries flows only from the 

 Government. 



6 The new plan of the Royal Institution is intended 

 to exalt and enlarge all those parts of the establish- 

 ment which are acknowledged to be useful and 

 profitable, so as to create a permanent foundation and 

 means which can never be misapplied for the advance- 

 ment of every species of useful knowledge. 



