PROSPECTUS OF THE ROYAL INSTITU- 

 TION . OF GREAT BRITAIN.* 



IT is an undoubted truth that the successive im- 

 provements in the condition of man, from a state 

 of ignorance and barbarism to that of the highest 

 cultivation and refinement, are usually effected by the 

 aid of machinery in procuring the necessaries, the 

 comforts, and the elegancies of life ; and that the pre- 

 eminence of any people in civilization is, and ought 

 ever to be, estimated by the state of industry and 

 mechanical improvement among them. 



In proof of this great and striking truth, no other 

 argument requires to be offered than an immediate 

 reference to the experience of all ages and places. 

 The various nations of the earth, the provinces of 

 each nation, the towns, and even the villages of the 

 same province, differ from each other in their accom- 

 modations ; and are in every respect more flourishing 

 and populous, the greater their activity in establishing 

 new channels of industry. Successful exertions give 

 courage to the spirit of invention ; the sciences flour- 



* After mature deliberation upon all the terms in the European languages, 

 which have been used to distinguish public bodies, such as schools, academies, 

 colleges, universities, societies, corporations, etc., it was found that every one 

 is either appropriated to well-known establishments, or less adapted to the views 

 of the present society than the word INSTITUTION, already well known for 

 near a century in the famous " Institute " of Bologna. 



