Prospectus of the Royal Institution. 779 



of new objects presented to view. The managers of 

 such an institution will be above all suspicion of in- 

 terested motives : their situation in life places them 

 out of the reach of the mean jealousy of interested 

 competition ; and if, contrary to all expectation, the 

 effects of prejudice should, in some respect or other, 

 be directed against their laudable exertions, a firm 

 perseverance in their duties must at length remove 

 that ignorance which alone can give them birth. 



An institution of this nature is peculiarly calculated 

 to produce that unity of pursuit between manufacturers 

 and men of science, which is absolutely necessary for 

 attaining perfection in the theory as well as in the 

 practice of all the arts of civilized life. The philoso- 

 pher will behold and contemplate the prodigious num- 

 ber of truly scientific experiments, which are hourly 

 performed in the workshops of ignorant men ; and the 

 artist, by being taught to seize the general outline and 

 connection of the manual operations by which he ob- 

 tains his bread, may learn to simplify his often tedious 

 processes, and give increased value to the product of 

 his labours. 



The collection and exhibition of models and 

 machines will be rendered more effectual in their 

 consequences, by detailed accounts or descriptions, 

 illustrated by correct drawings. Arrangements will 

 be made and correspondences established for obtaining 

 the earliest and best information respecting every val- 

 uable improvement which may be made either at home 

 or in foreign countries. Visitations of manufactories, 

 careful examinations of the processes of the arts, regu- 

 lar investigations, with accurate reports and registers of 

 those operations and proceedings which may constitute 



