RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE INSTITUTE. »y 



Tinder the direction and control of which was founded and is 

 sustained the Mechanics' Club or Polytechnic Association. If this 

 Association has not yet acquired such a reputation for science as 

 to warrant the Institute in fully endorsing all its proceedings, or 

 the public in giving ready and unqualified assent to all its con- 

 clusions, it is, nevertheless ; safe to say, that the inventor of any 

 machine, or the discoverer of anything new in the practical sci- 

 ences, will always find in this Association an intelligent and 

 learned, as well as a frank and honest body of earnest men, who 

 will take as much pleasure in encouraging meritorious ingenuity 

 as they Avill be prompt and uncompromising in exposing all kinds 

 of charlatanism and ignorance. 



In thus briefly noticing the general action and policy of the Insti- • 

 tute from its commencement, it is plainly evident that its founders 

 intended it to be progressive in its character. It has not thus 

 far bound itself to any particular plan, nor trammelled itself by 

 rules or promises of special performances, which it may not vary 

 at any time when the interests of science may seem to demand a 

 change. From time to time it has wisely acted upon new sug- 

 gestions, and held itself in readiness to adopt anything which in 

 its judgment might promise to accomplish the most beneficial 

 results. What shall the Institute do this year ? is a question 

 that can always be best answered by the state of affairs and the 

 position of things at the commencement of each season. 



The rapid glance we have taken of its history, discloses on the 

 part of the Institute a two-fold policy, one directed mainly to the 

 sense of the public, the other more immediately to the intellec- 

 tual and scientific instruction of its members ; of the latter the 

 Library, the Farmers' Club, and the Polytechnic Association 

 have been the chief instruments ; the Fairs, and the now neglec- 

 ted or abandoned Museum or Repository, have contributed the 

 principal features of the former. From the Fairs, only, has there 

 been derived any revenue, and experience shows that this source 

 is precarious and uncertain ; not only uncertain, but liable to 

 involve the Institute in inconveniently large expenditures. 



The subject of revenue is a practical one, and involves the 

 entire interests of all the branches of the Institute. If the fairs 

 are the chief reliance, and if such reliance proves uncertain, let 

 such a change of policy be at once sought for as will meet the 

 difficulty. 



It has already been seen that the fairs of themselves, as mere 



