ADDRESS 



01' 



AVILLIAM ROBERT GROVE, Esq., Q.C, M.A., E.R.S., 



PRESIDENT. 



If our rude predecessors, who at one time inhabited the caverns Avhich 

 surround this town, could rise from thcii- graves and see it iu its present 

 state, it may be doubtful whether they Avould have sufficient knowledge to 

 be surprised. 



The machinery, almost resembling organic beings in delicacy of structure, 

 by which are fabricated products of world-wide reputation, the powers of 

 matter apphed to give motion to that machinery, are so far removed from 

 what must have been the conceptions of the semibarbariaus to whom I have 

 iJluded, that they could not look on them with intelligent wonder. 



Yet this immense progress has all been effected step by step, now and then 

 a little more rapidly than at other times ; but, viewing the whole course of 

 improvement, it has been gradual, though moving in an accelerated ratio. 

 But it is not merely in those branches of natural knowledge which tend to 

 improvements in economical arts and manufactiu'es, that science has made 

 great progress. In the study of our own planet and the organic beings 

 ^nth which it is crowded, and in so much of the universe, as vision, aided 

 by the telesco])e, has brought M'ithin the scope of observation, the present 

 century has surpassed any antecedent period of equal duration. 



It would be difficult to trace out all the causes which have led to the in- 

 crease of observational and experimental knowledge. 



Among the more thinking portion of mankind the gratification felt by 

 the discovery of new truths, the expansion of faculties, and extension of the 

 boimdaries of knoM'ledge have been doubtless a sufficient inducement to tho 

 study of nature ; while, to the more practical minds, the reality, the cer- 

 tainty, and the progressive character of the acquisitions of natural science, 

 and the enormously increased means which its applications give, have im- 

 pressed its importance as a minister to daily wants and a contributor to 

 ever-increasing material comforts, luxury, and power. 



Though by no means the only one, yet an important cause of the rapid 

 advance of science is the growth of associations for promoting the progress 

 either of physical knowledge generally, or of special branches of it. Since 

 the foundation of the Eoyal Societj', now more than two centuries ago, a 

 vast number of kindi'cd societies have sprung up in this country and in 

 Europe. The advantages conferred by these societies are manifold ; they 

 enable those who are devoted to scientific research, to combine, compare, and 



