TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 23 



more extensive influence than even that of gravity itself, the discovery of which, in 

 its full extent, contributed so much to immortalize the name of Newton." 



But it is not alone with the name of Priestley that we associate the progress of 

 chernistiy in Birmingham. Grouped around the father of pneumatic chemistry were 

 several remarkable men who then either resided at Birmingham or frequently met 

 there, including Matthew Boulton, James Keir, Dr. Withering, Dr. Darwin, and, 

 foremost of them all, James Watt, who here diversified his engineering labours with 

 his famous investigations into the composition of water. It was at the factory at 

 Soho, too, that Murdoch made the first great experiment on gas-lighting, at the 

 illuminations for the short-lived peace of Amiens ; aud it wa? in Birmingham 

 that Dr. Roebuck, in the middle of the last century, erected the first leaden cham- 

 ber for the making of sulphuric acid, and thereby inaugurated the most important 

 of the chemical manufactures of this country. 



Nor has Birmingham failed in more modern times to maintain her reputation in 

 connexion with the chemical arts. Here, twenty-live years ago, Elkington founded 

 the first establishment, in this country, for carrying out the processes of electro- 

 plating and electro-gilding. Here Asian made the nickel of commerce, with its 

 companion metal, cobalt, as oxide — articles that might vie in purity with the pro- 

 ducts of the laboratory. Here Chance has established a manufactory of optical 

 glass, which specially calls for acknowledgment on the part of the student of 

 science ; and here Sturge and Albright have erected the only manufactory for red 

 phosphorus which the country contains. 



Vast as is the modern development of experimental science, it yet cannot excite 

 much surprise that, with the exception of that portion which falls within the 

 domain of the mathematician, science until recently has been systematically ex- 

 cluded from the general course of education, and has been followed in the majority 

 of instances by those only who commenced its study for professional objects. Yet 

 can we wonder at this, when we remember that the science of chemistry and many 

 entire branches of experimental physics, including voltaic electricity, electro- 

 magnetism, thermo-electricity, the phenomena of polarized light, of photo- 

 chemical action, radiant heat, and others, are, as already stated, less than a century 

 old ? But the great strides that they have made in that interval, the social changes 

 that they have introduced, and the additional powers that they have conferred 

 upon man will vindicate their importance as necessary branches of knowledge to be 

 acquired ; whilst the more just appreciation of the methods of investigation which 

 they pursue will establish their claim to be regarded as instruments in training the 

 mind, and shaping the intellectual development of the future. 



Those whose education was based upon the linguistic system almost exclu- 

 sively, as was the case both before and after Priestley's time, could not be ex- 

 pected to realize the magnitude and true bearing of the power of science, 

 and its educational value. Now, however, the case is altered; and it is a 

 subject for congratulation to reflecting men, that the introduction of the scien- 

 tific element into the ordinary course adopted at our public schools is at length 

 attracting serious attention, and that its importance has been insisted on in both 

 Houses of the Legislature. The practical instinct of the nation is becoming alive to 

 the necessity of making certain portions of the training of our youth consist in the 

 systematic study of the elementary parts of properly selected branches of science ; 

 and it behoves all who are themselves engaged in the pursuit of science to consider 

 in what way they can themselves aid in forwarding this object. 



I need not here advert to the exploded notion, that the acquisition of the truths 

 of science can in anywise endanger those of revelation ; for truth is ever consistent. 

 But it may not be superfluous to reassure the minds of some who imagine that 

 science, like a fresh invasion of Vandals, will extinguish scholarship and classical 

 learning. Language must indeed ever form the basis of our system of education ; 

 for it is the key that unlocks the stores of knowledge ; and no languages are so 

 fitting to form the groundwork as the tongues of ancient Greece and Pome, 

 irrespective of the treasures of philosophy, eloquence, poetry, and history which 

 they contain. They have that intellectual finish and completeness which belongs 

 only partially to science. A moderate amount of classical knowledge can be, as 

 indeed it ought to be, attained by every so-called educated mind, while for him 



