^34 Sheppard : Hull's Coiitribiition to Science. 



Exhibition of 185 1. Probably the full benefit to the. country of 

 this Exhibition will never be realised. It came at the right time, 

 was manag-ed in th# proper way, and was one of the many 

 successful achievements of the late Prince Consort. Its benefit 

 to Hull, though of an indirect character, was unquestionable. 

 A local committee was formed, and prepared a valuable case of 

 Hull's exports and imports at that time. After the Exhibition, 

 this case was placed in the Museum, tog-ether with a beautiful 

 Bronze medal which was awarded to the Hull Committee for the 

 exhibit. The Museum still possesses the medal. 



The maximum of interest in scientific matters at Hull may 

 safely be said to have been in 1853, in September of which year 

 the British Association visited this town. John Phillips, the 

 first and energetic secretary of the Association, was early known 

 to Hull scientific men. He had lectured to them ; he had urged 

 them to attend the meetings of the Association at Oxford and 

 Cambridge. This was when the Literary and Philosophical 

 Society was )'oung, and its members who accepted Phillips' 

 invitation returned to their friends with glowing accounts of the 

 meetings ; their enthusiasm became infectious. One result was 

 that at the Belfast meeting in 1852 an invitation was received 

 for the Association to visit Hull in the following year. A few 

 weeks later"" Charles Frost read a paper to his Society ' On the 

 Prospective Advantages of a visit to the town of Hull by the 

 British Association for the Advancement of Science.' This was 

 printed and largely circulated. The idea evidently ' caught on' ; 

 the Corporation subscribed ;^ioo to the guarantee fund for 

 defraying the expenses of the visit, and the number of subscrip- 

 tions of ;^5o, ;^25, ;^20, and jQ\o tVom Hull people is, in the 

 light of the present day, simply astonishing. Since then Belfast, 

 Oxford, and Cambridge, the three places already mentioned, 

 have each been visited twice by the Association ; but not so 

 Hull — not once — and there appears to be little prospect of a 

 visit being again paid to this port for many years to come. 



The ' Hull ' Report of the '53 meeting is a substantial volume 

 of over 400 pages, and indicates the amount of work accom- 

 plished, especially when it is remembered that most of the 

 papers are printed in abstract. A perusal of its pages is of 

 interest, and conveys some idea of the local activity at that time. 



The papers discussed at the meetings were largely con- 

 tributed by Hull workers, and the subjects were very varied. 

 Amongst the local authors we find Dr. Horner, Dr. Munro, 



* On November 16th, 1852. 



Naturalist, 



