ADDRESS. t 



the parricide and the legislator being both of them authors of con- 

 ditions of things which they affect to deplore. I will say no more on 

 this subject, for I feel that it would not be right to take advantage of 

 my position hei-e to-night to urge Political Economy views, which should 

 be reserved for Section F. I will merely, and as illustrative of my views 

 of the value of the application of Science to Science itself, say there is 

 no branch of physics pursued with more zeal and with moi'e happy 

 results than that of electricity, with its allies, and there is no branch of 

 Science towards which the pablic looks with greater hope of practical 

 benefits ; a hope that, I doubt not, will be strengthened after we have had 

 the advantage of hearing one of the ablest followers of that science, 

 Professor Ayrton, who, on Friday next, has been good enough to promise 

 to discourse on ' The Electrical Transmission of Power.' 



One of the subjects which, as much as (or probably more than) any 

 other, occupies the attention of the engineer, and therefore of Section G, 

 is that of (the so-called) Prime Movers, and I will say boldly that, since 

 the introduction of printing by the use of movable type, nothing has done 

 so much for civilisation as the development of these machines. Let us 

 consider these prime movers — and, first, in the comparatively humble 

 function of replacing that labour which might be performed by the mus- 

 cular exertion of human beings, a function which at one time was looked 

 upon by many kindly but short-sighted men as taking the bread out of 

 the mouth of the labourer (as it was called), and as being therefore 

 undesirable. I remember revisiting my old schoolmaster, and his saying 

 to me, shaking his head : ' So you have gone the way I always feared you 

 would, and are making things of iron and brass, to do the work of men's 

 hands.' 



It must be agreed that all honest and useful labour is honourable, but 

 when that labour can be carried out without the exercise of any intelli- 

 gence, one cannot help feeling that the result is likely to be intellectually 

 lowering. Thus it is a sony thing to see unintelligent labour, even 

 although that labour be useful. It is but one remove from unintelligent 

 labour which is not useful ; that kind of labour generally appointed 

 (by means of the tread-wheel or the crank) as a punishment for crime. 

 Consider even the honourable labour (for it is useful, and it is honest) of 

 the man who earns his livelihood by turning the handle of a crane, and 

 compare this with the labour of a smith, who, while probably developing 

 more energy by the use of his muscles, than is developed by the man 

 turning the crane-handle, exercises at the same time the powers of 

 judgment, of eye, and of hand in a manner which I never see without 

 my admiration being excited. I say that the introduction of prime 

 movers as a mere substitute for unintelligent manual labour is in itself a 

 great aid to civilisation and to the raising of humanity, by rendering it 

 veiy diflicult, if not impossible, for a human being to obtain a livelihood 

 by unintelligent work — the work of the horse in the mill, or of the turnspit. 



