1852.] 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



15 



numerous Coliinies. And, as IIig readiest means of doing so, I am 

 directed to transmit to you I'riiited Copies of tlie present Letter and 

 its Enclosures, Which the Oounoil trusts you will liavo the gjodncss to 

 forward to the Governors of Oolonies, with such instructions for their 

 judicious distribution as may appear best calculated to ensure their 

 practical utility. 



I have the honor to be, Sir, 



Your most oboJient Sf!rvanf, 



GEORGE GROVE, 



Hacrelarj/, 

 Enciosurk No. 1. 

 Brief Statement of the Olijects, Government, Revenue and mode of 

 Action of the Society fur tlie Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, 

 and Commerce : 



Objects: — Tlie Society for the encouiagemcnt of Arts, Maimfacturcs 

 and Commerce was founded in 17,'>4, and incorporated under the above 

 name by Royal Charter in 1847, they are summed up in the Charter as 

 — " Generally to assist in the adva[icenient, development and practical 

 application of Science in connection with the Arts, Manufactures and 

 Commerce of the Country." 



Government: — It is governed by a President, Vice-Presidents, two 

 Treasurers, two Auditors, and from twelve to twenty-four other Mem- 

 bers, who form a Council elected annually by ballot at a General 

 Meeting of the Society. The Secretary and Collector are elected in a 

 similar manner, and are the only officers who receive any salary. The 

 following are the Officers for the present year : — 



Pkesident. — His Royal Highness Prince Albert. Vice-Presidents. 

 —The Duke of Buccleuch, The Earl of Carlisle, The Earl of Ellesinere, 

 The Earl Granville, The Lord Colborne, The Lord Overstone, Sir J. P. 

 Boileau, Bart., Right Hon. E. Strutt, M. P., Right Hon. T. Milner Gibson, 

 M. P., H. T. Hope, M. P., Georire Moffatt, M. P., S. M. Peto, M. P., 

 Robert Stephenson. M. P., Beriali Botfield, Sir C. Barry, R. A., I. K. 

 Brunei, F. R. S., Thomas Creswick, R. A., W. F. Cooke. Chas. Dickens, 

 C. Wentwoith Dilke, M. Faraday, F. R. S., Owen Jones, J. M. Rendel, 

 Pres. Inst. C. Engrs., W. Tooke, F. R. S. 



Council.— John Bell, Thomas Cubitt, Joi5eph Glynn, P. R. S., W. 

 Harding, C. E., Professor T. H. Henry, F. R. S., Capt. Henry C. Owen, 

 R. E., Dr. Lyon Playfair, C. B., J. Scott Russell, F. R. S., W. W. Saun- 

 ders, Sydney Smirke, R. A., Professor Edward Solly, F. R. S., Thomas 

 Twining, jun. 



Treasurers. — P. Le Neve Foster, M. A., Henry Cole, C. B. 

 Auditors. — Thomas Winkworth, Samuel Rengrave. 

 Secretary. — George Grove. 



Revenue: — The Society consists at present of 1200 Members, and its 

 revenue is about £2000 a year, — mainly derived from their individual 

 contributions. 



Mode of Action: — The Council appoint annually Standing Commit- 

 tees to report upon the various Departments of the Arts and Manufac- 

 tures, and has lately adopted for this purpose the Classification of the 

 late Exhibition, the Committees being thirty in number, to correspond 

 with the thirty Classes. 



These various Committees examine and report on the merits of all 

 useful inventions and discoveries, which are publicly e.thibited at cer- 

 tain periods by the Society. And upon the reports of the Committees 

 the Council award Medals and other rewards for inventions, treatises, 

 or other objects calculated to advance the interests of the Arts, Manu- 

 factures and Commei'ce. 



The Society by these means has been the first and principal medium 

 for introducing to public notice the principal discoveries in Arts and 

 Manufactures which have been brought to light during the present 

 century in this country. 



The Council further appoint from time to time Committees for 

 various Special purposes ; among others may be named that for Ele- 

 mentary Drawing Schools, and those for Foreign, Colonial, and 

 Provincial Correspondence. 



Enclosure No. 2. 

 The principal objects which the Council have in view in establishing 

 the Colonial Committee may be generally enumerated under the 

 following heads : — 



1. To make known to the Mercantile and general Public of this 

 Country the principal products of each of the Colonies, aad the 

 facilities for obtaining them. 



2. To point out to the Colonists any of those Products which may 

 be advantageously imported into England. 



3. To afford such information as any Colony may require in regard 

 to Implements, Machinery, Chemical or other processes necessary to 

 the prosecution of its special branches of Industry. 



4. To exhibit and make known to tlie British Public, Inventions 

 which Colonists have otherwise great difficulty in introducing into 

 notice, that being one of the principal branches of the Society's 

 operations. 



5. To collect for the Thirty Standing Committees, information 

 relative to the various depiirtiiients of Trnde in the Colonies. 



G. To make a comparison of Coins, Weights and Measures, as used 

 in the Colonies, and to receive and discuss propositions for giving them 

 uniformity. 



7. To investigate and report upon the operations of the Patent Laws 

 in the Colonies. 



It is hoped that the periodical transmission of the printed Proceed- 

 ings of the Society of Arts may olteii convey valuable information to 

 distant Colonies, and the Society hope to enrich their own Annual 

 Volume by communications from kindred Associations, and from 

 Individuals in the Colonics. 



The Council feel conliclent that these measures cannot fail to be of 

 use both to the Mother Country and to the Colonies, and that should 

 they be unsuccessful in some of the objects above enumerated, benefit 

 will ensue from the remainder. 



It may be desirable here to state the reasons which induce the 

 Council to originate the present scheme. 



It was as President to the Society of Arts, thfit His Royal Highnem 

 Prince Albert first announced to the World the project of the Exhibi- 

 tion of 1851. The Society had a considerable sliare iu the early 

 progress of the Exhibition, and counts amongst its Members a large 

 proportion of those who took an active part in that great Work. 



The Society also contains many Members eminent in the several 

 branches of science, and influential in the Country, and consequently 

 the Society possesses the means of making extensively known, amongst 

 the Manufacturers and Public of Great Britain, any new or important 

 products which may be made available in the Arts, Commerce, or 

 Manufactures of the Country. As a recent instance of this nature, it 

 may be mentioned that Gutta Percha and its valuable properties were 

 made known through the exertions of the Society. 



The Correspondence that has taken place with the Colonies, on 

 account of the Exhibition, has brought to notice that those by whom 

 it has been conducted are capable of affording a vast amount of infor- 

 mation, which only requires to be collected and printed, to make it of 

 great use to this Country. And the anxiety which has been evinced 

 for such information as, it is hoped, may be advantageously furnished 

 by Members of the Society, has directed attention to the fact that they 

 have now no direct means of obtaining such information. The Society 

 feels confident, that those who took an active part in the promotion of 

 the Exhibition, will be the first to come forward and render assistance 

 to any scheme such as the present, by which efforts are made to per- 

 petuate its results. 



It may be interesting also here to refer to a few of the advantages 

 whicli have been actually derived from the display of Colonial Produce 

 at the Great Exhibition. 



Isinglass had hitherto been regarded as obtainable principally from 

 the fish of the Russian rivers. But it has been ascertained that the 

 rivers of Canada abound with fish producing Isinglass of the first 

 quality, and that a new industrial occupation is thus open to the 

 Canadians, whilst a supply of Isinglass can be furnished to this coun- 

 try at a much more reasonable price than hitherto. 



Another remarkable instance is the discovery that Corundum, which 

 has served many of the puiposes of diamond and emery powder in 

 India for a long period, might also be brought into use in this country ; 

 a mineral with which it is believed but a very small portion of the 

 British public had hitherto been acquainted, and which it is suspected 

 has in some instances been sold to our large firms under the name of 

 Diamond powder. 



Amongst the substances from the Colonies which have been brought 

 into notice, may be also mentioned walrus skin, porpoise leather from 

 the St. Lawrence, the resins and fatty substances and vegetable waxes 

 from Australia, all of which appear likely to e-xcite attention in the 

 commercial world. 



Notwithstanding that these and other substances have been brought 

 into notice. Colonial Produce was on the whole but indifferently repre- 

 sented in the Exhibition, and the Council confidently hope that the 

 means they have now adopted may lead to the formation, at some 

 future period, of a permanent Exhibition of Colonial Produce, either 

 separately, or what would perhaps be preferable, as part of The Col- 

 lection arising out of the Great Exhibition, from the exertions of The 

 Royal Commissioners. 



(Signed) 



GEORGE GROVE, 



Secretary Socicly of Arts. 



SlR,- 



Canadian Institute, 

 Toronto, 31st July, 1852. 



I have the honor to actnowleilge the receipt of your Letter of 

 the l7th instant, with enclosures transmitted by command of His 



