ANNIYERSART ABDEESS OF THE PEESIDENT, XXXV- 



the paper itself for the many interesting details it contains, parti- 

 cularly with reference to the age of the Brown-coal formation. 



On the 26th of February in the following year Mr. Horner read 

 an interesting paper " On the quantity of solid matter suspended 

 in the water of the Ehine." His experiments showed that about 

 145,981 cubic feet of solid matter are borne past Bonn every 

 twenty-four hours. He also ascertained that, when dried, the 

 residuum was, both in appearance and properties, undistinguish- 

 able from the loess of the fihine Yalley. 



But other public duties now engaged his attention. On his 

 return to England in 1833 he had been named as one of the Com- 

 missioners appointed to inquire into the employment of children 

 in the factories of G-reat Britain ; and when the Act founded on 

 their report was passed, Mr. Horner was appointed one of the 

 Inspectors to see that its provisions were properly carried out. It 

 would be foreign to my present purpose to go into any detail of 

 Mr. Horner's labours in this field, but I may perhaps be allowed 

 to mention that the manner in which he carried out the difficvilt 

 duties which devolved upon him was such as to meet with universal 

 approbation. Eeeling the greatest sympathy for the piirpose for 

 which the Act was introduced, he refused no labour, he avoided 

 no responsibility necessary for the protection of those whose 

 interests he had to defend. And even they, whose interests were 

 at first supposed to be injririously afl^ected by the measure, could 

 not but admire the temper and judgment of Mr. Horner, and 

 were at last compelled to acknowledge the beneficial consequences 

 of the Act itself. With regard to the feelings of the working 

 classes themselves, I need only quote a passage from a communi- 

 cation recently addressed to his daughters by the Delegates from 

 the operative cotton-spinners of Lancashire and other districts, 

 in which, amongst other things, they say, " His impartiality in 

 the administration of the laws made for the protection of our 

 wives and children, and his firmness in their vindication, have long 

 commanded our esteem, and of which, while we live, we shall 

 cherish a grateful remembrance." 



But during all these laborious exertions, Mr. Horner still found 

 his relaxation in the pursuit of science. He had become a Fellow 

 of the E-oyal Society in 1813, and in 1816 he was elected Presi- 

 dent of this Society ; and during the period that he held that 

 Office, he was unremitting in his attendance at the apartments of 

 the Society, superintending the arrangements of the Museum, 

 and devising plans for its improvement. 



A reference to the first Address, which he delivered on the 26th 

 of February, 1846, will at once prove the correctness of this state- 

 ment. When he alludes to the state of the Library and Museum, 

 he says that " it is a part of the general scheme contemplated 

 for the Museum, to have a full catalogue for each formation or 

 principal group of all the known fossils belonging tq it, and of 

 the lithological characters of its prevailing rocks, both British and 

 foreign, distinguishing the specimens in the possession of the 



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