458 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
Monday, \th December 1865. 
The President, Sir David Brewster, at the request of the 
Council, delivered the following Opening Address : — 
Among the various functions which our scientific institutions are 
expected to discharge, not the least important is to foster the 
labours and protect the interests of discoverers and inventors, — of 
those who create new forms of matter and new processes of art, — 
who invent new instruments, and new machinery for controlling 
and rendering useful the forces of the material world. 
The rights of property, in its material phase, whatever he its 
character, and by whatever means it has been acquired, have ever 
been held sacred, even in barbarous communities. The hoarded 
treasure, or the portion of the earth’s crust which it may purchase, 
can be wrested from its owner but by the forfeiture of crime, or the 
grasp of conquest. As civilisation advances, new wants are de- 
veloped, and new rights established. The historian, the philosopher, 
the antiquary, and the poet — the pioneers of intellectual life — strive 
to instruct and amuse us, and claim in return our sympathy and pro- 
tection. Hence has arisen the law of copyright, in virtue of which 
the author of any work, however frivolous in its character, how- 
ever immoral in its tendency, however subversive of order, and 
however hostile to religion, acquires a right of property which suc- 
cessive Acts of Parliament have enhanced in value, by lengthening 
its tenure and adding to its security. This just privilege, of which 
the humblest and the highest in the community avail themselves, 
is granted gratuitously by the State, and is enjoyed during the long 
period of forty-eight years, and by the youngest author during the 
whole of his life. 
In the progress of civilisation, wants other than intellectual de- 
mand immediate gratification. The genius of invention in its 
youngest exercise, is summoned to feed and to clothe us, to con- 
jure from the inner earth the elements of civilisation, to strengthen 
the human arm and aid the failing eye, to shield us from the ele- 
ments, and to open to the missionary and the merchant the rough 
