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the fleeting skill of individuals, they nevertheless press forward 
again in the same path ; and when the day comes that our pre- 
ponderance in natural treasures is reduced to something nearer 
equality, — when deeper and thinner coal seams must be wrought, 
when poorer ores of the metals must be more highly prized, and 
when the products of our manufactures can only be brought into 
commerce at higher prices, — then must the star of England’s 
prosperity decline, unless we keep our vantage ground by the 
superior skill and lcnoAvledge to which technical education must 
greatly contribute. 
Thus far we have directed our attention almost exclusively to 
the material advantages, or, in other words, the pecuniary returns 
to be expected from the cultivation of these subjects. I have 
dwelt so long on such topics because the main object of the 
foundation of this course of instruction has reference to that 
point of view. 
But I should ill appreciate the character of this audience, 
and do violence to my own feelings, were I not, in conclusion, 
to protest against that debasing spirit which would decry all 
branches of knowledge except those which are at once com- 
mercially profitable, and which would practically inculcate a 
belief that the acquisition of money is intended to be the great 
end and aim of human existence. Shall we, for their own sake, 
examine the works of the architect, the painter, or the poet, and 
analyze the rules upon which his art is founded, whilst we yet 
remain indifferent to any one department of the rich storehouse 
of nature, opened for man’s inspection by the Author of all 
things ? 
Believe me, that the phenomena of mineralogy, and the prin- 
ciples which regulate them, are, though different in their kind, 
no less beautiful than those of animal and vegetable life ; and 
they possess the additional source of interest, that they may 
guide us to the wider sphere of speculating rationally on the 
constitution of the orbs which roll with us through endless 
space. 
With reason has a Turkish author* said, “ Consecrate, 0 my 
* Nabi EfFendi, a counsellor of Sultan Mustapha III. 
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