146 
axtended to othars. As a worthy appendix to the Bill of Mr. Ewart, I beg to read 
to ihe Socieiy an extract froin ihe «Art Union» of April last, because ii mke up ihts 
questioti in the precise poinl of view which 1 have always recotniaeuded to the notice 
of the members. lt is this : 
« We Irust that tbese Museums will have departments for local manüfactures, so 
as in the course of time to present important records of their graduai deveiopeinent 
and irnprovement. Such a colleciion ex'sts in the Putteries, tue property of a pri- 
vate individual... we wish that a sim lar collection could be ooade of the designs of 
Calico printing; someoflhose produced by the older primers, which we have bad an 
opportunily of exami urig, are far superior to any that are brought out in tbe present 
day. This lead.s us to notice the importance of conn*cling such Museums with schuols 
of desig i ; for the pupils must be - hown what Io avo d as weil as what to follow. 
We are the more anxtous to direct" attention to this subiect, becau -e Museums have 
been too otten regarded as mere objects of ccriosity, destitute of practical value, and 
only affo ding oppoitunilies for unobj^ciionable relaxation to the wo. kmg classes ; wa 
at the same time wish the public to k.iow and feel that Museums must have a higher 
and furlher effect. They must, and they will be, as instruktive as Ihey are enter, 
taining, for there is no bianch of British industry that uiay hol be piofhed by the 
auggeslions, which colleciions ot works of art afford. » 
« Yes, Genllemen, it is the practical value of science that I wish this day to incuU 
cate ; it is the Identification of ihe Mauritius Society witb tbe other socielies of 
Europe, the end and aim of which is the impression of the valuable truihs of 
Science which are now radiating from every centre, upon the minds of ihe muss, 
assisting and corroborating the impulses of educalion, and turning ihe soul f.uni 
d< basii g pleasures to the iiighest and most exalted delight, the consciou*r>ess of 
mental advaucement. This the Society has it in its power to do. Hnwever valua- 
ble and suggestive may be its scientific pursuits per se, however mu h they may 
enlighten and gralify the various members that foilow them out, if ihe Society stop 
in this mid-caretr. it will be shorn of half its utility, and will hecome but the 
« magni numinis UMBRA. » l shuuld wish it to be tbe local poii t, as it were, 
of the scientific knowiedge of Mauritius ; tbe depositary of ihe va uable truihs that 
Euiope is every day unfolding; and, above all, the applier of Miese truths to tbe 
mass of the communily. Let i. be once knowu that tbe society is no abstiact 
assembly, no circumscribed institution, but one that blends praclice with theory, 
and the wish of assisting all by its knowiedge, the poorer cla^ses particulariy, and 
then even seif interest will impel them to apply to it for advice, and when they 
see that advice is at once easiiy applicable lo their daily pursuits, tbat science has 
not deceived them, they will gradually wish to drink deeper of Ihe waiers mf that 
fnunlain the first draught of which they have found so salutary. Let no ooe object 
to me, that su< b ideas would do for Europe, but are here inapplicable ; that the popu- 
äation is not such as would profil by this diffusion of liutb. I repiy tbat this 
retrograde argument is wiihout force at the present day : the impulses of educa- 
lion through Ihe masses, like latent heat through bodies. is at first insensible aud 
progressive; it is the accumuiation that gives it importance. Besides, let tbe poor 
man but know that he can be laught a better an I surer metbod of plauliug and 
econoinizir'g bis labours on Irs little property and he will readi y advance in tue 
palh pointed out to him. See what has been effected on the small farms in tre- 
land by the voice and wrilings of a single inuivioüal 1 mean the celebrated Marlin 
Doyle ; in a few years he perfeclly changed tue mode of agriculture. How happy 
have been the eflecls prcdoced by the small alloiment-syslem practised on the es lates 
of so many noblemen in E giand ; where poverty and wrelchedness once ruled, all 
is now happiness and plenty, and whai is better 'bau all, religious at d aienial 
irnprovement have advanced in an equal ratio. Every fact wheie Science in con- 
nexion wiih agriculture bas been successful, should be tecorded and diffused because 
it encourages bope. For ipstance how cheering is tbe resull of the following expe- 
rimenl ; a few moolhs ago 1 had Ihe honor of reading to the society a paper on 
tbe «application uf eleclricity to agriculture;» I will now read an extract from the 
repoit of the Yorkshire Agricultural Socieiy : 
« Al the meeling in April last H. Briggs E«q. , brought up the Report of the Com- 
mittee appointed to enquite imo the subjeci of the application of the free eleclricity 
