SOCIETIES. 
ability ; the usual measures were pursued in 
order to give permanency and consequence 
to the undertaking ; they were completely 
successful, and we now find it flourishing 
under the royal sanction, an honour to the 
nation and inventor, to whom we should be 
highly ungrateful did we omit to give an 
outline of his original plan, which must of 
course be the basis of all present and future 
operations. 
Spacious and airy rooms he considered 
absolutely necessary for tlie reception and 
exhibition of mechanical inventions and im- 
provements, and those are to be confined 
to such as tend to increase the csnveniencies 
and comforts of life, to establish domestic 
economy, improve taste, and useful indus- 
try ; and in order to promote this part of 
the views of the institution to the utmost, 
he purposed that the best models should be 
procured and shown in action, or actual 
use, of cottage fire-places, and kitchen uten- 
sils for cottagers, a complete kitchen for a 
farm-house, with all the necessai’y utensils ; 
a complete kitchen, with the utensils for 
the family of a man of fortune ; a complete 
laundry for a gentleman’s family ; and a 
public hospital, including all the usual ap- 
paratus; Russian, Swedish, and German 
stoves ; open fire-places, on the best prin- 
ciples, with fires in them ; ornamental and 
economical grates ; stoves in elegant forms, 
for halls, drawing and eating rooms, &c. 
He next proposed to exhibit working mo- 
dels of the steam-engine, on a reduced scale, 
and of all the varieties of boilers for manu- 
factories, hospitals, and ships, with improv- 
ed fire places ; models of ventilatory for 
rooms and ships; models of hot-houses, of 
lime-kilns, of boilers, steam boilers, &c. for 
preparing food for cattle stall-fed ; of cot- 
tages, spinning-wheels, and looms, calculat- 
ed for the advantage of the poor, or any 
other machinery to employ them at home ; 
models of all newly -invented machines and 
implements likely to become beneficial in 
husbandry ; models of variously constructed 
bridges, and any others which the managers 
may hereafter deem worthy of a place in so 
extensive a collection : that this part of the 
establishment may be rendered as useful as 
possible, the Count proposed that illustra- 
tive drawings should accompany the models, 
&c. with a written description, and the 
prices affixed at whicli the articles may be 
procured. 
Tlie second object of tlie institution is 
the teaching the application of science to 
the useful purposes of life; for this branch a 
lecture room was to be provided, which 
might serve at the same time for philosophi- 
cal experiments, with a complete laboratory 
and philosophical apparatus ; the room he 
wished to contain convenient places for the 
subscribers, which he recommends should 
be well warmed and perfectly ventilated ; 
the lecturers to be chosen by the managers, 
with tlie utmost circumspection, that none 
but men of eminence, in their respective 
pursuits, should officiate in that most im- 
portant and most distinguished situation ^ 
and, he adds, “ no subjects will ever be 
permitted to be discussed at these lectures 
but such as are strictly scientifical, and im- 
mediately connected with that particular 
branch of science, publicly announced, as 
the subject of the lecture.” Persons, by his 
plan, are to be permitted to attend the lec- 
tures on being recommended by a subscri- 
ber, and paying a smalt sum. The subject 
of tlie lectures he proposed should be on 
the application of heat to the various pur- 
poses of life ; the combustion of inflam- 
mable bodies, and the relative quantities of 
heat producible by the different substances 
used as fuel, the management of fire, and 
the economy of fuel ; the principles of the 
warmth of clothing ; the effects of heat and 
col(j, and of winds of each description on 
the human body, in health and illness ; the 
effects of vitiated air ; the means of render- 
ing dwelling-houses healthy and comfortable ; 
the procuring and preserving of ice, and con- 
struction of ice-houses ; preserving food in 
different seasons and climates ; cooling fluids 
without the assistance of ice ; on’ vegetation, 
and of the specific nature of those that are 
produced by manures ; of composing the lat- 
ter, and adapting it to particular soils ; the 
nature of those changes that are produced on 
substances used as food, and of that which 
takes place in its digestion; the chemical 
principles of tanning hides, and their im- 
provement ; the chemical principles of the 
art of making soap ; of the art of bleaching, 
dying ; and, in general, of all the mecha- 
nical arts, as they apply to the various 
branches of manufacture. 
At the first meeting of the managers, held 
at the house of Sir Joseph Banks, March 9, 
1799, when that gentleman presided, it was. 
proposed and resolved, “ that the proposals 
for forming the institution, as published by 
Count Rumford, be approved and adopted 
by the managers; subject, however, to such 
partial modifications as shall be' by them 
found to be necessary or useful.” 
A Committee of Managers, chosen by 
