INAUGUIUL ADDRESS. 
Ladies and Gentlemen,— 
The object for which we meet this evening is to inaugurate 
“ The Victorian Institute.’' 
We assemble in the vestibule of the temple of science, 
many of us unacquainted one w'ith the other, invited to en¬ 
gage in a course of mutual improvement, and to assist in the 
cause of general instruction. 
The invitation is one which it does not become us to slight; 
it holds out not only the certainty of much agreeable mental 
recreation, but also the means, if duly employed, of attaining 
and diffusing many substantial benefits. It affords an oppor¬ 
tunity to those who become members of collecting materials 
and interesting facts respecting the multitudinous subjects 
which form topics for the rational inquirer, and to which care¬ 
ful and well-regulated observation will attach an accredited 
worth ; of arranging and collating them, so as to facilitate 
investigation and attract the attention of those competent to 
exercise thereon an enlightened judgment; of provoking 
opinions or theories which may, at least, test the intrinsic merit 
of those heretofore current; and of recording in authentic 
form the discoveries or speculations of those who have hither¬ 
to individually in private prosecuted their unobtrusive studies 
simply for the enjoyment yielded by the pursuit, and of those 
who may now be stimulated to join in giving their thoughts 
and views a public circulation. 
