12 
REPORT. 
indeed great beyond all calculation. It was the theory of 
the true figure of the earth, which first led the discoverer of 
a new world across the Atlantic, and conducted the sails of 
commerce round the globe. It was the refined investigation 
of the subtle nature and properties of heat, which put in 
motion the gigantic powers of steam; and, in its consequences, 
has not only exalted this country to an unprecedented pitch 
of prosperity and greatness, but has changed in every 
quarter of the world the whole face of human affairs. 
There is not one, among the various sciences cultivated by 
this Society, which is not directly applicable to the uses of 
life. From mechanical inventions, and the discoveries of the 
philosophical chemist, the greatest improvements in all our 
manufacturing processes have been derived. The knowledge 
of the structure of the earth, and of the properties of minerals 
and plants, is closely connected w ith the arts of agriculture 
and mining, of metallurgy and medicine ; and the studies of 
the comparative structure, organization, and general economy 
of animated nature, have thrown light on those dark subjects 
of physiological enquiry, upon the development of which 
the perfection of the art of healing depends. 
But it would be to take a very narrow view of the utility 
of these pursuits, to contemplate them only in their direct 
effects. The intellectual qualities which are formed by 
such studies, even when they appear the least obviously use¬ 
ful, are often productive of unexpected fruits. To a mind 
educated in the school of natural history, and exercised in 
minute and accurate observation, mankind are indebted for 
