40 
FIRST REPORT- 1831. 
nomenclature of their respective sciences, or attempting to fix 
with one consent the foundations on which they rest. It has 
never yet been seen, that the Chemical, Mineralogical, and Op¬ 
tical inquirers have assembled for the purpose of mutually ex¬ 
plaining and learning what light the sciences of Chemistry, Mine¬ 
ralogy, and Optics are capable of reflecting reciprocally upon 
each other. You will perceive also, Gentlemen, that the Trans¬ 
actions, which we contemplate, are not to be collected by tres¬ 
passing upon ground which was already occupied. In this re¬ 
spect there is on our part not only no design, but no possibility 
of interference. The course of an Association which meets once 
a year, and hut for a few days, is necessarily different from that 
of more abiding Institutions ; we have no time, if we wished it, 
to encroach upon the office, or to drain away the scientific re¬ 
sources of any other Society. It will be enough for us, if we can 
compress into the compass of a week's deliberations our own re¬ 
stricted objects,—specific investigations into fundamental points 
of science, reviews of its recent advances, and recommendations 
of subjects and methods for future research. Our plan contains 
within it a new power which may perhaps accelerate the wheels 
that are already in action; but its machinery is exclusively its 
own. The enlightened Institutions with which it hopes to be as¬ 
sociated will regard it, therefore, not as a rival, hut a coadjutor ; 
and I trust it may prove such a coadjutor to them as the steam- 
engine has been to all other kinds of mechanism, in every mine, 
and in every manufactory; a coadjutor, by the aid of whose 
powerful movements all their operations have been facilitated, 
and their productions multiplied a hundredfold. 
“ An enterprise like this has no danger to fear, hut from a 
deficiency of zeal and union in carrying it into effect. It must 
undoubtedly fail, if it meets only with imperfect cooperation and 
cold support. But if it shall recommend itself to the full appro¬ 
bation of men of science, if it appears to you, Gentlemen, de¬ 
sirable to undertake it, the Association will have competent 
sponsors in the present assembly, who will stand pledged not 
only for its early encouragement, but for those future exertions 
which will he required to ensure its success. The Council of 
the Yorkshire Philosophical Society have not the presumption 
to dictate to this Meeting the course which it may be for the in¬ 
terests of Philosophy to pursue. They collected, in the first 
instance, the best opinions which they could obtain, before they 
proceeded to mature their plan; and they now wait for the opi¬ 
nion of the eminent persons who are here assembled, before they 
can assure themselves that it is as feasible in practice as it ap¬ 
pears in theory. My own judgement waits with theirs, Gentle- 
