32 
FIRST REPORT— 1831. 
phical Society: it is here referred to by Mr. Conybeare; and by 
a remarkable coincidence of ideas, we have the same reference 
from Mr. Harvey, who in a letter from Plymouth, which he 
has addressed to the Secretary of the Meeting, observes, that 
Bacon alludes to f circuits or visits of divers principal cities of 
the kingdom’ as forming a distinguished feature of the New At¬ 
lantis. 4 What Bacon,’ he adds, ‘foresaw in distant perspective, 
it has been reserved to our day to realize; and as his prophetic 
spirit pointed out the splendid consequences that would result 
generally from institutions of this kind, so may we hope that the 
new visions which are opening before us may be productive of 
still greater effects than have yet been beheld; and that the 
bringing together the cultivators of science from the North and 
the South, the East and the West, may fulfil all the anticipations 
of one of the greatest minds that ever threw glory on our intel¬ 
lectual nature.’ 
“ I have now laid before this Meeting the reasons for which 
I think it would be expedient to form a national Association, 
having for its first object to give a stronger impulse and more 
systematic direction to scientific inquiry. On the remaining ob¬ 
jects which I have before mentioned, it is not necessary for me 
to enlarge much. It is not necessary to recommend the promo¬ 
tion of a more general intercourse among the cultivators of sci¬ 
ence, to those who have come in many instances from a great 
distance expressly to enjoy the gratification of meeting men of 
kindred minds and congenial pursuits. I shall content myself 
with remarking, that nothing can be better calculated to prevent 
those interferences, and reconcile those jealousies which some¬ 
times disturb the peace of philosophy, than the mutual intel¬ 
ligence and amicable communion of such a Meeting as this. 
“ On the grounds which subsist for seeking to obtain a greater 
degree of national attention to the objects of science, I have 
little to add to what the Chairman has said. In confirmation of 
his remarks on the obstacles which some of our fiscal laws oppose 
to the progress of knowledge, I may adduce the recent experi¬ 
ence of this Museum. There is nothing more indispensable to 
the utility of such an Institution than a complete display of the 
specimens which it contains; and for that purpose, where the 
specimens are numerous, extensive glazing is required. Now 
there is a most serious impediment to this in the high price of 
glass, and of that price we find that two thirds consist in the 
duty paid to Government. So that more than one department of 
science is injured by this tax; the weight of the impost restrains 
the public exhibition of the objects of natural history; whilst the 
regulations of the Excise oppose an obstacle to the improvement 
