THE 
SYDNEY MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
JUNE 15, 1857. 
INTRODUCTION. 
A distinguished American writer lias re¬ 
cently published his impressions of England 
and of the English character. After describ¬ 
ing, with great force and originality, the 
triumphs of science and industry he had 
witnessed, he sums up with the following 
expression, — “ These Saxons are the hands 
of mankind.” Every reflecting mind must 
perceive that the English nation has become 
the power it now is, more by the genius of 
its Newtons, Watts, Arkwrights, and Ste¬ 
phensons, than by the splendour of its 
military career, or the purer glories of its 
literary heroes. 
The belief that the “ passion for utility” 
is inherent in the British race wherever it 
is located, promises that the Periodical here¬ 
with commenced cannot fail to enjoy a wide 
field of usefulness. With this view, we offer 
it to the acceptance of our fellow colonists. 
YVe are not sanguine enough to antici¬ 
pate a very extended circulation, for our 
pages will not be graced with the charms 
of fiction, and the hard materiality of 
our aims will not admit the thrilling 
strains of the poet’s muse. YVe shall, how¬ 
ever, esteem ourselves rewarded, if the 
information from time to time conveyed in 
these columns shall be the means of amelio¬ 
rating the condition, or adding to the com¬ 
fort, of any of our readers. 
Science is continually conferring fresh 
boons upon mankind. By her aid a Jenner 
snatches thousands of his fellow creatures an¬ 
nually from premature death or dreadful dis¬ 
figurement ; a Davy enables the miner to 
traverse the bowels of the earth in safety ; a 
Wheatstone flashes intelligence with the speed 
of lightning to the uttermost ends of the earth ; 
a Daguerre forces the sun himself to depict 
the visible face of nature ; a Simpson ban¬ 
ishes pain from the agonized patient, while 
undergoing the severest operations. It is 
■also by the aid of science that the agricul¬ 
turist charms the earth into granting a ten¬ 
fold increase to his toil, and the soil of Aus¬ 
tralia, which for ages yielded onlv a bare 
No. 1. 
and wretched subsistence to a few scattered 
savages, now teems with the orange, the 
grape, the peach, and the golden grain of 
wheat. 
No one imagines that the stores of sci¬ 
ence are exhausted; our aim will he to 
explore her treasury, and to record the 
achievements of those master minds that are 
daily compelling her to yield up her secrets 
for the benefit of the human race. In this 
pursuit, we believe we may do no small ser¬ 
vice to the community. 
Here, where the hands are so few, and 
the work to he done is so vast,, there is 
especial need for all the assistance that 
science can afford. The country groans 
at the present time for an engineer that 
can solve the difficult problem of inter¬ 
nal communication,—the auriferous rocks 
of the interior wait the advent of a chemist 
who shall break open the locks of their rich 
treasure house,—thousands of acres of fine 
land that are now abandoned to the forest, 
thirst for artificial irrigation, and the agri¬ 
culturist rendered almost helpless, by the 
deficiency, and the high price of labour, 
looks earnestly for the iron hands and sinews 
of machinery, that shall plough his land, 
sow his seed, and gather in his harvest. 
From the prospectus that has appeared, 
our readers will learn that these pages will 
contain a regular report of the proceedings 
of the Horticultural and Agricultural Society, 
and of the Philosophical Society of New 
South YY T ales. These reports will he fur¬ 
nished by the officials of the respective 
societies, and may, therefore, he relied upon 
as authentic. In the first few numbers we 
shall be obliged, in order to include the past 
proceedings of these societies, to re-print 
some papers that have already appeared in 
the daily journals. They will now, how¬ 
ever, appear in a form more convenient for 
reference, and will assume the shape of a 
complete and permanent record of their 
operations. On the members of each asso¬ 
ciation the publisher relies for support, and 
and generally on those intelligent minds 
that are capable of appreciating the impor¬ 
tance and the utility of scientific enquiry. 
