388 
JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
LEIBNITZ. 
SYLLABUS OF PAPER BY THE REV. PROFESSOR CHAPMAN, LL.D. 
(Read 2nd December, 1887.) 
His early days and great achievements in learning. His university 
career. His entrance on public life at Mayence and Hanover. 
His travels in Italy in search of materials of history. His visit 
to Paris and scheme for the French conquest of Egypt. His 
acquaintance with Newton and the Royal Society of London. 
The controversy respecting Newton's discovery of the differential 
calculus. The main principle of his philosophy. His doctrine of 
monads. What men, beasts, and all other things are. Pre- 
established harmony. The relation of Pope to his optimism. 
His views on the law of continuity. Conservation of energy. 
His anticipation of Darwin. His scheme for a universal language. 
General estimate of his position as a leader of thought. 
THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
RAILWAY SYSTEM IN ENGLAND. 
SYLLABUS OF PAPER BY E. NICOLLS. 
(Read 9th December, 1887.) 
Ancient roads, Macadam. Rails for mines and quarries. Steam 
power. First attempts to construct locomotive. Trevithick, the 
Cornishman. First railway. Difficulties from landowners. Mobs 
and Parliament. Rapacity of a Cornish landowner. The second 
railway. The battle of the gauges. Stephenson and Brunei. 
Failure of the Atmospheric. Formation and growth of companies. 
Gradual growth. Magnitude of undertakings. Railways as an 
investment. Do they payl Railway legislation. The clearing 
house. Effect on places. Not an unmixed good. Great railway 
men and works. The motive power of the future : Electricity or 
Steam 1 Safety of railway travelling. Railways necessary to 
civilization and commerce. Up to the present a magnificent boon. 
What of the future 1 Conclusion. 
