rizes without any knowledge of practical difficulties, that it is matter of surprise, that it should have been so long overlooked. The origin and history of Mechanics' Institutions was brought before you on the first opening of your own Institution, with so much fulness and accuracy, by the learned gentleman, who addressed you on that occasion, that I may well be spared any effort to retouch, what he has so faithfully delineated. Until the nineteenth century no one thought of a system of scientific instruction, much less of mutual instruction, for those, who were to be bred in the arts. These institutions began, as you know, under the auspices of Professor Anderson, at Glasgow, and so slowly worked their way into public favour, that ten years ago they were unknown in that city, which boasts herself the modern Athens, and seven years ago all the influence and reputation of Dr. Birkbeck were requisite to introduce them into the reluctant circles of London.

I look upon this as a new era in the history of science; and it may be safely predicted, that these establishments are destined hereafter to work more important changes in the structure of society, and in the improvement of the arts, than any single event, which has occurred since the invention of printing.

What I propose in the residue of this discourse is, to offer some considerations in vindication of this opinion, and also some considerations by way of encouragement to those, who, as mechanics and artizans, are incited to devote themselves to the pursuit of liberal science.

And in the first place I might remark, that genius and talent are limited to no rank or condition of life. They

have been distributed by the bounty of Providence, with an equal hand, through every class of society. They are among those gifts, which poverty cannot destroy, or wealth confer; which spring up in the midst of discouragements and difficulties, and like the power of steam, acquire new elasticity by pressure; which ripen in the silence of solitude, as well as in the crowded walks of society; which the cottage may nourish into a more healthy strength, than even the palace, or the throne. The most formidable enemy to genius is not labor, but indolence; want of interest, and excitement; want of motive to warm, and of object to accomplish; ignorance of means, leading to indifference to ends. Hence it is, that the very highest and the very lowest orders of society, often present the same mental phenomena—a fixed and languishing disease of the intellectual powers, where curiosity wastes itself in trifles, and a cold listlessness, brooding over the thoughts, lets fall a preternatural stupor. Their misfortune is that, so beautifully touched by the poet

"But knowledge to their eyes her ample page,

Rich with the spoils of time, did ne'er unroll."

I might remark in the next place, that the rewards of science are most ample, whether they be viewed in reference to personal enjoyment, to rank in society, or to substantial wealth.

It is one of the wise dispensations of Providence, that knowledge should not only confer power, but should also confer happiness. Every new attainment is a new source of pleasure; and thus the desire for it increases as fast as it is gratified. It not only widens the sphere of our

thoughts, but it elevates them, and thus gives them a livelier moral action. When one has seen an apple fall from a tree, and is told for the first time, that its fall is regulated by the law of gravitation, the simplicity of the truth may scarcely awaken his curiosity. When he is told, that the same law regulates the plumb line, and enables him unerringly to erect his house in the true perpendicular, he perceives, with pleasure, a new application of it. When he is further told, that there is a constantly increasing rapidity in every descending body by the same law, so that it falls in the second instant double the space it does in the first; and that the whole doctrine of projectiles, both in nature and art, depends upon it; that it governs the flow of rivers, and the fall of cataracts, and the gentle rains, and the gentler dews, and the invisible air; that it guides the motion of the water-mill, the aim of gunnery, and the operations of the steam-engine; he cannot but awaken to some emotions of admiration. But, when he has been taught, that the same law regulates the ebb and flow of the tide, the motions of the earth and the planets, and the sun, and the stars, and holds them in their orbits, and binds them in an eternally revolving harmony; that to this he owes the return of day and night, the changes of the seasons, seed-time and harvest, summer and winter; if he be any thing but a clod of the valley, how can he but exclaim, in wonder and amazement,

"These as they change, Almighty Father, these

Are but the varied God. The rolling year

Is full of thee."

What can tend more to exalt the dignity of our nature,

than the consideration, that the mind of man has not only been able to grasp and demonstrate this law, but to apply it to the solution of an infinite number of questions, apparently beyond the reach of his boldest efforts. He has been able to ascertain the motions and size of the whole planetary system; to calculate every perturbation arising from the constant but changeful influence of mutual gravitation; to ascertain the paths of comets; to calculate eclipses with unerring certainty, and to foretell the very minute, nay, the very instant, of occultation of the most distant satellites. He can thus read through the past, as well as the future, all the various states of the heavens for thousands of years. He has been able to apply this knowledge to the noblest purposes; and the mariner, by its aid, descries his home-port with the same ease on the dark bosom of the ocean, as he points it out from the little hill-top, that overlooks his native village.

If we pass from the contemplation of this sublime law of nature to others, which belong to animal or vegetable life, to those, which form and preserve the treasures of the earth, and of the sea, even down to those, which regulate the minutest particles of matter, the light of science will enable us every where to behold new and increasing wonders, and to remark the operations of infinite power, forever varied, and yet forever the same. It is impossible, that the mere perception of such laws should not afford pleasure to every rational mind. But when we further learn, that these very laws are made continually subservient to the use of man; that by the knowledge of them he is enabled to create power, and perfect mechanical

operations; that he can make the winds and the waves, the earth and the air, heat and cold, the ductile metals, and the solid rocks, the fragile flower, and the towering forest, minister to his wants, his refinements, and his enterprise, we are compelled to admit, that the capacity to trace back such effects to their causes, must elevate, and enlarge, and invigorate the understanding.

There is also real dignity, as well as delight, in such studies; and whenever they shall become the general accompaniment of mechanical employments, they must work a most beneficial change in the general structure of society. The arts of life are now so various and important, so intimately connected with national prosperity, and individual comfort, that for the future, a very large proportion of the population of every civilized country must be engaged in them. The time is not far distant, when the mechanic and manufacturing interest will form the great balancing power between the conflicting interests of commerce and agriculture, between the learned professions, and the mere proprietors of capital, between the day labourer, and the unoccupied men of ease. In proportion to the degree of the knowledge, which belongs to this collective interest, in proportion as its industry is combined with science, will be its influence on the well-being and safety of society. It is of the first importance, therefore, that education should here exert its most extensive power, and by elevating the morals, as well as stimulating the enterprise of artisans, give a triumph to intellect over mere physical force, and thus secure one of the most dangerous passes of social life against the irruptions of ignorance, and