The Express.
London, England, 1849-09-14 00:00:00

rO OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.

BIZMUICINAM, TIIIIISDAT.
Last evening, the fat general meeting was held at
the Town-hall, the Kamp& se Northampton, the retiring
presideut, in the chair. Tao SUMULLINO was tolerably

aanierous.
The noble CHAIRMAN dawned a brief bat ropetrtee
address in wedging IN.the chair of the aad
latreduced his eatteeerar, Professor Robinson, who was
reseal with mush applause, and proseried to deliver
am
es Ann a few introductory remarks,
the peeweded to remark that the tees
wiekh be called upoa to All had been
Mimeo osengisd by men who bad sassed a distine.
Sea either is the senate or the field; by men
eeieatide acquireensats were venially regarded as the
stare sad pada. of a nation's career is its program to the
•trainment of iatelketaal meioses ; and he felt that meg
he welshed with sash man how mud he would be heed
mat*. Salt that thiamodation over whisk he led
been Galled to preside was asst ealy the means of
into a focus all the stars et the intellectual sky bsf fist [t
was a means of inciting a whole patios to .kin prometiog
t
the great objects in view ; and he teamed that be
ltla
sesame to himself the rumens of saillakat seal ia
efforts to carry out Shoes reit foe wheels the esseeistiser
had been originally emtbisheaL Assolatisas et its kind had
beset called into existent.. by the changing *set of the
world ; they showed that nes had at lenith became essaihis
that the power in oilstones for promoting the ad-
mammal of 1161111011 was isadequata to its week;
this wee a step In the right direction ; the pia-
ci* had beat clearly reeogaised that science maid oily
be Grimaced by the aid of civilisation. The power si einetria-
tion was admitted is all that related to thwarts, mangle terse,
and politics—what was there, therefore, new la appi
to acmes ? Plotkin was required but • peeper
of its 'Macy. Ash he would take leave to observe that
although physical mime. was of very recent aright, phylail
knowledge wee of a wry Aslant date • Immeadme it
for the power gave them weer fie the
beauties it devideped. The limed professor peeeettlekto
dimmer.. as the het of beer mach the 'isolate of sesecut-
Sou had bees was*, from the earliest times; how the vary-
' lag spirit towed.!A pervaded the Mei*. of the votaries
of as towed ea* ether had asomked to proems that
Woe which ws. anseekl dee amigiete development
of science. Hader diet punishes !dames astroaosay
case stralop, elfarafatry alebeah sad satire' thffetrophy
magic ;so fled slop seisms kr 88 eateries. the
*hilt
period the flail Ohm= Welke felleer, the sole defect
being the want et beass%Apes @isolation. At leagtk this
principle was revealed. The philosophers of Europe 1=
show themselves worthy of their aame—lovers of
not of mail. They were found memmicating knowledge
to each other, salmi each other for aid, each feariog osly
lest he Weald be forestalled in successfal research.
Cadet this new spent the was rapid indeed. In
the lath amatory, and that w followed it, the additions
made to our seleatille knowledge were more than tenfold that
which had ever preceded it. But though so much was
effected in this, the first epoch in the action of association, a
further development of the peinciplas became necessary ; the
age to which he had refund was succeeded by the ego of
philosophical societies, and still were the results additioaally
importaat. Their organisation—their numbers—gave them
a permanent power of action ; their pecuniary resources
enabled them to prosecute inquiries farther than they had
ever bees extended before ; still more rapid, therefore, was
the progress made under this phase of association. (Applause.)
Amongst other great howls—the greatest given to the
world, was that of the principle of publishing transactions;
Rader ordinary circumstances many of them would never
otherwise have bond publicity; others would have been
entirely neglected by the au. hors themselves. This began
with Newt.. ; he stood alone. AU alter kin was light and
distinct; all before him Oarless., and twilight. The socie-
ties ultimately became, with the advancing spirit and de-
meads of the age, unladen's% ; to some extent, instead of
serving slimes, they retarded it. They were to a certain
extent of an exclusive diameter, when ace room in Losdos
would contain ail the lovers of ;clines that that metropolis
afforded. And there were more escietles la existence for
the promotion of seisms than there were devoted to its
study at the close of the last century ; there might have been
toe, some tendency to set up an aristocracy of science, but
senses was of all others one of those things in the world
that did not admit an aristocracy oily within its reach. For
his pert, he (Professor Robinson) had established auxiliary
societies wherever kis voice was listened to or his influence
reached, althoogh he agreed in the principle that to split up
the associatioes in each way that each studied only ass
branch of science was a slap in the wrong direction. The
Roy al Society, at the outset, merely collected facts, and that,
too, without much discretion; but as facts accumulated it
became even more important to compare than to eeriest:
ultimately, and after various change., and, as seemed,
were consideratioe, they had fallen into the right path
in the establishment of this association. interfering
with no other, bat seeking to identify themselves
with all as nun se possible they admitted the
eitanaaniesat of philosophical traaactions to other amocia-
less to this association as a matter of right. Toe learned
Mimic dilated at some length en this topic, and this want
ao Is remark that the bandits of this association had now
aims to be very generally recap
_bed; its catholicity would
alwa in admitted, kr they had Moiled ladies as their
and in that they had dose .well, for, without
amok* of Kn. Booneville and others,_he Gould name ladies
jimentie diet hall who might pat an F.R.S. to shame, and
who ewes moreover, known to poems ell -the attribmes
whim it Rued them to discharge their household duties. He
hoped that a stimulus would new be gives to all such as were
to enter upon Monti& stokes, and that in
:Zillitterpries they would add to the glory and
CZof their oestatry. (Appisue.) This associatioa
lexiseed for 18 yeses, andhe thought with tavern-
hie mere ; it we. true that it might cosesionally have hit
the asses of those currents which sometimes interfere with
pioilty, but it meet be berm ia mind that it occurred
that mp
their pies. of imolai was sot at all tines so attractive,
ner so wry el_ ease s as others, although it might
features abundantly attractive fee a visit; fartisdliel
believe, that in the 18 years of their mistime, they had
sever failed to make seek additions alas gem tfilm •
claim ea posterity. (Applause.) A put of what
they had effected appeared is the volumes they bad pub-
lished ; the results of their labours were perceptibly felt,
although sot immediately visible. Befseriar to astro-
nomy, his owls especial study, the learned professor
said that the British A•mciatica, In this branch
of its Moan had endeaveared set to attract
popular applause, bat preferred to be usefal; sad he
entered into slants details of the means by whisk greet
discoveries had bees made la asemsamical Meuse, aye
with respect to the matron sad diseases of pertieular stem
In ore particular the association hod been the mesas of re-
ducing. the labour_of the envenom's. from sae to
boar
two minutes, sad that, too, with Menace to 8,400 /tank
rad kr meatiosed other sisessedhl emd valuable results o 4
the ramteltes made ea the pest of the eisseelatics. As a
Particular teatime he IMO sate sakes Swear, wipe*"
the theory of tides, widek Logien hid demelbell as olueiff
ibe meet them of mums, whisk (mid Palm.
Rehiessui has been dimmed at w egiemr, and the dude.
aem whisk before memeed it her leiselmagevelitie=
He might wet" teu, Mr. Sae ihresibyre
iutio tke modem of the waves, balk* an
teal: of thought ea the Isom. sad reasee of shies,
m likely, looking at the keit* Mate of areltitecture, to
lead to most advantageous malts. These hivestdis have
bees made at a scot of 1,0001. ; Ice SwiglB yens
of ft* existence, the emaaiatios had elopesase revs of
16,0001. in numerous scientific inquiries,
with as amount of
labour which could sot he too highly prised, and with mast
valuable results. Their reports might be regarded in the
light of the stock of the intellectual wealth of the coonnf-
They showed how mock In science had been realise&
how mach me elesablal, and hew mush was wanting. They
ezhibieed to the weld Chaos reduced to eeder,—Truta
sifted hem Irrer,—tegether with a mess of Wormed=
plated is the basket the Madan which be could not obtain
mesa he is the best libraries of the metropolis. The
meesiallsa had flourWied la every way, and abundantly
the ideas of Its founders ; it had been the means
if lies_ viol *ether the philosophers of this Gauntry with
their brollies abroad, aad had given a systematic dinette.*
to the parfait of Mem& Ater adverting
to the stimuli.
sehleerimesesef some ef our greatestphikeraphers, Dr. Robin-
sea presseded to remark that to mu, to know, and to
reveres.. each men, as it harmonised with the optical feel-
fags of 411111111tIlle, SO it must kepi of the idlest incentives
tee.iikew theft example. The tof a science had be
shi a great undo* to soften down the Asperities of life,
sad then who meet participated ia its deliiihts were most
sensible to ies bemire-Aso influeses ;it mide too • man
know hinnelf. Whoever entertained a feeling of ea rail-
skency at his own soloiresesnts had only to attend their
marnage, be wohld And otaay equal to and many superior
to him those acauiressents of which he was most vain.
Having
pre
id upon • great variety of general topics,
the learned preeident proceeded to remark that no where
in the world had seisms been less valued than it had been
here, althoegh sowlserie in the orld lad wash
realties been paid kir oar Jeanine ofw it : he remarked