The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-11-20 00:00:00

-REV:. FRANCIS BISHOP'S LECTURE AT THE

TUCKERMAN INSTITUTE,

Last night, the Rev. Francis Bishop, formerly minister
to the poor of the Liverpool Tuckerman Institute, delivered
a lecture, by invitation, In the hall of that institution.
There was a very' considerable attendance, notwithstanding
the state of the weather. The chair was taken by Mr.
Jones, one of the ministers to the poor connected with the
institute. The Rev. Mr. Bishop, on entering the toom,
was received with cordial applause by the assemblage to
whom his presence was for many years so familiar and
endeared. The Chairman briefly introduced the subject of
the lecture,which was " The Moon." Rev. Mr. Bishop then,
before proceeding, stated that the lecture was not his own pro-
duction, but the compOFition of a scientific man, a clergyman
of the Established Church, by whose permission he was
about to read it in Manche§ er as well as in Liverpool,
believing the lecture peculiarly fitted to instruct the,
audience of such institutions as the Tuckerman Institute.
The lecture which the Rev. Mr. Bishop read, was a com-
prehensive and intelligible survey of the subject, divided,
after an introductory description of the primary planets,
into two leading portions—the appearance and position of
the moon, as seen by an inhabitant of the earth ; and the
actual shape and aspect which the moon presents herself,
realised by means of the recent telescopic discoveries.
The principal features of the lecture were illustrated by
illuminated diagrams, which Mr. Bishop explained. On
the question of the moon's beitr, inhabited or not, the
vriior held that it could not indeed be decided by observe-
ion that the moon is inhabited, but neither was there any
sive evidence to the contrary. It did not follow that it
ed because it was not possible that beings of
our constructian could live there; nor, if it were now
uninhabited, did it follow that it was not once peopled, or
that it was not in process of preparation for life as the earth
once must have been. The proceedings were closed with a
vote of thanks to Mr. Bishop, moved by Mr. Wilson, which
was carried by enthusiastic acclamation, to which Mr.
Bishop made a brief, but feeling reply ; and, at Mr.
Bishop's suggestion, a similar vote of thanks to the author
of the lecture.

was uninhabit

THE NEW MUSEUM OF APPLIED SCIENCE.

We have had an opportunity of inspecting, by a pri-
vate view, the newly.arranged Museum of Applied
Science in connection with the Royal Institution, previous
to its public opening. The design of this collection is
stated by its directors to be—" to illustrate, as far as
practicable, the commercial history of plants, by speci-
mens showing the peculiarities of structure and examples
of useful application." Accordingly, the Museum em-
braces such specimens of animal, vegetable, and fossil
substances as enter properly into applied science. The
arrangement of the collection, which is, considering its
peculiar character, an extensive one, has been conducted
by Mr• Archer, the honorary secretary, to whose judg-
ment and scientific knowledge it does very high honour.
The value of the arrangement applies equally to the
commercial man as to the lover of scienee for its own
sake, and must, in a district like this, have a peculiar
value as a standard or test of such commercial articles
as come within the range of the specimens comprehended
in the collection. Viewed in its purely scientific light,
the museum must be considered an acquisition to the
student of no ordinary value ; and looked at, from a lower

point, as regards the gratification as well as instruction
it must afford to the mere amateur, the foundation of
this institution becomes a fact of no slight public

importance

Limited as its extent necessarily

is, as regards merely the space it covers, it
is a collection which must be carefully awl
patiently inspected before any approximation can be
obtained in the mind, either of its peculiar value, or of
the care and agility which have been displayed in its

arrangement. Such a scrutiny our time did not enable

us to give, and we canult therefore enter into anything
line a detailed description, even of its principal features.
The collection comprehends specimens under all their
different processes—of cotton wools, cotton, and flax ;of
dyewoods, oils, gums, and barks; of the cocoa berry,
from which we have cocoa end chocolate;- tobaccoes,
medicines, perfumes, gelatme, gutta percha, the different
kinds of the mulberry, the breadfruit, the yam, the
plantain, the pine apple, the palm, ebony, tallows,
canes and grasses, Indian mattings, silic•working,
and a vast number of other specimens, which we
cannot. even thus, passingly notice. It may be
added, that the specimens are not huddled together, as
is too often the case in such collections--as unfortunately

Every specimen in this collection is so laid out,
that it can be as minutely inspected, as if it formed the
only feature to be looked upon.