The Sun.
London, England, 1824-01-21 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

PR9ORESS OP :KNOWLEDGE.

MR. Enrroa,—Thcipgh a mere stranger and
casual visitor here, yet I cannot help noticing a scene of the
most gratifying descriptionat ,which I happened wbe present
yesterday, and with some account of which I am sure the
Public should be informed as soon as possible.
Yon are aware of the frequent commercial intercourse that
prevails between Liverpool and the United States : this is not
however exclusively confined to commerce, as you will perceive
by the following facts :—Mr. Sheriff' Noah, of New York,
having acme time ago addressed a letter to Mr. Egerton Smith
of this town, giving him an account of the salutary effects pro-
duced by the establishment of mechanics' libraries in several
States of the Union, he determined to make a small collection
of bodits, and try the experiment here. The circum-
stance was scarcely known to the journeymen and appren-
tices of Liverpool, when numbers flocked to Mr. S., eagerly
soliciting the loan of books. A' room having been procured
and shelves put up, the number of volumes have in a
short time increased to more than three hundred volumes,
and the readers in an equal proportion ; till at length the ori-
ginal founder considered it as a matter of duty to invite his fel-
low citizens to assume the direction of an Institution that pro-
mises io exercise such an important influence on the working
classes. A requisition, signed by seventy of the most respectable
inhabitants, was accordingly presented to Mr. Lawrence, the
Mayor, last week, and a meeting being readily convened by
that patriotic Magistrate, not less than six hundred individuals,
of all sects and parties, assembled at the Town Hall yesterday
to discuss the propriety of forming a Committee of Manage-
ment, and adding the " Apprentices' Library" to the nu-
merous other public institutions that already adorn this place.
The business of the day having been opened by the Mayor,
Mr. Smith entered into a variety of interesting details relative
to the origin of the library, and on the effects it produced on
many who had been previously known to pass their time in
idleness anti dissipation. He was followed by Mr. Gladstone,
the Member for Woodstock, who expatiated at considerable
length on the great advantages to be derived from extending
the blessings of knowledge to the very lowest classes of the
community. A string ,of resolutions, of which I enclose
a copy, ( See our front
.Page ), were then put by different
Gentlemen, each being preceded by an expression of the
approbation with which they viewed the formation of such
an establishment. After hearing some excellent speeches
from the Reverend Mr. Philip, Messrs, Ottiwell, Wood,
W. S. Roscoe, Currie, Rushton, J. Smith, &c., Mr. J. S.

Walker, the Librarian pro-tempore, towards the conclu

sion an speech in which he seconded the sth resolution, pro.
ceeded to unrol a white silken banner, which had been lately
sent from the apprentices of New York to those of Liverpool
This flag bears the following mottos and designs, capitalli,
executed in oil colours, and said to be the work of a self-
taught mechanic of America. On the right of the fore
ground, a Lion is looking with an air of softness and
familiarity towards an eagle with expanded wings as if about
to soar, a lable hangs from its beak with the name of Rose on
inscribed on it. These appropriate symbols of the parent State
and her mighty daughter, are almost treading on an olive branch.
—Over their heads is an open volume encircled in a radiant
glory The name of NEwToN is seen on one side, and that
of FRANKLIN on the other. Under each of these revered
and venerated names, the artist has traced a circle and thunder-
bolt—emblematic of the particular walks of science in which
they attained immortality. On .a ribbon at the top of the ban-
ner is inscribed, in gilt letters, APFRENTIoEs' LIBRARY,
FOUNDED IN 1820; and underneath; also in letters of gold—
NEW YORK SENDS HEP. GOOD WISHES TO LrvvRPOOL.—

It would be difficult, if not impossible, to describe the effect
produced
say
it on
wasthe quitsspectators
trb Y this nov3l exhibition : I need
hardly
plaudits. The other fact stated by Mr. Walker is not less
worthy of record : it is, that the above offering, so honourable
to the American character, and n
so flattering to England, was
followed up by another equally illustrative of the delicacy
which has marked the whole of this memorable proceeding.—
Thirty volumes elegantly bound, the works of English writers
printed in the Union, were tent from the following cities:—
New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, and Connecticut,
with a request that they might be placed in the Apprentices'
Library of Liverpool.
I ought not to conclude without adding that the most perfect
unanimity prevailed throughout the day, and that each Resolu-
tion passed without a single dissentient voice being raised. I
will not apologize for having occupied so much of your time,
on a subject which presents such a delightful contrast to the
last thirty years of unnatural hostility and prejudice, the off-
spring of weakness and misconception, which it was reserved
for the progress of knowledge to dispel, let us hope, for ever
Leaving the advocates of the. Holy Alliance to meditate on
this new compact, founded, as it is, on virtue and disinterested.
ness, I remain, very respectfully and truly, your's,
Liverpool, Jan. r 7, 1824. E. B.
P.S. You will perceive by the Resolutions how the Meeting
ended. I understand that one of the first objects of the Com-
mittee, after the Rules of the new Institution are prepared, will
be to send a reciprocal proof of friendship and good-will to our
brethren of the United States. Should you give the above a
place in TnE Stni, I trust that the facts will be noticed by the
whole of your contemporaries.

DISEASES OF THE MIND.

We were a few months since favoured with

the perusal Of some remarks, upon this most interesting sub-
ject, which were privately osculated among the friends of the
writer,' with the view of chewing that the Medical Education
of this country fhowever excellentrwas defective, inasmuch as
in none of our schools was there to be found a Professorship
exclusively devoted to the consideration of the varied aberra-
tions of reason.

We are now happy to find by the Edinbarough Papers, that
a course of Lectures has already been commenced in that city by
Dr. A. Morison, who is said to have displayed an intimate and
minute acquaintance with the Nature ; the causes and the
cure of these diseases; and to have devoted his attention to
such cases, both in this country and in France, as well as in
various other parts of the Continent, and in treating of them to
have been influenced not by the wish of establishing any favou-
rite theory of his own, but by an anxiety to impress the im-
portance of the subject upon his hearers.
The paper we first altuded to was a proposal for establish-
ing a lectureship on diseases of the mind, the proposition was sup-
ported and encouraged by the highest medical authority, the late
Dr. Baillie, Sir H. flalford, and others ; and it has met with the
countenance of individuals (some in the highest station) who
consider philanthropic measures from purely benevolent feelings.
Deprived of reason to what a state is man reduced ? he is
not only estranged from all the pleasures of society, but too often
becomes a disturber of its tranquillity; to the very objects of his •
once fond affection he becomes dangerous, or at the least the
cause of the most alarming apprehension ; the painful feelings
• which arise from the only alternative cow seemingly left to
relatives, that of depriving the patient of his freedom, are view_
ed domestically dreadful and overpowering.
The afflicting forms under which this sad dispensation at
first appearsought unquestionably to be well understood by the
Medical profession generally ; they oughtto be so wellgrounded
in theory as atonce to discern the signs of approachinginsanity ;
none of our readers can require instances to be adduced to con-
vince them that in many cases suicide might be prevented, and
we venture to pronounce our own firm belief that by early and
due attention to the incipient stages of insanity, its further pro-
gress mightsometimes be arrested.
We are altogether unacquainted with the individual who has
pointed out this new path in the Profession of Medicine, and
undertaken to be the first guide ; but we most heartily
wish him success in theaccomplishment of his object, and have
no doubt of its resulting to the great benefit of mankind. •