The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-24 00:00:00

HANWELL COLLEGE SCHOOL, MIDDLE-
SEX. MICHAELMAS TERM, OCTOBER 4th. 1

BOARD AND RESIDENCE. A Superior
Home is offered to a Gentleman of steady habits, en-
gaged during the day, by a family residing near Regent's-
Park. For a young man coming to London for the first time
this would be found a desirable residence. Terms moderate.
References to be exchan,sed. Address, J. P., Wright's
Dairy, Granby-street, Hampstead-road, N.W.

GLENYIELD PATENT STARCH,
USED IN THE ROYAL LAUNDRY,
Alin PRONOUNCED BY nEn MAJESTY'S LAUNDRESS to be
THE FINEST STARCH SHE EVER USED.
Sold by all Chandlers, Grocers, &c., &c.

GEORGE HOBSON begs to call the attention
of Gentlemen to his New Autumnal Trousers, 21s. to
255. Also his New Partridge Mixture Shooting coats.
Excellence u:th Economy.
GEORGE HOBSON, 57, Lombard-street.
Established 1796. '

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.-
WINDSOR and back for 2s. 6d., froni Paddington.—
Week days at 8.45 and 10.30 a.m.. returning at 6.35 and 8.5
p.m. On Sundays, from Paddington at 9, a.m., returning at
7 p.m. TaplOw and back, on Sundays, fe.ir 2s. d., from Pad-
dington at 9 a.m., returning at 6.57 p.4n. Henley and back
for 35., from Paddington, at 9 a.m., returning. at 8.55 p.m.

.GREAT WEST-ERN RAILWAY.
CHEAP EXCURSION to Oxford, Banbury, Leaming-
ton, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Arewsbury, Llangollen
Road,Chester, Birkenhead, and Liverpool, &c., front Padding-
ton, on MONDAY, September 27, at 7 a.m., returning on Satur-
day, the 2d of October, from Liverpool (Landing Stage) at
8.30 a.m., and intermediate stations as per handbills. Fares
—Oxford, tis. 6d. and 4s. ; Banbury, 88. and ss. ; Leamington
or Warwick, 10s. 6d. and 6s. ; Birmingham, 12s. and 7s. ;
Westbromwich, Wednesbury, or Bilston, 12s. Od. and 7s. 6d. ;
-Wolverhampton, 13s. and Ss. ; Wellington or Shrewsbury,l7s.
and 10s. ; Llangollen Road or Chester, 18s. 6d. and lls. ; Bir-
kenhead-or Liverpool, 21s. andlls. children under 12, half-
price.

ROME AND FRASCATI RAILWAY.
COMPANY.
The Half-year's Interest on the Bonds of this Company,
Nos. 1 to 120, due on. the 22d 'of September and Ist of Ocxber,
MS, will be paid at the Agency of the Banque Generale
Suisse, 2, Royal Exchange Buildings ; or at the Succursale of
the same Bank, 30, Rue Louis le Grand, Paris.
By Order, F. FRIELIGRATH,
Manager of the London Agency of
the Banque Generale Suisse.

LONDON & NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.
CHEAP EXCURSION between LONDON and HUD-
DERSFIELD, MANCHESTER, and LIVERPOOL.
TO LONDON, ON SATURDAY, SEPT. 25. -
FARES.
A.M. Ist Class. 2d Class.
Batley depart 930
Dewsbury „ 9 35
Huddersfield
Marsden „ 10 10
Greenfield
Staley Bridge „ 10 40
Manchester
Stockport - - „ 11 0
' Liverpool
Warrington
London- (Euston Station)
arrive about .... ....... .. 445
Returning Wednesday, Sept. 29th, at 9.30 a.in., from Euston
Station.

FROM LONDON ON SATURDAY, OCT. 2.
.
London (Euston Station) A.M.
depart 9.30, FAIIES.
p.m. Ist class. 2d class
Warrington arrive 3.90
Liverpool
Stockport ,i 3.90
;/ice _.

„
Manchester
1, 2os. 10s.
Staley Bridge .... „ 3.45
Greenfield
Marsden ll 4.15
Huddersfield . „ 4.30
Dewsbury
Battey
, 9 5.0
Returning on Wednesday, Oct. 6th, at the same time as Up
;rain of 25th.

Bills and particulars may be had at- the Company's offices,
or of Mr. Marcus, Crosby-hall-chambers, Bishopsgate-street,
City.

By order.
MARK HUISII, General Manager.
London, Euston-station, Sept. 22,1858.

had declined during his tenure of office ; but such
a supposition would have been disproved by the
valuable and important reports which had been
presented to the general committee. (Hear, hear.)
It only remained for him to return thanks for the
kind consideration which he had received from
the present officers of the association, as well
as from every member with whom it was his duty
to -,!o-operate, and to resign the chair to one whose
name would add lustre even to the British Associa-
tion, and whose high talents would no doubt be de-
voted to the advancement of its interests, and to the
promotion of the objects for which it was founded.
Professor OWEN, who was received with loud
applause, then proceeded to read his inaugural ad-
dress, a very prolix document, which occupied full
three hours in its delivery. He commenced by say-
ing,—We are here met, in this 0117 28th annual as-
sembly, having accepted, for the present year, the
invitation of the flourishing town and firin seat of
British manufacturing energy, Leeds, to continue
the aim of the Association, which is the promotion
of science, or the knowledge of the laws of nature ;
whereby we acquire a dominion over nature, and
are thereby able so to apply her powers as to ad-
vance the wellbeing of society and exalt the condi JJJ
-
tion of mankind. It is no light matter, therefore,
the work that' we are here assembled to do. God
has given to man a capacity to discover and compre-
hend the laws by which His universe is governed ;
and man is impelled by a healthy and natural im-
pulse to exercise the faculties by which that know-
ledge can be acquired. Agreeably with the relations
which have been illstituted between our finite facul-
ties and the phenomena that affect them, we arrive
at demonstrations and convictions which are the
most certain that our present state of being can
have or act upon. Nor let any one, against whose
prepossessions a scientific truth may jar, confound
such demonstrations with the speculative philoso-
phies condemned by the' apostle,---ascribe to arro-
gant intellect soaring to regions of forbidden mys-
teries the acquisition of such truths as have been
or may be established by patent and inductive re-
search. Fin. the most part the discoverer has been
so placed by. circumstances, rather than by prede-
termined choice, as to have his work of investiga-
tion allotted to him as his daily duty, in the ful-
filment of which he is brought face to face with
phenomena into which he must inquire, and the re•
salt of that inquiry he must faithfully impart. The
progress of natural as of moral truth has been and
is progressive ; but it has pleased the author of all
truth to vary the fashion of the imparting of such
parcels thereof as he has allotted, from time to time,
for the behoof and guidance of mankind. Those
who are privileged with the faculties of discovery
are therefore to be regarded as pre-ordained instru-
ments in making known the power of God, with-
out a knowledge of which, as well as of Scripture,
we are told that we shall err. Great and marvellous
have been the manifestations of this power im-
parted to us of late 'years, not only in respect of the
shape, motions, and solar relations of the earth,
but also of its age and its inhabitants. In regard
to the period during. which the globe allotted to
man has revolved in its orbit, present evidence
strains the mind to grasp such sum of past time
with an effort like that by which it tries to realise
the space dividing that orbit from the fixed stars
and remoter nebulie. Yet, during all those writs
that have passed since the Cambrian rocks were
deposited which bear the impressed record of crea-
tive power, as it was then manifested, we know,
through the interpreters of these " writings on
stone," that the earth was vivified by the sun's
light and heat, was fertilised by refreshing
showers, and -washed by tidal waves. No stagna-
tion has been permitted to air or ocean. The vast
body of waters not only moved, as a whole, in or-
derly oscillations, regulated, as now, by sun and
moon, but were rippled and agitated by winds and
storms. The atmosphere was healthily influenced
by its horizontal currents, and by ever-varying
clouds and vapours, rising, condensing, dissolving,
and falling in endless vertical circulation. With
these conditions of life, we know that life itself has
been enjoyed throughout the same countless thou-
sands of years; and that with life, from the begin-
ning, there has been death. The earliest testimony
of a living thing, whether shell, crust, or coral, in
the oldest fossiliferous rock, is at the same time
proof that it died. At no period has the gift of life
been monopolised by a few contemporary
lndlvl-
duals through a stagnant sameness of untold time ;
but it has been handed over from generation to
generation, and suceessfullyenjoycd by the myriads
that constitute the species. And herein we discern
the greater beneficence and wisdom; that through
death, whether sudden or preceded by a brief
decay, the individual enjoys the various phases of
life—healthy, assimilative growth, active youth,
and vigorous maturity, with the procreative facul-
ties and instincts to boot—and as life rises in the
scale, even to the present highest form, foreknow-
ing of his end, death is still the condition on which
are enjoyed man's purest pleasures--the reveren-
tial love of parents—the holy affections of wedlock
—the fond yearning towards offspring. (Applause.)
It has further been given us to know, that not only
the individual but the species perishes ; that as
death is balanced by generation, so extinction has
been concomitant with creative power, which has
continued to provide a succession of species ; and
furthermore, that as regards the varying forms of
life which this planet hath witnessed, there has been
"an advance and- progress in the main," Gosology
demonstrates that the creative force has not.
deserted this earth during any of her epochs of
time ; and that in respect to no one class of
animals has the manifestation of that force been
limited to one epoch. Not a fish that now lives but
has come into being during a comparatively recent
period ; the existing species were preceded by
other species, and these again by others still more
different from the present. No existing genus of
fishes can be traced beyond a moiety of known
creative time. So the creation of every class of
animals, reptiles, birds, or beasts, has been succes-
sive and continuous, from the earliest times at
which we have evidence of their existence ; crea-
tion ever compensating for extinction. Such is a
brief summary of facts most nearly interesting us
which have been demonstratively made known re-
specting our earth and its inhabitants ; and when
we reflect at how late and in how brief a period of
historical time the acquisition of such knowledge
has been permitted, we must feel that, vast as it
seems, it may be but a very small part of the patri-
mony of truth destined for the possession of future
generations. The President observed that review-
ing the proceedings, aims, and objects of the British
Association during the last 27 years was like rea-
lising the grand philosophical dream or pre-figura-
tive vision of Francis Bacon, recounted in his " New
Atlantes," in which, for instance, certain, members
of the " six days' college" were deputed as " mer-
chants of light," to make " circuits or visits of divers
principal cities of the kingdom." The observa-
tories, Royal and other scientific societies, British
Museum, 2oological, Botanical, and Horticultural-
gardens, now combine to realise what Bacon fore-
saw in distant perspective. The universal law of
gravitation, the circulation of the blood, the analo-
gous course of the magnetic influence, the develop-
ment and progress of chemistry, geology, and
palaeontology ; the invention and practical appli-
cation of gas, the steam-engine, photography,
telegraphy—such, in the few centuries since Bacon
wrote, have been the rewards of the faithful
followers of his rules of research. Dr. Owen
then commenced his survey of the recent progress
in the various kingdoms of science, with astro-
nomy and the physical sciences, touching suc-
cessfully on the laws of motion, gravitation,
and light ; and he observed that in Bacon's time
some of the natural sciences had not germinated.
Chymistry was then alchymy ; geology and palmon-
tology were undreamt of ; while magnetism and
electricity had begun to be observed, and their
phenomena comprehended and defined. About a
century later the phenomena of repulsion as well
as of attraction of lightbodies by electric substances
were noticed; and Dufay in 1733 enunciated the
principle that " electric bodies attract all those
that are not so, and repel them as soon as they are
become electric by the vicinity of the electric body."
(Applause.) Passing on to the discoveries of elec-
tricity and mao:netism and the progress of the know-
l.:‘ 4t of their operations and law, lie said_m,s,
estimable predecessor adverted last year to the fact
that it was in the committee rooms of the British
Association that the first step was taken towards
that great magnetic organisation which has since
borne so much fruit. Thereby it has been deter-
mined that there are periodical changes of the mag-
netic elements depending on the hour of the day, the 1
season of the year, and on intervals of about ten
years. Also, that besides these regular changes
there were others of a more abrupt and seemingly
irregular character Humboldt's " magnetic
storms"—which occur simultaneously at distant
parts of the earth's surface. M ijor-General Sabine,
than whom no one has done more in this field of
research since Halley first attempted "to explain
the change in the variation of the magnetic needle,"
has proved that the magnetic storms also observe
diurnal, annual-and undecennial periods; But with
whit phase or phenomenon of earthly or heavenly
bodies, it may be asked, has the magnetic period of

ICJ years to do ? The coincidence which points to,
if it does not give, the answer, is one of the most
remarkable, unexpected, and encouraging to patient
observers. For 30 years a German astronomer,
Schwabe", had set himself the task of daily observing
and recording the appearance of the sun's disc ; in
which time he found that the spots passed through
periodic phases of increase and decrease, the length
of the period being about 10 years. A comparison
of the independent evidence of the astronomer and
magnetic observer has shown that the decennial
magnetic period coincides both in its duration and
in its epochs of maximum and minimum with the
same period observed in the solar spots. After re-
ferring to some further steps in this science, Pro-
fessor Owen said that the generalisation was estab-
lished, and with a rapidity unexampled, regard
being. had to its greatness, that magnetism and
electricity are but different effects of one common
cause.- This has proved the first 'step to still grander
abstractions, to that which conceives the reduction
of all the species of imponderable fluids of the che-
mistry of our student days, together with gravita-
tion, chemicity, and neuricity, to interchangeable
modes of action of one and the same all-pervading
life-essence. Referring to the experiments of Gal-
vani and Volta, and- what had subsequently been
done in the same line, the Professor continued—
From the present state of neuro-electricity, it may
be concliided that nerve force is not identical with
clectric.force, but that it may be an:4ll-r mod,, of
motion .of the same common force; it- is certainly a
polar force, and, perhaps, the highest form of polar
force :
" A motion which may change, but cannot die
An image of some bright eternity."
(Applause.) The learned Professor next proceeded
to speak of chemistry, and observed that the present
tendency of the higher generalisations of chemistry
seems to be towards a reduction of the number of
those bodies which are called " elementary ;" it
begins to be almost more than suspected that certain
group,s of so-called chemical elements are but modi-
fied forms of one another. Already natural pro-
cesses can be more economically replaced by artifi-
cial ones in the formation of a few organic com-
pounds, the " valerianic acid," for example. It is
impossible to foresee to what extent chemistry may
not ultimately, in the production of things needful,
supersede the present vital agencies of nature " by
laying under contribution the accumulated forces of
past ages, which would thus enable us to obtain in
a small manufactory, and in a few days, effects
which can be realised from present natural agencies
only when they are exerted upon vast areas of land,
and through considerable periods of time." (Ap-
plause.) Since Niepce, Herschell, Fox, Talbot,
and Daguerre founded photography, year by year
some improvement is made—some advance achieved
in this most subtle application and combination in
photicity, electricity, chemistry, and magnetism.
Last year M. Poiteven's production of plates in re-
lief, for the purpose of engraving by the action of
light alone, was cited as the latest marvel of photo-
graphy. This year has witnessed photographic
printing in carboh by M. Pretschi. Professor Owen
continued by alluding to the application of photo-
graphy for obtaining views of the moon, of the
planets, of scientific and other phenomena. After
referring to the discoveries in electro-magnetism the
lecturer continued—Remote as such profound con-
ceptions and subtle trains of thought seem to be
from the needs of every-day life, the most astound-
ing of the practical augmentation of man's power
has sprung out of them. Nothing might seem less
promising of profit than Oersted's painfully pursued
experiments, with his little magnets, voltaic pile,
and bits of copper wire. Yet out of these has
sprung the electric telegraph ! Oersted himself
saw such an application of his convertibility of
electricity into magnetism' and made arrange-
ments for testing that application to the instanta-
neous communications of signs through distances of
a few miles. The resources of inventive genius
have made it practicable for all distances, as we
have lately seen in the submergence and working
of the electro-magnetic cord connecting the Old
and the New World of the geographers. (Applause.)
On the 6th of August, 1858, the laying down of
upwards of 2,000 nautical miles of the telegraphic
cord, connecting Newfoundland and Ireland, was
successfully completed ; and on that day a message
of 31 words was transmitted in 35 minutes along
sinuosities of the submerged hills and valleyaform-
ing the bed of the vast Atlantic. (Applalise.)"This
first message expressed " Glory to God in the
-.highest ; on earth peace, good-will towards men."
Never since the foundations of the world were laid
could be more truly said, " The depths of the
sea praise Him !" (Applause.) The practic-
ability of bringing America into electrical com-
munication with Europe has been demon-
strated ; consequently a like power of instantaneous
interchange of thought between the civilized
inhabitants of every part of the globe becomes, in
my opinion, only a question of time. The benefits
thence to ensue for the human race can be but ina-
dequately foreseen. Some results stand -out more
prominently than others. (Applause.) The strides
made in various branches of natural history were
next passed in review. Since Bacon's day the chief
steps by which natural history had advanced to the
dignity of a science are associated with the names
of Ray, Linnaeus, Jussieu, Buffon, and Cuvier. By
the first two the phenomena - were digested and
classified according to artificial, but conveniently
applicable methods—of necessity the precursors of
systems more expressive of the natural affinities of
plants and animals. To perfect the natural system
of plants has been the great aim of botanists since
Jussieu ; to obtain the same true insight into the
relations of animals has stimulated the labours of
zoologists since the writings of Cuvier. Three prin-
ciples (of the common ground of which we may
ultimately obtain a clearer insight) are now recog-
nised to have goVerned the construction of animals
—unity of plan, vegetative repetition, and fitness
for pm-pose. In maintenance of this proposition
the President took a wide range of illustration and
proofs from every class of living animal, and related
many interesting experiments tending to throw
light on the mysteries of organic life. The micro-
scope and microgcology were passed under notice ;
then the President glanced at the geographical dis-
tribution of plants, with respect to which the stun
of the relations rested, he said, on the assumption
that each species had been created but once in time
and space ; and that its diffusion was the result of
the law of reproduction influenced chiefly by tem-
perature and moisture. Botany, at this phase, be-
came intimately related to climatology. Observa-
tions on `the geographical distribution of indigenous
plants were generalised by •dividing the horizontal
range of vegetation into zones bounded by annual
isothermal lines ; by classifying plants according
to the regions of altitude; and by classifying them
by regions defined by the proportion of plants
species peculiar to them. The modes of enun-
ciating the laws of the geographical dis-
tribution of marine animals were very analogous
to those which had been applied to the vegetable
kingdom, which was as diversely developed on land
as was the animal kingdom in the sea. Certain
horizontal areas or provinces had been characterised
by the entire
,assemblage of animals and plants con-
stituting their population. The same physical con-
ditions were associated with a certain similarity be-
tween the animals of different provinces. A second
mode of expressing the ascertained facts of the geo-
graphical distribution of marine animals was by
tracts called " Homoizoic belts," bounded by cli-
matal lines. But the most interesting form of ex-
pression of the distribution of marine life was that
which paralleled the 'perpendicular distribution of
plants. Very much remained to be observed by
naturalists in different parts of the globe under the
guidance of these generalisations. The restrictive
laws of geographical distribution seemed least ap-
plicable to birds, yet, like the plants and marine
animals, they were similarly restricted. The laws
of geographical distribution, as affecting mamma-
lian life, had been reduced to great exactness by
observations continued since the time of Buffon.
The most important extension of this branch of
zoology had been due to recent researches and dis-
coveries of extinct species of the class mammalia.
The learned professor then proceeded to remark
upon the modifications of zoological ideas which
had been produced by palicontology. It would seem
that the deeper we penetrated into the earth, or, in
other wor&, the further we receded in time, the
more completely wei e we n:l3selved from the present
laws of geographical distribution. The considera-
tions arising from the modifications of geographical
distribution of particulor forms or groups of animals
warned us how inadequate must be the phenomena
connected with the present distribution of land and
sea to guide to the determination of the primary
ontological divisions of the earth's, surface. But
might they not, in aiming to define the primary
zoological province of the globe, be trenching upon
a province of knowledge beyond the present capaci-
ties ? After some observations on the probable causes
of the extinction of species, Professor Owen re-
marked that the aboriginal laws of geographical
distribution of plants and animals had been modi-
fied from of old by geological and climatal changes;
but they had been much more - disturbed by man
since his introduction upon the globe. The varieties
of mankind and their distribution was then consi-

dered. The practical results of the study of the ani-
mal kingdom in relation to sources of food and
beasts of traction and burden were then referred to,
and after some remarks on the great importance of
natural museums of natural history, he added—The
most elaborate and beautiful of created things,
those manifesting life, have much to teach—much
that comes home to the business of man, and also
to the highest elements of his moral nature. The
nation that gathers together thousands of corals,
shells, insects, fishes, birds,_ and beasts, and votes
the requisite funds for preparing, preserving, hous-
ing, and arranging them, derives the smallest pos-
sible return for the outlay by, merely gazing and
wondering at the manifold variety and strangeness
of such specimens of natural history. The simplest
coral and the meanest insect may have something
in its history worth knowing, and in some way
profitable. Every organism is a character in which
Divine wisdom is written, and which ought to be
expounded. (Applause.) Our present system of
opening the book of nature to the masses, as in the
galleries of the British Museum, without any pro-
vision for expounding her language, is akin to that
which keeps the Book of God sealed to the multi-
tude in a dead tongue. (Applause.) The learned
professor next went on to inculcate the importance
of a practical knowledge of sanitary science, and re-
ferred to the ignorance which had for so long pre-
vailed on all questions involved in such science, and
in t'l,‘ p 7111 re AKI: of this ignorance, presented
not only in large workshops and densely populated
towns, but in our naval and military arrangements,
as shown daring the Crimean campaign, especially
noticing the awful loss of life in the French army
at Varna and in the Dobrudscha. He referred to the
successful sanitary operations at Croydon and Ely,
and added—lt has been shown by the Sanitary-
Commissioners as a general,result that nearly one-
half the prevalent diseases are due to one or other
form of atmospheric impurity; impurity from
decomposing fecal or animal and vegetable
matter within and without human habitations and
beneath the sites of atmospheric impurity from over
crowding. For the prevention of the diseases aris-
ing from these causes the sanitary physician must
direct his requisitions, not to the apothecary, but to
professors of new arts which are only partially
created—the art of the sanitary architect and the
art of the sanitary engineer. The latter has already
officially shown how he may collect water from
natural and artificial springs, convey it into houses
unintermittingly fresh and without stagnation, and
by its means remove from houses, through self-
cleansing drains and self-cleansing sewers con-
stantly, and before noxious decompositions can com-
mence, all the fecal and waste animal and vegetablo
matter. In our time physicians have ably exerted
themselves in aid of the sanitary engineer and ad-
ministrator, but it is to the landlord—to the repre-
sentative landlords and owners of habitations—in
Parliament to whom exhortations are now required
to be addressed to raise their minds above " the
sordid considerations" of the expenses of cure, that
is, of the expenses of those sanitary works of com-
bined drainage and water which it is their province
to supply. (Applause.) Agriculture has of late
years made unusual progress in this country, and
much of that progress is due to the application of
scientific principles ; chiefly of those supplied by
chemistry ; in a less degree of zoology and physio-
logy. Geology now teaches the precise nature and
relations of soils—a knowledge of great practical
importance in guiding the drainer of land in the
modifications of his general rules of practice. Palm-
ontology has brought to light unexpected sources
of valuable manures, in phosphatic relics of ancient
animal life, accumulated in astounding masses in
certain localities of England, as, for instance, in
the red crag of Suffolk and the green sands of
Cambridge. But quantities of azetic, ammoniacal,
and phosphatic matters are still suffered to run
to waste; and, as if to bring the wastefulness
more home to the conviction, those products, so
valuable when rightly administered, become a
source of annoyance, unremunerative outlay,
and disease, when, as at present in most towns,
imperfectly and irrationally disposed of. (Ap-
plause.) For the most part, thought is taken
only how to get rid of these products in the easiest
and quickest way. The metropolitan authorities
have hitherto carried the chain of reasoning no
further. They have turned them into the Thames,
the receptacle nearest at hand ; but in so doing
have failed in their prime intention. The metro-
polis is not even rid of its excreta ; but they are
returned upon it and accumulated with increased
noxious and morbific power on the strands of the
valley that bisects it ; appealing, as is notorious,
summer after summer, to the very Legislature
itself, with unintermitting and importunate odours,
compelling the attention of the possessors of land
and houses to this important subject. (Applause.)
and here I would beg leave to remark that in the
operations of nature there is generally a succession
of processes co-ordinated for a given result ; a peach
is not directly developed as such from its elements;
the seed would, a priori, give no idea of the tree,
nor the tree of the flower, nor the fertilized germ
of that flower of the pulpy fruit in which the seed
is buried. It is eminently, characteristic of the
Creative wisdom, this far-seeing and provision of
an ultimate result, through the successive opera-
tions of a co-ordinate series of seemingly very dif-
ferent conditions. The further man discerns, in a
series of conditions, their co-ordination to produce
a given result the nearer does his wisdom approach
—though the distance be still immeasurable—to the
Divine wisdom. One philanthropist builds a fever-
hospital, another drains a town. One crime-pre-
venter trains the boy, another hangs the man. One
statesman would raise money by augmenting a
duty, or by a direct tax ; and finds the revenue not
increased in the expected ratio. Another dimi-
nishes a tax, or abolishes a duty, and through the
foreseen consequences the revenue is improved. The
latter is the wisestatesman. Quarantine exemplifies
only the first step in the progress of thought, bearing
on the prevention of a dreaded distemper. It is a
system which might keep out contraband goods or
uncertified strangers, but it is powerless against the
gaseous factors of plague, cholera, or yellow fever.
No country in Europe has suffered more from such
maladies than Naples or Portugal, where quaran-
tine regulations are most stringent. Science is
deeply concerned in one progressive step—the
uniformity of standard in measure and weight
throughout the civilised world ; in urging on
which step energetic and unwearied efforts are now
being made by a committee of our fellow labourers
of the Royal Society of Arts, among whom the
name of the prime promoter of this and kindred
reforms, Mr. James Yates, deserves special and
honourable mention. Chemistry is more concerned
in the uniform expression of the results of her deli-
cate balances among her cultivators of different
countries; natural history is no less interested in
the use by all observers of one and the same scale
for measuring, and of one set of terms for expres-
sing the superficial dimensions of her subjects. In
reference to the relations now subsisting between
the State and Science, my first duty is to express
our grateful sense of such measure of aid, co-opera-
tion, and countenance as has been allotted to
scientific bodies, enterprises, and discoveries,—
more especially to acknowledge how highly we
prize the sentiments of the Sovereign towards our
works and aims, manifested by spontaneous tributes
to successful scientific research, in honourable titles
and Royal gifts, and, above all, in the gracious eNi-
pressions accompanying them, with which her
Majesty has been pleased to distinguish some of
our body. Happy are we, under the present
benignant reign, to have in the Royal Consort a
Prince endowed with exemplary virtues, and with
such accomplishments in science and art as have
enabled his Royal Highness effectually, and on
some memorable occasions, in the most important
degree, to promote the best interests of both.
We rejoice, moreover, in the prospect of being
honoured and favoured at a future meeting by the
Presidency of the Prince Consort ; and that ere
long the Association may give the opportunity for
the delivery of another of those " addresses" preg-
nant with deep thought, good sense, and right
feeling, which have placed the name of Prince
Albert high in the esteem of the intellectual
classes, and' have engraven it deeply in the hearts
of the humblest of her Majesty's subjects. (Loud
applause.) On the part of the State sums continue
to be voted in aid of the means independently
noses eel 1w 11,p B Muc.erim and. the itoyal
Society, whc:rcny the Natural History Collections
in the first are extended and the more dirCct
scientific aims of the latter int itution are advanced.
The Botanical Gardens and Museum at Kew and
the Museum of Practical Geology in Jermvn-street
are examples of the national policy in regard to
science of which we can hardly over-estimate the
importance. Most highly and gratefully also do
we appreciate the co-operation of the Board of
Trade with our meteorologists by the recent for-
mation of the department for the collection of
meteorological observations made at sea. But not
by words only would or does science make return
to Governments fostering and aiding her endea-
vours for the public weal. Every practical appli;
cation of her disCoveries tends to the same end as
that which the enlightened statesman has in view.
(Applause.) The steam-engine,- in its manifold

applications, the crime-decri
lightning conductor, the el
law of storms and rules for t'
in them, the power of rend
tions painless, the measures
hcalth, and for preventing or
—such arc among the more important practical
results of pure scientific research with which man-
kind have been blessed and States enriched.
They are evidence unmistakeable of the close
affinity between the aims and tendencies of
science and those of true State policy. In
proportion to the activity, productivity, and
prosperity of a community is its power of
responding to the calls of the Finance Minister.
By a far-seeing one the man of science will be re-
garded with a favourable eye, not less for the
unlooked-for streams of wealth that have already
flowed, but for those that may in future arise out
of the applications of the abstract truths to the
discovery of which he devotes himself. (Applause.)
After pointing out the benefit which had arisen to
the State from the discoveries of Black, Oersted,
Hunter, Priestley, and Bahl:lnc, and the advantages
accruing from the establishment of the British
Observatory at Kew, and the application of pure
mathematics and astronomy to trade and commerce,
in making voyages safer and speedier, and after
acknowledging the aid which the Government had
afforded to scientific expeditions recommended by
the association, to the Kew Observatory, and to
other institutions, the learned professor concluded
as follows 3--" It now only remains for me to
express how deeply I feel the honour conferred on
me by the position in which, through your kind-
ness, I am now placed ; how highly I esteem the
opportunity afforded me of addressing so distin-
guished and influential an audience in this most
noble hall ; and how sincerely I thank you for the
patience mid favour with which you have received
the address." (Load applause.)
The MAYoe, in proposing a vote of thanks to
Professor Owen, observed that the assembly must
all have derived an immense amount of information
from the general review which had been given of
the practical sciences of the present day. Without,
however, saying more at that late hour, he could
not refrain, on behalf of the corpontion and the
inhabitants from bidding their chairman a hearty
welcome as the representative of the British Asso-
ciation. He felt proud in having the Association
there on that occasion, and he hoped that the accom-
modation provided, and the cordial reception the
members would receive, would induce the Associa-
tion to visit Leeds again in its regular order.
(Hear, hear.)
The Rev. Dr. HOOK, the Vicar of Leeds, seconded
the resolution. He could not, he said, restrain
from offering his congratulations to the British
Association on this its fourth visit to its native
county. When a voice from Scotland, evoking
the practical energy of Yorkshire, called into exist-
ence the British Association, the state of science in
England was such as to provoke the remarks of
foreigners, and to excite regret among themselves,
not only of those devoted to scientific pursuits, but
of every one who was anxious for the honour of his
country. Through the influence of that association
their country had advanced to its proper, that was
the foremost, place in the field of science—the posi-
tion it occupied in every other department -of human
learning. (Hear, hear.) It would he impertinent
in him to attempt to pass a eulogy on Professor Owen,
whose &me was world wide, and it would be equally
presumptuous if he were to make any remarks on
the address .in which their president had photo-
graphed the discoveries of science, but he could not
withhold his thanks for the general tone of that
address: (Applause.) It would confirm the grow-
ing feeling that science, instead of being, as it was
once supposed, the opponent, was really the hand-
maid of Christianity. People were beginning to
see that the philosopher might carry out his re-
searches into the secrets of nature fearless of con-
sequences and regardless of results ; and that, at
the same time, the theologian, with equal tenacity
and boldness, could assert the facts of revelation,
since the author of nature and the author of reve-
lation was the same blessed Being. They might
also rest assured that the facts of science were
reconcileable with the facts of Scripture, though in
their ignorance they knew not how to reconcile
them, nntil the Christian philosopher came among
them, and was able to unite, as Lord Bacon said, a
deep knowledge of the works of God with a know-
ledge of His Word. (Applause.)
The motion was carried with acclamation.
Professor PHILLIPS then stated that tickets had
been taken by 150 old life members, 31 old annual
members, 26 new life members, 62 new annual
members, 519 associates, 415 ladies, and six
foreigners; making a total of 1,259, whose sulaserip-
tions :mounted to £1,400. (Applause.) •

The meeting-8 of the several sections have been
well attended to-day, the aggregate number of per-
sons present not being far from 1,800 or 2,000.
Among the papers put down to be read to-day
were the following :
SECTION A.—MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL