The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-05 00:00:00

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.

MANCHESTER, WEDNESDAY EVENING.
The 31st annual meeting of the Association com-
menced here to-day. The attendance is likely to be

more than usually numerous, and the arrangements
- -

appear to have been made with careful regard for
the personal convenience and the entertainment of

members and visitors, as well as for the satisfactory

conduct of business.

The great inaugural meeting took place in the
Free Trade Hall at eight o'clock. The magnificent
hall, which was tastefully draped with scarlet cloth
and ornamented by paintings, drawings, and other
works of art, was long before that hour filled by a
distinguished company. Many ladies were present,
and gave brilliancy to the assemblage. Among
those present on the platform we observed the
Bishop of Manchester, Lord Stanley, M,P., Earl of
Enniskillen, Dr. Daubeny, Professor Sedgwick,
General Portloek, Professor Owen, Sir J. Richard-
son, Professor Jukes, Mr. Napier, Mr. Headland,
M.P., Mr. Turner, M.P., Mr. Bazley, M.P., Pro-
fessor Wheatstone, General Sabine, Captain Galton,
Sir E. Belcher, Professor Chevallier, Sir Philip
M.P., and Professor
Egerton, Colonel Sykes,

Kupffer,
At a few minutes after eight Lord Wrottesley,
the retiring President, took the chair amid loud
cheers. lie said,
Ladies and Gentlemen,—ln retiring from the office I
have had the honour to hold it is a great pleasure to me to
know that I am to be succeeded by one who is so well
worthy of your support. (Cheers.) We may derive im-
portant instruction from the career of Mr. Fairbaim—
(cheers)—whether we view him as the successful engineer,

or as the distinguished man of science. (Cheers.) In the
former capacity he is one who has by perseverance combined

with talent risen from small beginnings to the summit of
his profession, and he forms one of that noble class of
men, the Stephensons, the Brunels, the Whitworths, the
Armstrongs, which have conferred such important services
on-their country—(cheers)—and some of whom, unfortu-
nately for that ceuntry, have perished, alas, too soon, ex-
_ _

hausted by their arduous toils. (Cheers.) Mr. Fairbairn,
therefore, is one of many examples of what can be done in
England by such men, who resolve, undaunted by the dif•
ficulties and obstructions that beset their path, to struggle

gallantly onward till success crown their efforts. (Cheers.)
Again, if we look at Mr. Fairbairn's claims to scientific
distinction, they read to us an important lesson ; for they
show what can be done by zeal and energy, and the exer-

else of a strong and resolute will, fully determined to carry '
out objects in which the public is deeply interested. It is
extraordinary that any man should have been able during
the few leisure hours that can be snatched from an impor-
tant and engrossing business, to accomplish for science
what Mr. Fairl;airn has done--(cheers); and not only has
he been a most successful contributor to mechanical science,
but his liberality has been unbounded in placing all his
great mechanical resources at the disposal of his fellow-
labourers in the same field. (Cheers.) Well and truly
was it said when the royal medal was conferred on Mr.
Fairbairn for his researches—" Perhaps there is scarcely a
single individual living who has made so many careful ex-
perimental inquiries on subjects of primary importance to
the commercial and manufacturing interests of the country,
and has so liberally contributed them to the world."
(Cheers.) Such a man is one whom all should delight to
honour. And to such a man I resign with great satisfac-
tion the chair which I now vacate." (Cheers.)
Mr. FAIRBAIRN then took the chair amid loud cheers.
He spoke as follows :
" Gentlemen of the British Association,—Ever since
my election to the high office I now occupy I have been
deeply sensible of my own unfitness for a post of so much
distinction and responsibility ; and when I call to mind
the illustrious men who have preceded me in this
chair, and see around me so many persons much better
qualified for the office than myself, I feel the novelty
of my position and unfeigned embarrassment in addressing
you. I should, however, very imperfectly discharge the
duties which devolve upon me as the successor of the dis-
tinguished nobleman who presided over the meetings of last
year if I neglected to thank you for the honourable position
in which you have placed me, and to express at the outset
my gratitude to those valued friends with whom I have
been united for many years in the labours of the section of
this association, and from whom I have invariably received
every mark of esteem. A careful perusal of the history of
this association will demonstrate tha't it was the first, and
for a long time the only institution, which brought together
for a common object the learned Professors of our Univer-
sities and the workers in practical science. These periodical
reunions have been of incalculable benefit in giving to prat •
tice t hat soundness of principle and certainty of progressive
improvement which can only be obtained by the accurate
study of science and its application to the arts. On the
other hand, the men of actual practice have reciprocated
the benefits thus teceived from theory, in testing by actual
experiment deductions which were doubtful, and rectifying
those which were erroneous. Guided by an extended ex
perience, and exercising a sound and disciplined judgment,
they have often corrected theories apparently accurate, but
nevertheless founded on incomplete data or of false
assumptions inadvertently introduced. If the British
Associat ion had effected nothing more than the removal on

the anomalous separation of theory and practice it would

have gained imperishable renown in the benefit thus con-
ferred. Were Ito enlarge on the relation of the achieve-
ments of science to the comforts and enjoyments of man, I
should have to refer to the present epoch as one of the
most important in the history of the world. At no former
period did science cautribute so much to the uses of life and
the wants of society. And in doing this it has only been
fulfilling that mission which Bacon, the great father of
modern science, appointed for it, when he wrote that the
legitimate goal of the sciences is the endowment of human
life with new inventions and riches,' and when he sought
for a mutual philosophy which, not spending its energy on
barren disquisitions, ' should be operative for the benefit
and endowment of mankind.' Looking, then, to the fact
that, while in our time all the sciences have yielded this
fruit, engineering science, with which I have been most in-
timately connected, has pre-eminently advanced the power,
the wealth, and the comforts of mankind, I shall probably
best discharge the duties of the office I have the honour to
fill by stating as briefly as possible the more recent scientific
discoveries which have so influenced the relations of social
life. I shall, therefore, not dwell so much on the progress
of abstract science, important as that is, but shall rather
endeavour briefly to examine the application of science to
the useful arts, and the results which have followed, and are
likely to follow, in the improvement of the condition of so-
ciety. The history of man throughout the gradations and
changes which he undergoes in advancing from a primitive
barbarism to a state of civilization shows that he has been
chiefly stimulated to the cultivation of science and the de-
velopment of his inventive powers by the urgent necessity
of providing for his wants and securing his safety. Thera
is no nation, however barbarous, which does not inherit the
germs of civilization, and there is scarcely any which has not
done something towards applying the rudiments of science
to the purposes of dailylife. Among the South Sea Islanders
why :n discovered by Cook, the applied sciences,—if I may
use the term,—were not entirely unknown. They had ob-
served something of the motions of the heavenly bodies,
and watched with interest their revolutions, in order to
apply this knowledge to the division of time. They were
not entirely deficient in the construction of instruments of
husbandry, of war, and of music. They had made them-
selves acquainted with the rudiments of shipbuilding and
nai igation in the construction and management of their
can oes. Cut off from the influence of European civili-
zat ion and deprived of intercourse with higher grades
of .mind, we still find the inherent principle of progres-
sion exhibiting itself, and the inventive and reasoning
powers developed in the attempt to secure the means
of s übsistence. Again, if we compare man as he exists
in small communities with his condition where any
numbers are congregated together, we find that densely

populated countries are the most prolific in inventions and
advance most rapidly in science. Because the wants of the
many are greater than those of the few there is a more vigo-

mica struggle against the natural limitations of supply, a
more careful husbanding of resources, and there are more
minds at work. This fact is strikingly exemplified in the
history of Mexico and Peru, and its attestation is found in
the numerous montunents of the past which are seen in
Central America, where the remains of cities and temples,
and vast public works, erected by a people endowed with
high intellectual acquirements, can still be traced. There
have been discovered a system of canals for irrigation; long
minting galleries cut in the solid rock in search of lead, tin,
and copper; pyramids not unlike those of Egypt; earthen-
ware Vases and cups, and manuscripts containing the re-
cords of their history; all testifying to so high a degree of
scientific culture and practical skill that, looking at the
cruelties which attended the conquests of Cortes and Pi-
zarro, We
may well hesitate as to which had the stronger
claims on our sympathy, the v:ctors or the vanquished. In
attempting to notice those branches of science with which
lam but imperfectly acquainted T shall have to claim your
indulgence. This association, as y,au are aware, does not
confine its discussions and investigations to any particular
science ; and one great advantage of this is; that it leads to
the division of labour, while the attention each department
receives, and the harmony with which the plan has hitherto
worked, afford the best guarantee of its wisdom and proof
of its success. In the early history of astronomy, how
vague and unsatisfactory were the wild theories and con-
jectures which supplied the place of demonstrated physical
truths and carefully observed laws I How immeasurably
"It'll, what a very speck does wan appear, with all the
r°ulers of his invention, when contrasted with the mighty
1" lof the Creator; and how impeTfect is our apprehen-
sicr"' even in the highest flicdits of
the boundless d
natu-
ral ly suggest th of s pOetic imagination, of
space I These reflections natu-
of an Almighty
_ themselvesow in thecontemplation of the works
erwith a
re verential awe of the andimpress the mind
treat Author of our existence. The
gf .e.at revolutionh laid the foundation of modern as-
tronomy, and which, deed marks the birth of modern
phyl lical science, is chreflY dna to three or four distin-