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at the same instant; and the project holds out ample rewards to the fortunate discoverer. The result is, that the discovery is often simultaneously made by different minds at great distances, and without the slightest communication with each other. At other times different inventions are at the same moment employed, and work out with rival skil' the same purposes by opposite means. In this way, and especially in manufactures, the most perfect existing machinery is perpetually in danger of becoming useless, or at least unprofitable, by the introduction of a single improvement, which gives it a superiority of one per centum upon the capital employed. An instance, illustrative of these remarks, occurred in the course of my own official duties, in a suit for the infringement of a patent right. A beautiful improvement had been made in the double-speeder of the cotton spinning machine, by one of our ingenious countrymen. The originality of the invention was established by the most satisfactory evidence. The defendant, however, called an Englishman as a witness, who had been but a short time in the country, and who testified most explicitly to the existence of a like invention in the improved machinery in England. Against such positive proof there was much difficulty in proceeding. The testimony, though doubted, could not be discredited; and the trial was postponed to another term, for the purpose of procuring evidence to rebut it. An agent was despatched to England, for this and other objects; and, upon his return, the plaintiff was content to become nonsuited. There was no doubt, that the invention here was without any suspicion of its existence elsewhere; but

the genius of each country, almost at the same moment, accomplished independently the same achievement.

I have introduced these considerations to the view of those, who are engaged in the arts, and especially of those, whose studies this Society is designed to patronize, for the purpose of leading them to the reflection, that in the present state of things it is no longer safe to be ignorant, and that mere dexterity and mechanical adroitness, expertness of hand, or steadiness of labour, are not alone sufficient to guaranty to the individual a successful issue in his business. Science is becoming almost indispensable, in order to master improvements, as they occur, and to keep up, in some measure, with the skill of the age. It will otherwise happen, that a mechanic, by the time he has arrived midway in life, will find himself superseded by those, who, though much younger, have begun life under more favorable auspices. But upon this I may have occasion to enlarge a little more hereafter.

I have already spoken of the advantages resulting from scientific men becoming familiar with the work-shop, and the operations of art. But a far more important object, and the second great step in improvement, is to elevate mechanics and artizans to the rank of scientific inquirers.

It is singular, that no attempt was ever made to provide systematically for such an object, until a period so recent, that it seems but an affair of yesterday. The truth is so obvious, that he, who is engaged in the practice of an art, must, with equal advantages, be far better qualified to improve and perfect its operations, than he, who merely theo

rizes without any knowledge of practical difficulties, that it is matter of surprise, that it should have been so long overlooked. The origin and history of Mechanics' Institutions was brought before you on the first opening of your own Institution, with so much fulness and accuracy, by the learned gentleman, who addressed you on that occasion, that I may well be spared any effort to retouch, what he has so faithfully delineated. Until the nineteenth century no one thought of a system of scientific instruction, much less of mutual instruction, for those, who were to be bred in the arts. These institutions began, as you know, under the auspices of Professor Anderson, at Glasgow, and so slowly worked their way into public favour, that ten years ago they were unknown in that city, which boasts herself the modern Athens, and seven years ago all the influence and reputation of Dr. Birkbeck were requisite to introduce them into the reluctant circles of London.

I look upon this as a new era in the history of science; and it may be safely predicted, that these establishments are destined hereafter to work more important changes in the structure of society, and in the improvement of the arts, than any single event, which has occurred since the invention of printing.

What I propose in the residue of this discourse is, to offer some considerations in vindication of this opinion, and also some considerations by way of encouragement to those, who, as mechanics and artizans, are incited to devote themselves to the pursuit of liberal science.

And in the first place I might remark, that genius and talent are limited to no rank or condition of life. They

have been distributed by the bounty of Providence, with an equal hand, through every class of society. They are among those gifts, which poverty cannot destroy, or wealth confer; which spring up in the midst of discouragements and difficulties, and like the power of steam, acquire new elasticity by pressure; which ripen in the silence of solitude, as well as in the crowded walks of society; which the cottage may nourish into a more healthy strength, than even the palace, or the throne. The most formidable enemy to genius is not labor, but indolence; want of interest, and excitement; want of motive to warm, and of object to accomplish; ignorance of means, leading to indifference to ends. Hence it is, that the very highest and the very lowest orders of society, often present the same mental phenomena a fixed and languishing disease of the intellectual powers, where curiosity wastes itself in trifles, and a cold listlessness, brooding over the thoughts, lets fall a preternatural stupor. Their misfortune is that, so beautifully touched by the poet

"But knowledge to their eyes her ample page,

Rich with the spoils of time, did ne'er unroll."

I might remark in the next place, that the rewards of science are most ample, whether they be viewed in reference to personal enjoyment, to rank in society, or to substantial wealth.

It is one of the wise dispensations of Providence, that knowledge should not only confer power, but should also confer happiness. Every new attainment is a new source of pleasure; and thus the desire for it increases as fast as it is gratified. It not only widens the sphere of our

thoughts, but it elevates them, and thus gives them a livelier moral action. When one has seen an apple fall from a tree, and is told for the first time, that its fall is regulated by the law of gravitation, the simplicity of the truth may scarcely awaken his curiosity. When he is told, that the same law regulates the plumb line, and enables him unerringly to erect his house in the true perpendicular, he perceives, with pleasure, a new application of it. When he is further told, that there is a constantly increasing rapidity in every descending body by the same law, so that it falls in the second instant double the space it does in the first; and that the whole doctrine of projectiles, both in nature and art, depends upon it; that it governs the flow of rivers, and the fall of cataracts, and the gentle rains, and the gentler dews, and the invisible air; that it guides the motion of the water-mill, the aim of gunnery, and the operations of the steam-engine; he cannot but awaken to some emotions of admiration. But, when he has been taught, that the same law regulates the ebb and flow of the tide, the motions of the earth and the planets, and the sun, and the stars, and holds them in their orbits, and binds them in an eternally revolving harmony; that to this he owes the return of day and night, the changes of the seasons, seed-time and harvest, summer and winter; if he be any thing but a clod of the valley, how can he but exclaim, in wonder and amazement,

"These as they change, Almighty Father, these

Are but the varied God. The rolling year

Is full of thee."

What can tend more to exalt the dignity of our nature,

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