A lecture on the diffusion of scientific knowledge, in large towns : delivered to the members of the Birmingham Philosophical Institution, Dec. 18, 1837 / by Peyton Blakiston.

Date:: [1837?]

Credit: A lecture on the diffusion of scientific knowledge, in large towns : delivered to the members of the Birmingham Philosophical Institution, Dec. 18, 1837 / by Peyton Blakiston. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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$ami it will be contemplated with pain by the members of the British Association, who will form their estimate of the intellectual character of the inhabitants of this town by the degree of encouragement which is given to its scientific institutions. In the Lecture to which I have referred at some length, Dr. De Lys ex- hibited the nature and extent of one source of human misery, and at the same time demonstrated the possibility of pro viding an elfi cacious remedy. The result was, that a remedy was provided for this town and neighbour- hood. In all that has been brought forward this evening, the alarming nature and extent of the evils resulting from ignorance may be clearly traced; and the advantages arising from their removal, by the diffusion of scientific knowledge, will, I should hope, have been fully recognised. It has been shown that the Birmingham Philosophical Institution was established for the furtherance of this object, that up to the present time it has effected much, and in future it might be expected to do still more, Avere it libergjly supported. Shall its means of utility, then, be enlarged ? and shall it henceforward receive encouragement and support worthy of this great tOAvn ? When I compare the feeble efforts of him who now addresses you with those which must have been . exerted on the memorable occasion to which I have alluded, I will own that I despair ; but when I look to the cause for which I plead, I en- tertain a hope, or rather a strong confidence, that I, also, on this occa- sion, shall not speak in \rain. My hope is to see arise a substantial and spacious building, containing a theatre capable of accommodating an increased number of members, and apartments that shall not merely serve for the accommodation of our Curator, and for the reception of the apparatus and specimens which are at present in the Museum, but of those also which the liberality of the friends of science, or the in- creased funds of the Institution, may provide.(a) It has often been remarked that the societies for the encouragement of literature and science in this town are too much scattered; and it has been sug- gested that an union of some of them, for the purpose of erecting a (a) The buildings of the Philosophical Institution have now undergone a thorough repair, accommodation has been furnished for the Curator, and an exceUcnt room has been built and fitted up as a geological museum, in the arrangement of which the talent and in- dustry of Mr. Ick, may be clearly traced. The formation of a scientific library has been com- menced with every prospect of success, and a very large additional number of persons have en- rolled themselves as members, among whom arc some of the most distinguished persons in the neighbourhood.$

A lecture on the diffusion of scientific knowledge, in large towns : delivered to the members of the Birmingham Philosophical Institution, Dec. 18, 1837 / by Peyton Blakiston.

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