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FUTURE PROSPECTS

to science from these assemblies, is the intercoursewhich they cannot fail to promote between the diffe-rent classes of society. The man of science willderive practical information from the great manu-facturers ;—the chemist will be indebted to the samesource for substances which exist in such minutequantity, as only to become visible in most extensiveoperations ;—and persons of wealth and property,resident in each neighbourhood visited by thesemigratory assemblies, will derive greater advantagesthan either of those classes, from the real instructionthey may procure respecting the produce and manu-factures of their country, and the enlightened gratifi-cation which is ever attendant on the acquisition ofknowledge.*

(339.) Thus it may be expected that public opinionshall be brought to bear upon the world of science ;for by this intercourse light will be thrown uponthe characters of men, and the pretender and thecharlatan will be driven into merited obscurity.Without the action of public opinion, any administra-tion, however anxious to countenance the pursuits ofscience, and however ready to reward, by wealth orhonours, those whom they might think most eminent,would run the risk of acting like the blind man re-cently couched, who, having no mode of estimating

* The advantages likely to arise from such an association,have been so clearly stated in the address delivered by theRev. Mr. Vernon Harcourl, at its first meeting, that I wouldstrongly recommend its perusal by all those who feel in-terested in the success of English science.—Vide First Reportof the British Association for the Advancement of Science. York,1832.