Hydrostatics, Common and Voltaic Electricity, and ElectroMagnetism. He adds also, that it comprises "many of the most costly illustrative appendages to an elementary course of scientific lectures, and several of them such as would not be found at all, or not of sufficient magnitude and power, in the private collections of lecturers who might be engaged by the Managers, and who would, in other respects, be well qualified for public tuition. Of these articles the valuable Air-Pump, the large Plate Electrical Machine, the magnificent Voltaic Battery, the Whirling-Table, the Optical Models, etc. will be perceived to be constantly useful in giving effect to lectures on various divisions of Physics or Natural Philosophy." The Report of April 15th, 1819, which announces the first opening of the new building, introduces also the First Course of Lectures as the only series which would be then delivered, on account of the advanced period of the season, and the imperfect access to the edifice. Previously to their commencement, the Theatre was opened at one o'clock in the afternoon of Wednesday, May 5th, 1819, by William Thomas Brande, Esq. Secretary to the Royal Society, and Professor of Chemistry in the Royal Institution of Great Britain,—with an elegant Introductory Discourse "on the Connection between the Scientific and Commercial interests of a country, and especially those of Great Britain :"a the delivery of which Address was honoured by the presence of the late Earl Spencer. The first course of Lectures commenced on the following Wednesday at the same hour, and consisted of nine upon "the Principles of Chemical Science." The whole number of Lectures which have been delivered in the Theatre of the London Institution, to the close of the season of 1835, amounts to nearly One Hundred Courses, comprising upwards of 830 separate lectures, giving an average of somewhat more than fifty each season; upon which about £7,400 have been expended since their commencement, as is shewn by the Annual Reports. When these circumstances are viewed in connection with the present advanced state of Science, the This Address was printed and published for the Institution in an octavo pamphlet ; and it was inserted also in the Quarterly Journal of Science and the Arts, for July 1819, vol. vii. No. xiv. pages 205-222. eminent professors who have been employed, the very great variety of useful instruction and entertainment which they have imparted, and the perfect manner in which their lectures are now illustrated,—it will no longer be considered that the delay which took place between the establishment of the Institution, and the delivery of the first lecture, was otherwise than advantageously passed, for the rendering the future courses so permanent and effectual as they have since proved. The several subjects of these discourses may be divided into three general classes: namely those relating to Science and the Useful Arts, to the Fine Arts, and to Literature. The various branches of these classes are exhibited in the ensuing synopsis; which is followed by a general view of the lectures upon each, and of the particular information which they conveyed. SCIENCE and the USEFUL ARTS. PHILOSOPHY of RADIANT and IMPONDERABLE SUBSTANCES. Magnetism-Magneto-Electricity. CHEMISTRY. NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. Optics Acoustics Pneumatics- Hydrodynamics - Mechanics and Motive Forces of the Arts-the Calculating Machine of Mr. Babbage. ASTRONOMY. GEOLOGY. Mining-Metallurgy. METEOROLOGY, and the Philosophy of the Atmosphere-Meteorites. BOTANY. Vegetable Physiology. ZOOLOGY. Animal Physiology, etc.-Animal Mechanics. PHRENOLOGY. MUSIC. THE FINE ARTS. Painting-Architecture. LITERATURE. History and Antiquities-Poetry and the Drama-Elocution. The opening course of Lectures was properly occupied by an introduction to the examination of some of the more subtle and eminently active powers of nature; and to a summary view of those great scientific truths, the details of which should in future seasons engage the attention of the audiences of that Theatre. The principal subjects of these discourses were the influence of the Imponderable Agents over the various forms of ordinary matter; and the action and phenomena of HEAT, RADIANT MATTER in general, ELECTRICITY, and VOLTAIC ELEC TRICITY. In the concluding Lecture, July 7th, the latter was illustrated in a very striking and interesting manner by some experiments of Ignition with the Large Apparatus of 2000 Double Plates."a The general subject of Electricity was re • Several particulars of the power of this apparatus, and of some experiments performed with it by the late Sir Humphry Davy, Bart., in October and November, 1820, are contained in the Philosophical Transactions for 1821, vol. cxi. article ii., pages 718, in a paper "On the Magnetic Phenomena produced by Electricity." In the conclusion of that communication, it is stated that the experiments detailed in those pages were made with the apparatus belonging to the Royal and London Institutions; the author being assisted in many of them by Mr. Pepys, Mr. Allen, and Mr. Stodart, and in all of them by Mr. Faraday.-Another account is given in article xxix, contained in the same volume, pages 425-439, also by Sir Humphry Davy, then P.R.S., entitled "Farther Researches on the Magnetic Phenomena produced by Electricity;" some extracts from which are here introduced. " Mr. Pepys having had the goodness to charge the great battery of the London Institution, consisting of two thousand double plates of zinc and copper, with a mixture of 1168 parts of water, 108 parts of nitrous acid, and 25 parts of sulphuric acid, the poles were connected by charcoal, so as to make an arc, or column of electrical light, varying in length from one to four inches, according to the state of rarefaction of the atmosphere in which it was produced; and a powerful magnet being presented to this arc or column, having its pole at a very acute angle to it, the arc, or column, was attracted or repelled with a rotatory motion, or made to revolve, by placing the poles in different positions, according to the same law as the electrified cylinders of platinum described in my last paper, (page 17) being repelled when the negative pole was on the right hand by the north pole of the magnet, and attracted by the south pole, and vice versa." "It was proved by several experiments that the motion depended entirely upon the magnetism, and not upon the electrical inductive power of the magnet, for masses of soft iron, or of other metals, produced no effect.""The electrical arc, or column of flame, was more easily affected by the magnet, and its motion was more rapid when it passed through dense than through rarefied air; and in this case the conducting medium or chain of aëriform particles was much shorter." Pages 427-428. "I found long ago, that in increasing the number of alternations of similar plates, the quantity of electricity seemed to increase as the number, at least as far as it could be judged of by the effects of heat upon wires; but only within certain limits, beyond which the number appeared to diminish, rather than increase the quantity: thus the two thousand double plates of the London Institution, when arranged as one battery, would not ignite so much wire as a single battery of ten plates with double copper." Page 437. In the Philosophical Transactions, for 1823, vol. cxiii. article xvi, pages 187-188, Plate xxii.-is a paper by W. H. Pepys, Esq., F. R. S., and formerly Honorary Secretary to the London Institution, entitled "An account of an apparatus on a peculiar construction, for performing Electro-magnetic experiments ;" from which the following particulars are extracted, as the whole relates to another voltaic instrument made for this establishment. It "This apparatus was made under my direction for the London Institution. consists of two plates, each fifty feet in length, and two feet in width; the one copper and the other zinc, making a superficial surface of four hundred feet. They are rolled or wrapped round a cylinder of wood with three strands or ropes of horse-hair between each plate, to prevent contact of the metals; and to maintain these in their situation, notched sticks are occasionally introduced in the rolling. Two conductors of copper nearly three fourths of an inch in thickness are secured to the end of each plate, from which the power is dispensed upon immersion in the acid. To allow of the free use of so bulky an instrument, it is suspended by ropes and pullies, with a counterpoise weight, to allow its immersion in a tub of dilute acid, or, when not in use, in one of water; it requires about fifty-five gallons of fluid, and the strength of the solution used has been about onefortieth of strong nitrous acid. Upon immersing the instrument in the dilute acid, and uniting the two conductors, magnetic needles on their stands were very sensibly affected for five feet from the conductors. Cylindrical bars of steel placed in the interior of a glass tube, surrounded by a spiral of wire, and forming part of the circuit, were made powerfully magnetic, (so as to be suspended from each other.) When the tube and spiral were placed perpendicularly, steel cylinders or bars inserted were supported entirely by the attraction, one of these cylinders weighing 272 grains; when the contact was broken, the cylinder fell from its gravity, but instantly rushed into its former place upon sumed by Mr. Brande in 1823, in considerable detail, in twelve lectures; and the Great Battery was again employed to exhibit the "Phenomena of Accumulated Voltaic-Electricity." Accounts were also introduced "of Sir Humphry Davy's Discoveries in this branch of Science, and of their influence upon the general progress of Chemical Philosophy;" and of the Discovery made by Professor Oersted of Copenhagen in 1819, of the Magnetising agency of the Voltaic Pile: which subject, since found to be so full of interest, was then for the first time explained in the Theatre of the London Institution. In 1825 Mr. Brande continued these particulars in a series of twelve lectures upon Light, Heat, and Electricity; the philosophy of which was brought forward to the then advanced state of knowledge.-In 1824 Dr. Birkbeck delivered an Honorary course of four lectures comprising a general and historical view of Magnetism and Electro-Magnetism; in which Mr. Peter Barlow's Correcting-Plate for counteracting the local attraction of vessels on the compass, was described and exhibited. The discovery made in 1831 by Mr. Faraday, since elected the first Fullerian Professor of Chemistry in the Royal Institution,- of the means of eliciting Electrical action from the Magnet, which originally gave existence to the science of Magneto-Electricity,-having caused an immense addition both of positive information and of interest and importance to the sciences of Magnetism and Electricity;-a view of the connections and actual state of the whole of this branch of knowledge, was given in a course of lectures in 1833 by Professor the Rev. William Ritchie, LL.D. F.R.S.: in which were displayed, and copiously illustrated by expethe contact being made.....This apparatus, as might be expected, has no intensity as a chemical agent, not even giving a spark with charcoal. But an extraordinary proof of of its low intensity, is, that leaves or laminæ of the metals are not deflagrated, and very small portions (only) of wire are ignited." This instrument is also noticed in the same volume of the Philosophical Transactions article xiii, pages 153-159, in a paper by Sir Humphry Davy, P.R.S., " On a New Phenomena of Electro-Magnetism;" in which he observes "I am induced to lay before the Society an account of an electro-magnetic phenomenon I observed about fifteen months ago in the laboratory of the Royal Institution, and which I have lately had an occasion of witnessing in a more perfect manner, through the kindness of Mr. PEPYS, by the use of a large battery, constructed under his directions for the London Institution, and containing a pair of plates of about two hundred square feet." It was exhibited and employed by Mr. Brande in the latter part of his last lecture, in the course of 1823; and in 1825 it was brought forward by Dr. Birkbeck, and again by Mr. Brande; under the name of the Magnetomotor. The distinct and independent invention of a similar apparatus appears to have occurred about the same time to Dr. Seebeck of Berlin. The instrument invented by Mr. Pepys, as well as the Great Battery, has been virtually destroyed by frequent use, from the repeated action of the solvents employed. riments, the nature and relations of Common Electricity, VoltaicElectricity, Electro-Magnetism, and Magneto-Electricity. CHEMISTRY. The general nature of the principles and powers of Chemical action having been succinctly explained in Mr. Brande's opening course of lectures;-a regular introduction to the details of the science, especially with relation to the properties of ponderable substances, was commenced in 1820 by Mr. Richard Phillips, F. R. S., a chemist of high reputation, especially in the department of analysis. There were not any lectures given at the Institution in 1821, but upon their being resumed in the following year, Mr. Phillips delivered a series of thirteen discourses upon Analytical Chemistry. In these he exhibited the various methods of performing chemical analysis, with the most striking properties of the agents employed and the substances elicited therein, with respect to the following subjects of analysis; —namely, Atmospheric Air, Water, Sea-water, Earthy Bodies, and Animal and Vegetable products. In 1823, Mr. Phillips continued his instructions in a course of lectures upon Chemistry as connected with the Useful Arts and Manufactures; in which many of the processes belonging to them, and especially those of the art of Calico-Printing, were explained and illustrated in a more perfect detail than probably had been ever before introduced in a series of popular discourses. In 1824 the principles of Mineralogical Chemistry were developed by Mr. Phillips, and those of Vegetable Chemistry by Professor Brande; and in the succeeding year the Chemistry of Aëriform Bodies was experimentally illustrated, at length, by the former lecturer. In 1827 Mr. Faraday delivered a very interesting course of twelve lectures upon Chemical Manipulation; in which were performed such of the processes described in his work on that subject, subsequently published, as were capable of being explained to a general audience. In several of the succeeding years Mr. Hemming gave lectures on various branches of Chemistry; and in 1834 the adaptation of that Science to the Theory and Practice of the Arts was resumed by Mr. Brande. The subjects usually comprised under the title of NATURAL and EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY, were introduced at this Institution in 1820, when an Honorary course of lectures, bearing the former name, was given by Dr. Birkbeck; and a professional |