we now be without, I may say, any one of them?

A well-regulated mind is the most desirable of all acquirements, and I
know no better means of gaining this than by meetings of such
institutions as this. Here you have intercourse with your friends, and
you can gain from one another by friendly intercourse stores of
knowledge, that to search for as individuals would take away much more
time than you could by any means devote, and at the same time attend to
the business of your calling. Here you have the means of amusement as
well as of gaining sound information, and I trust no one here will ever
have cause to regret the day when he came to associate with his friends,
and hear what others could communicate, for "in the multitude of
counsellors there is wisdom."




_THE STEAM-ENGINE._


The many varieties of the world's manufactures--one might almost call
them wonders--are now so numerous, that to bring any particular one in a
single form before this meeting is a matter of no easy nature. To-night,
however, I have ventured to single out, and have the pleasure of
bringing before you, the steam-engine, as the prime mover at present of
our workshops and manufactories, as also the grand motive power of our
railways, now so different from the time when the great Stephenson was
said to be mad, because he thought it possible to drive a train at
fifteen miles an hour. For the first serviceable use of this grand
machine we are indebted to the great James Watt. He it was who first