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this kind are now presented. In each Quarter, there are seven or eight questions discussed in the Institution; and some of them, from the interest which they excite, occupy several evenings' investigation. The accustomed speakers are numerous, and many others occasionally contribute their assistance. It will be attempted to comprise the accumulated information and experience, with the result of the study and reflection, of all these individuals upon the various problems in Art, Science, and Literature.

The names of the Contributors have not been stated, because many of them had an aversion to publicity. The members of the Institution, and their immediate friends, are acquainted with the several authors; and to the public, the question is, or ought to be,-not, who is the writer; but what has been written?

The Committee appointed to conduct this Journal, are peculiarly gratified in being able to announce, that, through the liberality of the Proprietors of the INVESTIGATOR,-a work recently discontinued,-which was for several years edited by three of the Honorary Members of the Philomathic Institution, many of the contributions intended for that valuable publication, will be transferred to the pages of the present.

October, 1824.

THE

PHILOMATHIC JOURNAL.

JULY 1824.

ON THE

PHILOMATHIC INSTITUTION,

AND

OTHER SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY ESTABLISHMENTS.

In the progress of society, it is curious to observe the modes in which the increasing wants of mankind are supplied. As new habits of life become necessary, and are adopted to suit the ever-changing state of human affairs; so, in the intellectual career of nations, their associations for learning, and their institutions for the encouragement of art and science, vary with the circumstances of man, and the condition in which he is placed.

In former ages of the world, public schools and colleges appear to have been the only establishments for the communication and advancement of knowledge and literature. There were no societies formed of the middle classes of the community on those principles of mutual advantage, and combined exertion, which are now so generally prevalent. The public institutions which then existed were composed merely of professors and students. There was no literary brotherhood-no general communication or discussion of opinions, nor any equality of sentiment, or independent range of thought. The one class taught, and the other learned or listened; and error was hereditary, because it was unexamined. If there existed any exceptions to the rule, they were few and limited. Perhaps, in some of the monastic institutions, there might be a partial freedom of inquiry. A few individuals, retiring in disgust, or for other causes, from the world in which they had lived, might carry into those retreats the means of useful discussion; but the

VOL. I. PART I.

B

truths, which these occasional collisions would excite, seldom travelled beyond the walls of their seclusion, and consequently society was little benefited by their researches or speculations.

Perhaps, in the early progressions of the human mind, such a state of things may be unavoidable: but, as experience becomes extended, and as society advances, these deficiencies are perceived, and appropriate remedies are sought for and applied.

The people of modern Europe, as well as of the United States of America, are a very different class of persons from those who lived in previous ages. Those portions which are characterized as the middle classes are infinitely more numerous, as well as more intelligent, than any correspondent or relative part of the ancient population.

It is not our purpose, in this place, to investigate the causes of this remarkable change in the structure of society. We have merely to scan the intellectual requirements of a community thus actually constituted; and it is obvious, that whilst the schools of philosophy and art in ancient times, and the universities which were founded in the middle ages, might be sufficient for their several purposes, and applicable to the wants of society at the periods they were established, a different state of things has arisen which demands and has produced a new species of institution.

It is recorded, indeed, that a literary association was formed in the time of the Emperor Charlemagne; but the little celebrity it attained justifies the conclusion, that it was not suited to the genius of the age in which it existed, and that scarcely any benefit resulted from its example.

Šince the revival of letters, and the invention of printing, and since the extended wealth and importance of the great body of the people, societies have naturally arisen, appropriated to the peculiar nature of the public mind. The extension of commercial towns and cities, which are removed from the great seats of learning, has rendered it desirable, if not absolutely necessary, to resort to new modes of cultivating the human faculties, and of supplying the means both of intellectual gratification and improvement,

It is a remarkable fact that LORD BACON, to whom the world is so much indebted in every department of philosophy, should have so early pointed out and anticipated the precise character of the institutions which at this day are so popular*.

It is worthy of notice also, that he set the example of Essay-writing, a species of composition which has since become the vehicle of the most profound, as well as the most delightful truths in moral and intellectual philosophy.

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