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    the simplicity , modesty , and unaffected style of his address , or decline io acknowledge that he is an eloquent and delightful expositor of scientific truth . One of our most accomplished literary men passed this judgment upon his appearance , " You quite forgot that he was a duke . " The mechanical section came next to the geological in popularity . The most interesting speaker here , to those at least who are not professed students of science * was Mr . Nasmyth , now of Manchester , but formerly of Edinburgh , which is not a little proud of its previous townsman . He is a remarkable man , self-taught and amazingly ingenious ; and , although quite untrained to oratorical display , a most impressive speaker . The most interesting of

    his many communications was a familiar lecture on the lunar surface , which he has observed for some eight years with telescopes made by his own hands , which , by the way , present the finest example of manipulative and constructive fingers we have ever seen . They are not what a lady would call neat hands , but they are what a cheirognomist would instantly recognise as belonging to a neat-handed man . Mr . Nasmyth , whose address is frank , hearty , and genial , rivetted the attention of an audience of some twelve hundred persons , who stood for an hour listening with delight to his graphic , vivid , and picturesque descriptions , illustrated by beautiful drawings and models of the discoveries he has made in the geology of the moon . His success was a lesson to our

    artificial , pedantic , and wordy prelectors . He has not a whit of the stump orator about him ; but , having something to tell about things which he has witnessed with great delight , he stands up and tells them in a few simple , graphic phrases , and reproduces in others the delight which he has felt himself . This is true eloquence . In the natural history section much interest was excited by the exposition of the very curious and beautiful mathematical laws which Mr . D . R . Hay , of Edinburgh , has discovered to regulate the proportions of the human frame . Distinguished anatomists

    and mathematicians acknowledged themselves con * vinced of the truth of Mr . Hay ' s views , and assisted him in expounding them . This section , as might be expected at the seat of a great medical school , was largely attended , and , in truth , swarmed off into a physiological sub-section where the medical men , slenderly attended by the lady members , discussed their own important but forbidding subjects . The ethnological sub-section was the scene of most profound and animated discussion between those three highly accomplished philologists , Major Rawlinson , the Reverend Dr . Hincks , and Dr . Latham , who soon got beyond the depth of all but a very few of

    their auditors . The mathematical and statistical sections were marked by the presence of some of the most distinguished authorities on those subjects , and , although the majority of their communications were beyond general appreciation , there are no sections from whose labours the great mass of mankind will reap more than from theirs . The chemical section was less adorned than any by the distinguished seniors who have made this science so popular ; but the younger chemists had gathered from nearly all the universities of the country , and the proceedings of this section went on with great zeal and spirit .

    One most interesting feature of this meeting was the large number of ladies who followed its proceedings . Their presence had a most wholesome effect in diminishing the pedantry and technicality which too often disfigure the exhibitions of scientific men , and it also checked the tendency to acrimonious criticism , which is always liable to intrude itself into public discussion . Perhaps it did more than this ; but we

    do not regret it . An active member in one of the sections was heard to say , •« I should like to criticise bo and so ' s views , but I am sure those ladies are his mother and sUter , and I should not like to vex them by seeming to depreciate their relative ' s speculations . " In this particular case we have reason to believe that the younger lady was the author ' s coztain , who probably would have listened with still less patience than even his sister to any criticism of her

    relative ' s views . Much unkindly animadversion was at one time passed on the British Association , because public dinners were held throughout its sittings , where the members appeared to no better advantage than other sitters round a dinner-table . This was very foolish . The active members of the sections are all connected with many scientific societies , and read and listen to communications during six or eight months of every year . If the Association , accordingly , only

    Bummoned them to read and hear again their scientific papers , we venture to say that none but the idlest and the vainest would stir a foot to attend its meetings . The great attraction which the yearly gatherings have for scientific men lies in the opportunity which they afford for cultivating the acquaintance of each other . Our British men of science are honourably distinguished from their brethren on the Continent by the rarity of controversies between them , and by the absence of personalities when those occur .

    This is very much owing to the freedom of our press , and the ample opportunity which all Englishmen have of gratifying their coinbativeriess by disputations on politics and religion , upon which every class of the community , the philosophers included , unceasingly expends its controversial energies . Our men of science , accordingly , rarely attack each other , in reference to disputed scientific questions , in the style in which French and German savants assault each other ; and when a personal controversy between scientific men does arise in England , it is invariably censured by their own brethren . This

    happy state of matters is greatly fostered by assemblages such as that which has just been held in Edinburgh . Few things have been more pleasant to us than to see men of note , who had known each other only by name for years , shake hands , and look with kindly glances on faces they had long wished to see in the flesh . Acquaintanceships , on these occasions , rapidly ripen into friendships ; and we witnessed , in one section , a general shaking of hands between some five different philosophers who had been looking with coldness on each other for years , but could

    not resist the thawing influence of the harmonious and happy concourse around them , and gladly caught at some slight courtesy from their old opponent to stretch forth their hands and make peace again . "We have seen so many scenes of this kind ; so much kindly intercourse ; so much * frank acknowledgment of each other's merits ; so much willing cooperation where union was requisite ; and so hearty a determination to make the future surpass the past in scientific achievements , that we cannot but pronounce the British Association one of those institutions

    which is materially helping to promote peace upon earth and good-will among men . No meeting of this body has been more genial and harmonious than this twentieth one . The hospitalities of Edinburgh have been extended in the most liberal and princely way to all the celebrated strangers . The College of Physicians entertained a hundred and fifty of the most distinguished members of the Association . The College of Surgeons had with a wise liberality expended its income on improving medical education , and could not rival the sister institution . But Professor Lyme , the President of the College of Surgeons , generously came to its rescue , and at his own cost , erected within the grounds of his beautiful

    villa , a building solely for the purpose of accommodating the philosophers . Similar hospitalities on a smaller scale were shown by all who were in a condition to manifest them ; and the only complaint which we have heard made by the members has been that they received so many invitations for the same day that they were compelled to refuse some which they would gladly have accepted . The beautiful weather also permitted excursions to be made in all directions , so that some visited the Bell-rock Lighthouse ; others the Bass-rock ; others Tantallon Castle ; others the Pentland-hills , or Arthur's Seat ; and the poorest pedestrian could wander with pleasure round the picturesque environs of Edinburgh .

    In short , the British Association has discussed the topics brough before it very much in the style in which Thomas Carlyle tells us the ancient parliament of England did the subjects brought before it . First they breakfasted over them ; then , in the section rooms , they sat and talked upon them ; then , in the afternoon , they dined over them ; in the evening they promenaded upon them ; and , on one occasion , Sir Roderick Murchison setting the example , they took occasion of their presence in the Music-hall , with a fine military band in the orchestra , to ask for a quadrille , perhaps even a polka , and to dance upon them . This is the Novissimum Organon Scientiarum .

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    The papers still continue to comment , with considerable acrimony , on the dinners , but they admit that the unconstitutional demonstrations made at the first of them were not encouraged by the President . The Ordre gives the following explanation of what took place at the dinner to the Gendarmerie Mobile ; and this explanation is the more important , as it is considered to be from General Changarnier himself : —

    LEGITIMACY AND BONAPARTISM . The two parties who are making most noise in Paris at present are the Legitimists and the Napolconists . The latter , of course , are in the ascendancy both in Paris and the Provinces , although it is generally thought that they have not acted very wisely in coming forward so prominently at the military dinners ; that , however , remains to be seen . Audacity has always been the great political force in France , and perhaps it will still remain so .

    Some persons , who know the just ascendancy of General Chansarnier over the minds of the troops , and who are aware that the general was present at the banquet of the 7 th instant , feel astonished that unconstitutional cries should have been uttered in his presence . General Changarnier was in fact present at thar . banquet , but the sole cries whioh were uttered were ? Vive Napoleon !' Vive le General Changarnier ! ' At this moment , it is said , the President of the Republic rose , and , taking the arm of the general , passed before the sileat guests , and made the round of the lawn of the Elysle . It was only

    at a late hour , when General Changarnier , with his aidesde-camp and a great numb ** of othjjr officers , had retired , that some members of the Sdctete * du DixDecembre gave the signal fdr the eries of ' Vive l'EmpereurV * Aax Tailenes ! " Aux Tuileries !'—a signal , moreover , which did not appear to have received the slightest encouragement on the part of the President of the Republic . As respects the dinner given on Saturday last to the 4 th regiment of infantry , it appears that although the cries of Vive 1 'Empereur I" were not qtiite So general as on the previous occasion * they were not to

    altogether wanting . They were even so lotta as be distinctly audible in the street adjoining the ? garden of the palace , where the tent was erected in Which the dinner was given . The crowd , however , did not echo the cry , nor at all partake in the jovial enthusiasm of the subalterns within . After the guests left the table they adjourned to the garden to smoke their cigars , and were soon joined there by the President .

    In the course of the evening Louis Napoleon , ooserving a musket , which was probably placed there on purpose , took it up , and delighted the sergeants and corporals by going through the manual exercise with great skill and precision . The enthusiasm was of course great , and some of the officers endeavoured to turn the affair to account by applying the pet name which the soldiers used to give the emperor—fa petit coporal—to the emperor ' s nephew ; but the thing did not take ; it produced a laugh , but nothing more *

    Louis Napoleon left Paris on Saturday morning for his tour in the eastern departments . He was" accompanied by some of his Ministers , who intended to go with him as far as Tonnerre . He reached that place about half-past ten o ' clock , where the mayor and the other members of the corporation had assembled to pay him homage . The President reviewed the troops stationed in that town , and then left for

    Dijon . The Government journals state that in passing throughParis , on his road to the railway , he was saluted with loud cries of " Vive Napoleon . They make a point also of mentioning that at Yonne , the President was received with great enthusiasm by some old soldiers , the glorious remains of the Imperial Guard , and of that army which , as Beranger has sung , fatigued victory by following her . The official journal says : —

    «? The prefect of the police , who had accompanied the President to the confines of the Yonne , the department in which he was born , presented to the Prince some of the men who , in difficult times , had sacrificed everything to combat demagogical tendencies , and who were the first to raise the old Imperial standard , the symbol of order , of the glory , and of the prosperity of the nation , in spite of the threats of the anarchy which had issued from the revolution of February . "

    A rumour was spread in Paris on Tuesdaythat the President of the Republic had been suddenly seized with indisposition , arising from drinking a glass of cold water while in a state of perspiration . The report , however , was not credited , as it could not be traced to rest upon any good foundation . Meantime Henry Cinq , the hope of the Legitimists , which is said to

    is holding his court at Wiesbaden , resemble a little Coblentz , " a rather ominous comparison . It is said that the conference will decide what policy the French Conservatives are to pursue , but nothing has oozed out as to what that policy is likely to be . We question whether any of the conspirators themselves could give much information . Still , however , the conference furnishes an excellent subject for Parisian gossip .

    A Legitimist pasquinade was found attached to the base of one of the statues before the Palace pf the National Assembly on Saturday . This seditious placard , which was printed , after several flourishes about Henri V . and the Duchess of Berry , and taunts at the Republican party for their tame endurance of the repeal of universal suffrage , and for not having given up their 25 francs per day , finishes with the following menace : — " Faites vos sacs , Messieurs , le rappel va sonner . " The Commissary of Police of the quarter having been informed of the crowds gathered about this singular publication , proceeded to the spot and tore it down .

    The French Assembly was , on Friday , to meet . pro formd ; but there was nothing on the orders of the day , and the session was practically at an end . At half-past two , when the chair was taken , only about 200 members were present : as there must be 376 members present to sanction any decision , the President declared the sitting closed , and members rushed out with the eager pleasure of boys going home for the holidays . This quiet and unceremonious way of closing the session , though not very dignified , is not without its convenience . To ^ the Government it is particularly agreeable , as it is understood that it was the intention of the Montagnards , if they had had the opportunity , to conclude the session with a manifestation in favour of the

    Republic—a manifestation which , in the present anti-Republican times , would have been considered little better than rank treason . To console itself for the disappointment , the Montagnard representatives have published in the newspapers of this morning an address , entitled " Compte rendu par la Montagne au peuple , " in which , they severely criticise the labours of the session .

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    Ado . 19 , I 860 . ] « fr * & * Sfr * ¥ . # * M

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 17, 1850, page 485, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1850/page/5/