INAUGURAL AND INTRODUCTORY LECTURES TO THE COURSES FOR PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF LONDON: PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE. PUBLISHED BY LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 1852. LONDON: PRINTED BY GEORGE E, EYRE AND WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE, PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. CONTENTS. Page Inaugural Discourse; by Sir Henry T. De la Beche, C. B., F. R. S. - The Study of Abstract Science essential to the Progress of Industry; iv NOTICE. It is proposed in these "Records" from time to time to publish accounts of researches carried on at the School of Mines, and during the course of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom. To these will be added occasional notices of such discoveries and researches in Foreign Countries as may be considered important to the progress of the British Arts and Manufactures illustrated in the Museum of Practical Geology. H. T. DE LA BECHE. 1 Inaugural Discourse, delivered at the Opening of the School of Mines and of Science applied to the Arts, 6th November 1851. By Sir HENRY T. DE LA BECHE, C.B., F.R.S., &c. WE are this day assembled to inaugurate a system of instruction new to our country; one which does not interfere with existing institutions, on the contrary, it may be considered as assisting several, inasmuch as while it provides for a want which they do not supply, it refers to knowledge which they teach. That this establishment should be the means of affording instruction in a particular direction, an instruction tending more especially to illustrate the application of Geology, and of its associated sciences, to the useful purposes of life, was early decided. In 1839, four years after the first collections were made for the Museum of Practical Geology, the sanction of the Treasury was given to lectures having that application for their object. The system of instruction we commence this day is, therefore, not founded on any new view, twelve years having elapsed since lectures of a similar general character were authorized. That these lectures have not been given has arisen from the want of a proper theatre in which to deliver them, and from the absence of other appliances not, until now, at our command. Referring thus to the early condition of this establishment, a few words on its origin may, perhaps, not be altogether out of place. It was while (in 1835) conducting the Geological Survey, then in progress, under the Ordnance, in Cornwall, that being forcibly impressed that this survey presented an opportunity, not likely to recur, of illustrating the useful applications of Geology, I ventured to suggest to Mr. Spring Rice (now B |