action, and watch the electricity doing it for them. In a similar manner, the working engineer at his metal-turning lathe has merely to direct the action of his tool whilst the steam engine performs the heavy labour of turning. That 'knowledge is power,' is an old maxim, but that new knowledge is new power, is a new discovery, which scientific discovery has imposed upon us. ... Experience in science has already shown us that it is by means of invention based upon new discoveries, that the greatest utilities are obtained, rather than by the exercise of invention based upon knowledge acquired long ago. The information obtained by research in former times has been largely exhausted for the purpose of invention by modern inventors, and what we very greatly require now is new knowledge. Experience in science also leads us to believe that the extent of possible discovery is as boundless as nature, and that an immense amount of new knowledge may yet be discovered. ... Whilst, also, many millions of pounds are annually expended in this country upon religious, philanthropic, and other good objects, there is scarcely a scientific society or institution (with the exception of the Royal Society and the British Association) which expends even the small sum of £500 a-year on purely experimental research in physics or chemistry. In the Royal Institute of Great Britain, the average annual expenses relating to experimental research, including salaries to assistants for research in the laboratory, from the year 1867 to 1871, did not amount to £250. On the other hand, the 'total net receipts' of the British and Foreign Bible Society alone amount to about £213,000 a-year. . . , The fact that