Excerpt from Address Delivered at the Birmingham Midland Institute: On the 30th September, 1867

Ladies And Gentlemen,

In a speech, of our lamented Prince Consort on laying the first stone of the edifice in which we are assembled this passage occurs, - "It has been a great pleasure to me to have been able to participate, in however trifling a degree, in a work which I do not look upon as a simple act of worldly wisdom on the part of this great town and locality, but as one of the first public acknowledgments of a principle which is daily forcing its way amongst us, and is destined to play a great and important part in the future development of this nation and of the world in general, I mean the introduction of science and art as the unconscious regulators of productive industry."

Twelve years have elapsed since that memorable day, and now by the zeal and perseverance of your leading members, supported as they have been by your whole body, the object of your noble ambition is in no small degree obtained. Nevertheless, as none I am persuaded feel so acutely as yourselves, much more remains to be effected than has been yet accomplished, and effected it assuredly will be unless I am led by my predilections to a false estimate of my fellow townsmen, which, considering I have known them for a term of years equal to that measured out to us in Holy Writ as the ordinary span of human life, would be an error utterly without excuse.

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