Page 181

Institutiofns: Society of Arts. 
able connexion of the Society with the 
great coming event of the year,-the Ex- 
hibition of the Works of Industry of all 
Nations,-which, it is no exaggeration 
to say, is setting the whole civilised 
world in motion, and which, with the aid 
of his Royal Highness, the President of 
the Society, is the chief result of the policy 
already alluded to, the Council think that 
their great object during the present 
session should be to aid the Exhibition 
of 1851 by every means in their power. 
Already the members of the Society have 
witnessed tokens of this desire on the 
part of the Council manifested in the 
papers of Mr. Paxton and Professor Cow- 
per, and in the offer of the Council to place 
the use of the rooms of the Society at the 
disposal of the Metropolitan Local Com- 
missioners of the Exhibition. Mr. Pax- 
ton's paper demonstrated at the proper 
time that the Glass Palace in Hyde Park 
was not an experiment, but the extension 
of an idea which had already been proved 
to be practical at Chatsworth; whilst the 
lecture of Professor Cowper in the build- 
ing itself must have dissipated, as it was 
meant to do, all ignorant prejudices that 
the building was not scientifically con- 
structed or adequately strong.  So the 
paper of Mr. Henderson on the means 
and organisation of labour which have 
been   adopted to raise this extraor- 
dinary structure in so short a time 
proves both the desire of the Council to 
have this valuable information published 
for the public benefit, and the liberal 
spirit of the contractors, Messrs. Fox, 
Henderson, and Co., in permitting others 
to derive advantage from a knowledge 
of some of their business practice. 
The Council do not propose to hold 
any further Exhibitions this season, in 
order that the rooms of the Society may 
be free at all times to promote the inter- 
ests of the Great Exhibition. It is their 
intention, during the period of the Exhi- 
bition, to hold several conversazioni and 
meetings for the discussion of topics 
which, it is foreseen, will arise out of the 
Exhibition. They have reason to expect 
that arrangements will be made to afford 
information and assistance to the fo- 
reign visitors, eminent in science and 
in art, who may be expected in great 
numbers; and when the proper time ar- 
rives, the Council will consider the pro- 
priety of placing the model-room at the 
disposal of any proper authority as a cen- 
tral place of meeting. But it is not only 
upon the direct, but also the indirect 
circumstances and wants arising out of 
the Great Exhibition that the Council 
will bestow their attention, and con- 
tribute the influence of the Society. 
There can be no doubt that the Ex- 
hibition will give rise to many new re- 
lations. Already a stronger connexion 
between the artist and manufacturer is 
springing up, beneficial to both. It will 
be the duty of the Council to foster this 
connexion, and they are considering a 
plan by which a friendly meeting for the 
discussion, investigation, and best means 
of promoting the union of art and manu- 
factures may take place every year, in 
some one of the great manufacturing 
centres, somewhat on the principle of 
the meetings of the British Association 
and the Archological Societies. Con- 
nected with such an union, the Council 
feel that much remains to be done to 
educate the mass of the people in the 
perception and practice of art, which the 
Exhibition is likely to make but too ap- 
parent; and taking advantage of the les- 
son we are likely to be tanght, the CounciI 
purpose making an effort to establish 
elementary drawing andmodelling-schools 
throughout the country. They have sub- 
mitted this proposal to His Royal High- 
ness the President, and they have the 
satisfaction of-knowing that he thinks it 
may prove very useful. 
Already the members of the Society 
may be congratulated on the successful 
result of the labours of the influential 
Committee of its members, which has 
been formed to promote legislative recog- 
nition of the rights of inventors. It has 
been announced that Her Majesty's Go- 
vernment are preparedto askParliamentto 
confer the right on all inventors to exhibit 
their inventions at the Great Exhibition, 
without subjecting them to the pains and 
penalties for so doing which are entailed 
by the present system of patent laws: 
and there can be little doubt that this 
right, so consonant with honesty and 
common sense, will be continued beyond 
the period of the Exhibition. The labours 
of the Council will not be relaxed in 
affording every assistance to invest in- 
vention with its due rights and position 
as a science. 
The Council believe that at the pre- 
sent time the Society of Arts will do well 
to make a considerable change in the 
kind of inquiries which it promotes. The 
time is gone by when it was desirable to 
hold out small rewards for little inven- 
tions, because there are now so many 
other and better modes in which all inven- 
tions of real practical value are published 
and rewarded. There are other inquiries 
which, though of the greatest importance, 
bring no profit or reward to those who 
carry them out, the benefit which they 
yield being shared alike by the whole 
pommauity. The exposure of unfair