The Astronomer-Royal, Sir George Airy, received this day week the
freedom of the City of London from the Lord Mayor, and in returning thanks for the toast of his health, made a grace- ful speech, of which it appeared to be the chief object to prove that men of science are not an insulated caste separated by a sort of non-conducting intellectual medium from ordinary men, but are of like nature, like enjoyments, and like passions with the rest of the world. Sir George declared that scientific men have always had the closest relation with some utilitarian branch of know- ledge,—astronomers, forinstance, with navigation,—while practical men have always shown the power of easily acquiring a sufficient use for practical purposes of the apparatus of scientific knowledge prepared for them by men of science, at least when their own interests required them to do so. Hence scientific men are not the separate beings they are sometimes supposed to be, and of this Sir George gave a practical illustration by the original and ingenious, if somewhat extravagant, compliment which he paid to the Corporation of London. Men of science, he said, fully appreciated great historic Corporations, and he himself believed them to be " the guardians of the inner life of England and of all political progress." We have no objection to make to this creed as regards " political progress," but Sir George's belief in Cor- porations as the guardian angels of "the inner life" of England is startling,—unless, indeed, by " the inner life," he meant-the life of the deglutitive, digestive, and assimilative systems.
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