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 ADDRESS TO THE INSTITUTION OF

MECHANICAL ENGINEERS.

,—This being the first time I have taken the chair since you did me the honour to elect me your President for the present year, I propose to address you shortly on a few topics more or less connected with our profession of mechanical engineering. But first, let me express my gratification, and I am sure that of my fellow-countrymen, in thus meeting our northern friends in this important city.

Glasgow is peculiarly interested in the mechanical arts, for the minerals for making iron are found in great abundance in this locality; indeed, it is to this neighbourhood, more than to any other, that the world is indebted for the cheapest and most abundant supply of iron. Here, too, that metal is converted into a great variety of machinery. There are large manufactories of the steam-engine—fixed,