Not less than three of the thirteen were to be regarded as ineligible for re-election each year. Among the Presidents will be found the men most eminent in their various branches of knowledge. A start was made in the beginning of 1854, the salary of a Science teacher for the first year having been guaranteed by the Science and Art department. Classes were opened in Chemistry, Physics, and Physiology, for both sexes, and were carried on in the room of the Philosophical Institute in Cannon Street, until 1857. On November 22nd, 1855, £10,000 having previously been subscribed to the building fund, the first stone of the new buildings was laid by the Prince Consort. Penny Scientific lectures were now started; and, in deference to a most remarkable expression of opinion on the part of the artisans themselves that they had not education sufficient to enable them to profit by the lectures as given, Penny Lectures on elementary Mathematics and Science were also given. In 1856 Mr. George Dawson and Mr. Sam: Timmins volunteered to conduct an English Literature class, which they continued for three years, and classes, also taught voluntarily, were established in Arithmetic, Latin, French, English History, Logic, Languages, and Thought.[29] In 1859, a subscription of £5,000 having been raised to pay off the debt incurred, the Institute now located in its own buildings, founded a Chemical Society--at present the Institute Scientific Society--members of which delivered lectures to the men in workshops, as well as Natural History and Microscopical Societies. In the examination by the Society of Arts in 1859, one Institute student, C. J. Woodward, now at the head of the Chemical department of the Institute, took the first prize in chemistry, twelve others gaining certificates; while in 1860 both the English literature prizes were carried off by two other students, Henry Simpson and Howard S. Pearson, now Lecturer on English Literature at the Institute. That the right classes were being touched is shown by the fact that 33 per cent. of the students were artisans, 33 per cent. shopmen and clerks, and 16 per cent. women of the same ranks. In 1868 the numbers were 45, 29, and 21 per cent. A steady increase both of students and subscribers (the latter induced by the annual conversazione and the high quality of the occasional lectures) took place during the following years; and the students were stimulated by the many valuable prizes offered by leading inhabitants and by the Central Literary Association. So crowded had the classes now become, that it was imperative to secure further space; and in 1873 the prospect of this was secured by a re-arrangement of buildings and an exchange of land with the Free Libraries, £15,000 being subscribed for the alterations proposed. In the previous year Charles Kingsley had delivered a famous presidential address, one result of which was an anonymous gift of £2,500 to found a class in the Laws of Health.