But perhaps Roscoe’s greatest service to Liverpool was his share in the foundation of its Royal Institution. He was chairman of the Committee which drew up the scheme of its establishment, and wrote the Report for publication concerning its objects; and at its opening in 1817 gave an address on the part it was calculated to play in fostering the connection which ought to exist between the intellectual and the business life of a city devoted to trade. “It is to the union,” he declared, “of the pursuits of literature with the affairs of the world that we are to look for the improvement of both; for the stability and foundation of the one, and the grace and ornament of the other.” He was no less mindful of the claims of science: “imperfect indeed would be the civilization of that people who, devoted to the accumulation of wealth by industry, should, from an apprehension of expending their means on useless objects, refuse to encourage scientific inquiries.” He pointed out that all improvements in the mechanical arts and in manufactures were to be attributed to the labours and discoveries of those who had applied themselves to the enlargement of the boundaries of science. Even at that time he was able to show that many occupations hitherto pursued empirically were being practised under a growing recognition that they were based on scientific principles, and that it was only by a wider appreciation of that fact, combined with increased facilities for the acquisition and diffusion of scientific knowledge, that the improvement and expansion of such industries could be secured. More than sixty years afterwards it fell to his grandson’s lot to dilate upon the same theme in the same place, and to indicate how the intervening time of scientific and industrial progress had served to confirm the wisdom and accuracy of his grandfather’s insight.