The Proposals that were circulated in this manner met with so much approbation that fifty-eight of the most respectable names were sent in before measures could be taken for holding a meeting, and these successful beginnings encouraged those who were principally concerned in forming and bringing forward the plan to make some alterations in it, and particularly in respect to the time and manner of choosing the first set of managers, and in regard to an application for a charter for the Institution, which it has been determined to make, in order to place the establishment on a more solid and more respectable foundation, and to give full security to the subscribers against all future claims upon them. IN THIS STAGE OF THE BUSINESS, and especially as a meeting of the subscribers is to be held in a few days for the purpose of determining what other steps shall be taken for carrying the proposed plan into execution, I have thought it to be my duty to lay all these particulars before the subscribers, and at the same time to state to them at length the general outline of the plan I have taken the liberty to propose, and in the execution of which, if it should be adopted, I am ready to take any part that the subscribers may wish me to take. RUMFORD. Brompton Row, March 4, 1799. THE PROPOSALS FOR FORMING BY SUBSCRIPTION, IN THE METROPOLIS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, A PUBLIC INSTITUTION FOR DIFFUSING THE KNOWLEDGE AND FACILITATING THE GENERAL INTRODUCTION OF USEFUL MECHANICAL INVENTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS, AND FOR TEACHING BY COURSES OF PHILOSOPHICAL LECTURES AND EXPERIMENTS THE APPLICATION OF SCIENCE TO THE COMMON PURPOSES OF LIFE WERE THESE: The two great objects of the Institution being the speedy and general diffusion of the knowledge of all new and useful improvements, in whatever quarter of the world they may originate; and teaching the application of scientific discoveries to the improvement of arts and manufactures in this country, and to the increase of domestic comfort and convenience, these objects will be constantly had in view, not only in the arrangement and execution of the plan, but also in the future management of the Institution. As much care will be taken to confine the establishment within its proper limits as to place it on a solid foundation, and to render it an ornament to the capital and an honour to the British nation. In the execution of the plan it is proposed to proceed in the following manner: A place having been fixed on by the managers for forming the Institution,