Genre:

Proceedings, Spoof

Subjects:

Class, Education, Human Species, Societies

    Discusses the visit of Edward G G S Stanley (14th Earl of Derby) to the Liverpool meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Stanley apparently 'presented himself as a specimen of nobleman ignorance' which prompted Richard Owen to note the 'moral qualities that, when put forth under a coronet, may exert an extraordinary fascination upon mankind in general'. Owen proceeded to show the monetary 'secretions' of the 'specimen before him [Stanley]' that could 'have a most noble influence upon all surrounding bodies'. Describes how Stanley and members of the association joined in song, which prompted members to declare the ignorance of a 'true nobleman' preferable to the 'bothering knowledge of a bundle of professors'.