Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Education, Societies, Instruments, War, Government, Electricity, Instruments

    Following the success of 'associations of young men for the cultivation of each other's minds', reports on the extension of the educational experiment to 'elderly men in the higher ranks'. An 'Old Men's Mutual Improvement Society' is to be founded with the specific intention of applying 'common sense to the conduct of civil and military affairs', an ironic reference to the ineptitude of elderly statesmen and military personnel in the management of the Crimean War. Reports that members of the society will visit the Royal Polytechnic Institution and similar institutions, and enjoy access to such scientific instruments as an electrical machine and a galvanic battery.