POKING ITS NOSE INTO EVERYTHING—THE SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF ARTS, MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE

Abstract

The Society was said ‘to poke its nose into everything’ and this can be seen from the awards it made across a wide spectrum of activities, including the discovery of cobalt in the United Kingdom, mapping of English counties, improved methods of extracting the ore, assaying, reclaiming land, mining equipment, improving crucibles and portable furnaces. The Society also laid the groundwork for the Great Exhibition of 1851 and organized the second exhibition at South Kensington in 1862. From the mid-nineteenth century the Society's lecture program represented the wide range of its activities, including mineralogy and geology. This paper provides a brief overview on the work of the Society, its influence worldwide, and also highlights some individuals with a particular interest in mineralogy and geology, connected with the Society, including one of the founding members of the Geological Society of London, Arthur Aikin.