LC 6301 
 
 .S95 
 
 Copy 2 W 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE OPENING OF 
 
 mi0 
 
 I 
 
 THE STUYVESANT INSTITUTE 
 
 CITY OF NEW-YORK, 
 
 4th NOVEMBER, 1837, 
 
 SAMUEL WARD, Junior. 
 
 NEW-YORK : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE STUYVESANT INSTITUTE 
 Geo. P. Hopkins & Son, Printers. 
 
 1837. 
 
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 jffl$#L 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE OPENING OF 
 
 THE STUYVESANT INSTITUTE 
 
 CITY OF NEW-YORK, 
 
 4th NOVEMBER, 1837, 
 
 SAMUEL WARD, Junior 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE STUYVESANT INSTITUTE, 
 
 Geo. F. Hopkins & Son, Printers. 
 
 1837. 
 
 <*fvwj V- 
 

 In exchange 
 
 Peabody Institute 
 
 Baltimore 
 
 AUG 2 1928 
 
& SE> S& 3E SB £1 M 
 
 **++*++•&&++++*+ 
 
 GENTLEMEN OF THE STUYVESANT INSTITUTE : 
 
 We are assembled to dedicate these Halls to 
 Science ; and you have chosen to represent you, 
 on this interesting occasion, one better fitted to 
 swing an ardent censer at the shrine of their tute- 
 lar deity than to officiate in the more dignified 
 rites of an opening ceremony. To the deep sense 
 of an unexpected honour are joined in my bosom 
 emotions of pride that there should have been 
 erected in this city, by the voluntary offerings of 
 its prosperous inhabitants, another edifice destined 
 to combine the materials with the opportunities of 
 human enlightenment. 
 
 I rejoice at the construction of this fabric, 
 because, in the perseverance and confidence by 
 which from a slender beginning, and throughout 
 times most unpropitious, it has been accom- 
 
 1 
 
plished, may be seen the elements of that increas- 
 ing strength, and the germ of that enduring vitality 
 by which an institution continues to thrive long 
 after its generous founders have ceased to enter 
 its portals. Such an edifice may be viewed as a 
 monument ; and, gentlemen, by monuments in some 
 degree, after centuries have elapsed, may be tra- 
 ced, the legend of a nation's greatness, its arts, 
 its letters, and its civilization. 
 
 From the earliest ages, conscious of a perishable 
 existence, man has striven to perpetuate in marble 
 or on canvass the remembrance of great events. 
 It was easier to impress the images of these upon 
 the material world, than to immortalize them in 
 song or story. The temple and the triumphal 
 arch once erected, — a statue was placed in the 
 niche of the one, and a name, the deed and the 
 day, were inscribed upon the face of the other. 
 Then, a thousand lyres sang pceans to the god, 
 and deified the hero. Centuries pass on, and 
 history rebuilds the temple, and substitutes itself 
 for the monument. 
 
The old world is filled with such memorials of 
 by-gone grandeur, — from the Colossal enigmas of 
 the land of the Ptolemies to the classic models of 
 a later day ; from the unrivalled temples of ancient 
 Greece, to those cloud-capt cathedrals of the 
 middle ages, where the richly embroidered exte- 
 rior, and the paintings that tapestry the inner 
 walls, testify to the fervour of a piety that in our 
 day has assumed a new and less ostentatious form ; 
 and from the triumphal arch of Trajan at Rome, 
 to that stupendous structure commemorative of 
 modern pride, which, recently completed by ac- 
 clamation in the capitol of France, seems only 
 the funeral pyre of the armies whose victories 
 it records.* 
 
 But intellectual greatness requires no material 
 mementos of its power, which is rather of to- 
 morrow, than of yesterday. The name that con- 
 secrates the groves of Academe awakens a far 
 nobler train of thought than do the grandest 
 
 * The arc de triomphe de I'Etoile. 
 
monuments of antiquity. The one proclaims the 
 lofty career of man, and fills the soul with hope 
 and with a consciousness of its destiny, while the 
 others remind us of our physical insignificance, 
 and tell us the inevitable doom of humanity. But, 
 besides the debt of reverence due from us to the 
 sages of the past, for their legacies of wisdom 
 and of science, we are bound to increase the 
 hereditary stock, and to hand down to posterity 
 proportionate claims to its gratitude and esteem. 
 For this purpose we need build neither pyramid 
 nor triumphal arch; — in the spacious and service- 
 able edifice around us, and in the desire for the 
 advancement of learning its erection indicates, 
 are the happiest evidences that we are at length 
 preparing to discharge our obligation. 
 
 If the short but eventful period the annals of our 
 country embrace, exhibit few contributions to the 
 general stock of knowledge, and if no other than the 
 science of practical education has hitherto almost 
 solely engrossed our attention, it is that we are the 
 children of but one generation, — of a generation, 
 
which, having laid, in the broad principles of human 
 liberty, the foundations of our political edifice, 
 has bequeathed to its posterity the grateful task 
 of crowning the work so begun, with a superstruc- 
 ture of social virtues, cemented, fortified, and 
 adorned by justice, by science, and by art. To 
 the old world, we have given in exchange for the 
 first materials of civilization, the produce of our 
 soil, and the inventions to which its culture and 
 vast extent have given birth. There are, indeed, 
 illustrious examples among us of a similar return 
 in literature and in science, for the intellectual 
 blessings we have received at its hands ; but these 
 are scattered sparsely throughout our land, and 
 seem to await a bond of union to connect them 
 in one compact body, when the sympathies of the 
 whole, aspiring to the higher dignities of intelli- 
 gence, shall create a medium for the transmission 
 of its great results. If science and letters are in- 
 dispensable to the moral grandeur of a nation, (and 
 that they are who can doubt ?) it is the duty of the 
 enlightened, not only to hail their advent, but to 
 prepare the way for their reception. In this, all 
 
may and should be instrumental; both the rising 
 generation, and those by whose authority and 
 counsel, they are swayed and guided. The for- 
 mer, readily incited, are dependent upon the latter 
 for opportunity. They should not depend in vain. 
 
 If, however, those inclined to literature, or en- 
 dowed with the zeal and patient industry by which 
 alone the domain of science can be enriched, have 
 no other resource, they can at least emulate the 
 independent spirit of their forefathers — emanci- 
 pate themselves from the influence of the universal 
 pursuit, — the sacra fames of gain, and strike out 
 boldly in a path, rugged at the out-set, but by pur- 
 suing which, they may reap the laurels and the 
 emoluments of fame. Seldom in the most righte- 
 ous cause, do individuals venture singly to en- 
 counter the prejudices of the mass ; but the rally- 
 ing of a few around the banner of letters soon 
 collects followers and commands respect. It re- 
 quires more virtue to immolate avarice to learning 
 than to pursue an ancestral calling; and science 
 once dignified with the attributes of an indepen- 
 
dent vocation, the many will be the first to patronize 
 and to appreciate it. In some countries of Europe, 
 a pursuit is handed down like a title of nobility; 
 each succeeding generation adding its quarter to 
 the hereditary escutcheon. Even the executioner 
 arrogates to himself dignity from his forefathers 
 of the axe. In this manner, certain castes have 
 been preserved, and the objects of each graduated 
 by its position in the social scale. With us, how- 
 ever, whilst the children of the less wealthy naturally 
 aspire to an independence, it is often the sole object 
 of those who inherit this to swell it to opulence. 
 
 The mines of commercial wealth being equally 
 accessible to all, the wisdom which developed 
 them should now point out some higher goal to 
 those abundantly rich, else we may fall victims, 
 as was but yesterday our danger, to the luxuries 
 and consequent vices that spring up from wealth, 
 unaccompanied by intellectual refinement — and 
 thus decay, as a people, like the great republics 
 of old, before we shall have ripened into the full 
 maturity of a nation. 
 
8 
 
 To counteract this, we should cherish an ar- 
 dent love for science in the abstract, as in the 
 application ; we should nurture the offsprings of a 
 nascent literature ; and we should honour the phi- 
 losopher and love the poet in the same degree as 
 we appreciate the historian, and venerate the law- 
 giver. Gliding years will soon bereave us of those 
 more muscular mental faculties that commerce 
 exercises ; and then, conscious of an error, we may 
 be removed from its causes by too wide an inter- 
 val even to ascertain — much less counteract them. 
 Let us then anticipate and provide against an evil 
 it may be hereafter too late to remedy, by accord- 
 ing to the votaries of literature and of science, a 
 sympathy which, while it penetrates as a sunbeam 
 the cheerless closet of the student, illumining the 
 abstruse page, and warming the heart, inspires him 
 with fresh energy to pursue his vocation without 
 unfitting him, as some vainly imagine, for the emer- 
 gencies of life. There are instances where the 
 philosopher and the poet leaving their respective 
 spheres, have assumed with courage the defence 
 of State. Archimedes protected Syracuse, and 
 
9 
 
 Tyrt,eus led the Lacedemonians to victory ; while, 
 in our day, Fichte the transcendentalist, and 
 Korner the poet, were first among the patriots 
 who, in Germany, resisted the French invasion, 
 and a Franklin, a Humboldt and a Lindenau 
 have shone brightly in the councils of State. 
 
 And how are we to further this so desirable 
 advancement of learning ? Not by national endow- 
 ments, which, however desirable in themselves, 
 are at variance with the spirit of our institutions. 
 Not by state patronage, which has in some cases 
 proved inadequate to the requirements of a most 
 important profession. But by association, by 
 the joint efforts of the prosperous, and the educa- 
 ted, — efforts in which each individual may happily 
 lend essential aid towards improving the actual 
 and prospective welfare of the whole. Let socie- 
 ties be formed after the plan of the states which 
 compose our confederacy ; and, as these acquire 
 power, they will become telegraphic points for 
 the interchange and diffusion of great and new 
 truths in science, in letters or in polity. Exerci- 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 sing a wholesome influence in their respective 
 localities, they will afford protection and resources 
 to the meritorious and the aspiring, and thus gra- 
 dually render abstract learning independent of the 
 absorbing cares of life, and assign to it its true 
 value in the eyes of men. Such bodies will con- 
 stitute one great confederation of letters, each 
 representing its own peculiarities and special 
 tendencies, while in the union of all there will be 
 glory and utility. 
 
 The present association is then conceived in 
 the truest spirit of our institutions. With increas- 
 ing means, an extensive library, and the apparatus 
 of philosophical experiment it will afford facili- 
 ties to the student and to the lecturer, while, 
 through the medium of public courses, those dis- 
 posed to cultivate and to contribute to intellectual 
 advancement, may learn and appreciate the modes 
 by which this is accomplished. That these re- 
 sources should be augmented, and that results so 
 desirable should be attained, depend solely upon 
 the numbers impelled to pursue or to embellish the 
 
11 
 
 higher walks of intelligence. First and foremost 
 among the members of this community stands the 
 liberal and enlightened merchant. His example 
 is the precept of the rising generation — it renders 
 custom a law, and gives its bias to public opinion. 
 The wealthy and intelligent representatives of 
 European commerce, have been recently destined 
 to take an important part in the troubles as in 
 the prosperities of the old world. Lafitte and 
 Casimir Perier, — the one immolating himself 
 to the revolution of July, and the other sacrificing 
 in turn the revolution to the permanent tranquility 
 of France, — are striking illustrations of the in- 
 fluence of commerce, while despotic governments 
 owning the supremacy of a Rothschild, testify 
 to the power of mercantile industry over the 
 welfare of society. With us, setting aside the 
 political emergencies, to meet which, the energies 
 of the merchant are ever at the service of his 
 country, and the financial embarrassments, where, 
 in extricating himself he has displayed equal skill 
 and integrity — the mercantile interests hereto- 
 fore personifying one huge and unexampled pros- 
 
12 
 
 perity, may, in like manner, henceforth, represent 
 one vast and aspiring intelligence. Though called 
 for in the active defence of state, and though 
 paralyzed for the present in the effort to create a 
 standard by which enterprise shall be regulated — 
 the exertions of the merchant may still effect a 
 revolution in the cause of American letters — thus 
 sowing seed which shall spring up and bear whole- 
 some fruits alike in the successes or the reverses 
 of the future, and founding those institutions which 
 alone are wanting to render us the equal of Europe 
 in thought and word, as we are now in action. 
 This fulfilling, the world may contemplate a novel 
 and glorious spectacle — the civilised representa- 
 tives of the human race — aiming at the same 
 magnificent result — the elevation of mankind — 
 the inhabitants of the new world, using their best 
 energies to become as enlightened as they are free, 
 and their transatlantic brethren striving with kindred 
 vigour to become as free as they are enlightened. 
 
 There is certainly a sufficient reason for our 
 hitherto comparatively slight advancement in the 
 
13 
 
 higher walks of mind, in the numerous wants of 
 a recent settlement, and in the requirements of an 
 unprovided people. The necessities of physical 
 man, must be supplied, ere we look for those 
 refinements of intellect, which are the concomi- 
 tants of ease and wealth. Science, although it 
 claims to be the expounder of nature, does not 
 begin to exert its full sway over a people, until art 
 has provided them with the means, and placed 
 them in a condition of at least temporary inde- 
 pendence. This once ensured, a duty which, 
 until then, has been alike imperative with all, now 
 devolves upon government. Legislation enacts 
 the wise laws which encourage industry, by en- 
 hancing its fruits; and intelligence stepping forth 
 from the ranks, devises the means of their educa- 
 tion. The intellect of a nation has first to mount 
 a steep ascent over obstacles, frequent, and at 
 times, apparently insurmountable, having in view 
 a circumscribed object, as the goal of its desires. 
 Reaching that, it soon finds before it vast fields of 
 truth to be explored, far beyond its former con- 
 ceptions. Like the curious traveller, who fixes on 
 
14 
 
 some great elevation as an object to be attained, 
 and who, in his attempt, climbs the rugged cliff or 
 mouldering precipice, trembling beneath his step, 
 and after his toil and danger discovers nothing on 
 the height itself but a spot, from whence, to view 
 the broad expanse, the variety and the beauty, the 
 far-stretched territory, and the illimitable streams 
 of the land he has left, and then, for the first time, 
 perceives the grandeur of nature, and feels the 
 divinity within prompting him to further research. 
 
 In the story of our past, little then will be found 
 to discourage the hopes I have ventured to put 
 forth ; and in our present condition, and the pros- 
 pect before us, we may also see, that upon the 
 government of this country has devolved a suffi- 
 ciently responsible task. The work of intellec- 
 tual improvement is, therefore, to be achieved like 
 every great and good work hitherto accomplished 
 among us by all. In turning to the page of history, 
 we find republican Athens originating science, 
 letters and art, of which the perfection has been 
 handed down, through succeeding ages, with the 
 
15 
 
 traditions of ancient heroism — while erudite Alex- 
 andria, under the patronage of the Ptolemies, 
 strove in vain to equal the productions of unfet- 
 tered Attic genius. Does not this evince the 
 extent to which science and letters may flourish 
 beneath the sunshine of liberty ? Again, in the 
 Florentine annals, we learn of the revival of art 
 and of letters effected by the genius, the taste, and 
 the liberality of a family of merchants — the Me- 
 dici. Does not this again prove how materially 
 and how nobly the merchant may contribute to 
 refine the taste and to elevate the intelligence of 
 his country 1 
 
 When speaking of the merchant, I would not 
 exclude as subjects of the same remarks, those 
 who are not directly engaged in mercantile pur- 
 suits, and yet who constitute parts of the same 
 community. It may be allowed to give the word 
 a more extended meaning, on the present occasion, 
 than a correct etymology would imply. The At- 
 lantic States of this great confederacy may be con 
 sidered a country of merchants. The mechanic, 
 
16 
 
 who gives form, solidity and capability to the argosy, 
 or who rears the spacious warehouse that receives 
 its treasures — the capatilist, who lends the gains 
 which a life of industry, frugality, and prudent 
 management has amassed, to the use of the more 
 enterprising — the jurist who expounds the law, or 
 who contributes the light of the knowledge ob- 
 tained by persevering study, and careful observa- 
 tion to reveal the path of justice and equity, dark- 
 ened by the conflicting interests, and complicated 
 circumstances of trade — in short, all who labour 
 for that individual independence which is the 
 surest basis of civil liberty, form each as essential 
 a constituent of the great commercial family, as 
 he who consigns his products or imports his mer- 
 chandise. And the numerous instances about us 
 of individual aggrandizement, in all of these pur- 
 suits, are so many proofs that in each it may be 
 attained, and is in all attributable to the advan- 
 tages of commerce. 
 
 From the present aspect of Europe, and a 
 glance at the actual and previous condition of 
 
17 
 
 science and letters, as endowed and cultivated 
 there, we may derive an instructive lesson. The 
 phenomenon by which, despite their peculiarities, 
 so many races of divers character, and actuated 
 by conflicting interests, live, with a solitary excep- 
 tion, in real and prospective peace at home and 
 abroad, may, in a measure, be accounted for by 
 the progress of refined letters, of elevated science, 
 and by the immediate influence of the latter, in 
 perfecting the arts of life. Akin to the piety 
 which inspires His servants in different portions 
 of the globe, to worship one Creator, is the de- 
 votion of its votaries to one learning. Unam- 
 bitious of worldly distinctions, and soaring above 
 the vices and passions that degrade our race ; the 
 knee which they refuse to bend to power or to 
 fortune, they, like the Persian, bend to the sun 
 that illumines and fructifies the mind. Honoured 
 and esteemed as well for their devotion as for its 
 object, they are the chosen High Priests of learn- 
 ing who instruct the crowd, and impart the myste- 
 ries of science to those destined to perpetuate 
 discovery. 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 Witness the results. The great engine of 
 modern science, the calculus of Newton and of 
 Leibnitz, which, at its birth, was possessed by 
 those master spirits only, has since become diffused 
 even as the wealth, that in days of yore, placed the 
 destinies of a nation in the hands of its sovereign, 
 is now the property of all ranks. And as the 
 latter distributed among the masses, has endowed 
 them with the means of ameliorating their own 
 welfare, so has the former originated a thousand 
 minor inventions, steps by which, as by a ladder, 
 it has become the privilege of all to ascend to the 
 higher regions of knowledge. From science, to 
 its applications, the transition is necessary and 
 simple; and art, of which it was erst the hand- 
 maiden, has thus become its messenger to men. 
 
 And how, gentlemen, has this been accomplish- 
 ed ? — By association. I will not here attempt to 
 show whether or no societies originate inventions ; 
 it is sufficient that they preserve discovery, that 
 they engender taste, foster science, hold out the 
 incitements which develope latent talent, and check 
 
19 
 
 retrogression. In fine, that they are the libraries 
 which enfold, and the librarians who reveal the 
 achievements of the dead — the Areopagites whose 
 decision establishes the claims of the living. 
 
 We see, then, how disciples congregated around 
 the apostle of science, as around an intellectual 
 nucleus. Leibnitz, under the sanction of the first 
 Frederick, founds and presides over the academy of 
 Berlin and Euler, is summoned by Catherine to 
 direct and enrich with his learning a similar asso- 
 ciation in the Russian capital. Sir Isaac Newton 
 is elected President of the Royal Society, which 
 early knew and appreciated his genius, and La- 
 grange, subsequently organises at Turin, a learned 
 body, which is still a living testimony to the vigour 
 of the talent, from which it received its initial 
 impulse. Its votaries thus disciplined into corps, 
 the objects of science became distributed. Here 
 do we see the germ of that departition of intellec- 
 tual pursuits, which, like the division of labour in 
 manufactures, has achieved the greatest and most 
 beneficial results. Soon, memoirs of the transac- 
 
20 
 
 tions of each scientific body enlighten its sister 
 associations and communicate great results to a 
 surprised and delighted world. The simplest 
 branch of human inquiry becomes dignified with 
 the importance of a science. The student of 
 nature learns how to penetrate her secrets, and 
 philosophy arranges and classifies discovery. The 
 works of buried sages are drawn out from the 
 neglected nook, the sublime prophecies of a Bacon 
 and a Galileo become fulfilled, and their doctrines 
 expanded and appreciated. One universal enthu- 
 siasm is enkindled throughout Europe — each in- 
 telligent bosom burns to join in the crusade against 
 ignorance. Literature and philosophy receive a 
 quickening impulse from science, and all are array- 
 ed beneath its banners. The pride of governments 
 is aroused, and with it, a desire to participate in 
 such ovations. To atone for past oppression and 
 neglect, kings hasten to exalt the votary, and to 
 appreciate the mysteries he unfolds. The higher 
 schools of learning are founded and endowed with 
 the means of progression, and with privileges 
 which render them independent of the troubles of 
 
21 
 
 state. Thus, gushing from a few primitive sources 
 of knowledge, has the placid stream of science 
 swollen into a majestic river ; its waters fertilizing 
 the soil, and its resistless current affording a thou- 
 sand new and living powers to the arts of life. 
 
 With the great effects of these novel impulses 
 all present are familiar. The science which took 
 origin simultaneously in England and in Germany, 
 soon reflected its rays upon the intelligent acade- 
 mies of Paris. These became the first to honour 
 the illustrious of other nations, and to emulate a 
 glorious example. By them prizes were proposed 
 for the solution of important emblems in physical 
 and analytical science, and numerous voices raised 
 in hailing the triumphs of mind and in prayers for 
 their continuance, found an echo throughout all 
 Europe. Astronomy, the primitive object of human 
 research, soon yielded up its secrets to the in- 
 quiries of a searching analysis, and the magnifi- 
 cent laws of gravitation served to unfold new and 
 vast proofs of the creative harmony. 
 
22 
 
 While a Herschel, a Delambre, and a La- 
 place, three talents so eminent, so fertile, yet so 
 widely different, mingling thus harmoniously, eleva- 
 ted human intelligence to the stars, and enabled it to 
 read the title-page of the universe, a like fervour 
 impelled others to examine the domains and re- 
 sources of a less distant and more mutable nature. 
 Cuvier, Humboldt, and Sir Humphrey Davy, 
 through the aid and discipline of science, de- 
 cyphered the imperfect inscriptions past revolu- 
 tions had left in the bosom and on the surface of 
 the globe, and by degrees, each one of which, was 
 a great discovery, revealed to its inhabitants the 
 subtle agents that control the material world. 
 " Nature and science, " says Cuvier, " may be re- 
 presented as two vast pictures, of which one 
 should be a copy of the other. Each is partitioned 
 into an infinite number of compartments which 
 though appropriated to themselves by different 
 orders of Savans, constitute, nevertheless, one and 
 the same system. But in the picture nature pre- 
 sents, each partition is full, and all are linked to- 
 gether, while in the imitative canvass of man, 
 

 23 
 
 many are entirely empty, and others display in- 
 correct images which have, at most, a rude resem- 
 blance to the original ; in fine, it must be acknowl- 
 edged, that all the efforts of those who have 
 cultivated the sciences, have tended to reproduce 
 with fidelity a small number only of the designs, 
 shadowed forth by the immense and sublime union 
 of natural existences." Thus astronomy, in which 
 may be traced the first and most perfect affiliation 
 of the practical with the theoretical, has out- 
 distanced its sister branches of scientific discovery. 
 In it reason and analysis have supplanted the lenses, 
 and calculations of a wondrous, yet imperfect art ; 
 and its portion in the great image of nature is, 
 comparatively, full and perfect. 
 
 I have cited the present perfection in astronomy, 
 both to show how much is wanting to render other 
 departments of science as complete, and because 
 the magnificent results obtained by celestial me- 
 chanics are alone an encouraging guarantee for 
 the future. They are an earnest that, sooner or 
 later, the minuter'mechanism of the world, and the 
 
24 
 
 springs of universal action must be revealed to us. 
 Emblems of the immortal destiny of mind, they 
 constitute a lofty poetry of hope, and are the 
 irresistible allurements by which man sees mir- 
 rored in the past, the fulfilment of a prophecy, the 
 creative artifice by which he is enticed to prose- 
 cute, with untiring ardour, the inquiries of the 
 future. The history of astronomy shows that its 
 prodigious advancement may, in a measure, be at- 
 tributed to the period of time during which it has 
 lived and flourished — that of its progress alone, 
 fills six quarto volumes, and presents an array of 
 names unequalled in numbers and in splendour in 
 the annals of any other science. By it is afforded 
 a surprising proof of the unknown resources which 
 the exigencies of discovery may develope. In aid 
 of its progress it has created engines which, after 
 having laboured with unwearied industry in erect- 
 ing the column it occupies in the great temple, have 
 been in turn summoned to rear the other portions 
 of the edifice. Finally, to astronomy are we in- 
 debted for an incontestable proof that our slight 
 progress in the science is the result of physical 
 
25 
 
 causes purely ; for, to an American has been re- 
 served the honour of unfolding the mysteries of the 
 Mecanique Celeste, and to our illustrious Bowditch 
 must henceforth be given a portion of the glory of 
 Laplace. 
 
 To enter minutely into the nature and divisions 
 of any one of the great philosophical problems of 
 our age, would but recall to mind some detached 
 science the daily improvements achieved in which, 
 are diffused throughout the world by an enlight- 
 ened press. The progress of chemistry alone 
 during the present century, is a subject too vast 
 to be grasped within the present hour — what 
 then can be said of botany, of geology, of zo- 
 ology or of a thousand minor out-shoots from the 
 perennial tree of knowledge ? What space have 
 we to contemplate the progress of the arts, the 
 achievments of Franklin, of Rittenhouse, of 
 Fulton, or of Whitney, in our own clime, and of 
 Arkwright, of Watt, or of Babbage, in Europe. 
 I repeat it, these triumphs of man over matter, are 
 the food of our daily meditations. 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 The present objects of scientific inquiry, surely 
 surpass their predecessors, and are alike the wonder 
 of all. The five imponderable fluids, light, heat, 
 electricity, galvanism, and magnetism; the subtle 
 spirits of creation, are about being subjected to the 
 dominion of man. Like the slaves of the lamp, 
 they will soon lead him into caverns whose new 
 and vast treasures of knowledge will be revealed 
 to his ravished gaze. 
 
 From the contemplation of the universe with an 
 unquailing eye, man has received the impress of its 
 grandeur. He now turns to microscopic investiga- 
 tion. Science has become one universal interro- 
 gation of nature, and the magnificent responses of 
 recent days fill the inquiring mind, now with doubt, 
 and now with conviction; with doubt, lest our 
 entire physical knowledge be founded in ignorance 
 of first causes, and with the conviction that such 
 doubts must ere long be resolved. 
 
 All Europe, partitioned into associations, — 
 strengthened by royal and legislative munificence — 
 
27 
 
 has laboured with one mind for the advancement 
 of science. Besides the well organized academies 
 of Paris, France founds in her departments ten 
 similar institutions, all of which seek diligently at 
 home and abroad, new sources of enlightened 
 happiness. The Sorbonne,* and the College de 
 France,* choose their professors from among the 
 young and promising ; and these, educated by a 
 law of merit in its public schools, in turn reflect 
 lustre upon their country. The Polytechnic, the 
 school of mines, of arts and trades, and of engi- 
 neering, nourish and develope the zeal and talent 
 of future explorers in the regions of science or of 
 art, and the rewards and dignities of intellectual 
 attainments, rival in the state the honours and 
 emoluments awarded to military glory. Side by 
 side through life in the royal council, the sage and 
 the hero are enshrined after death in the same 
 tomb,t and the nation inscribes over its lofty porch, 
 the dedication of the monument by a grateful 
 country to its exalted men.\ 
 
 * The two Universities of Paris. 
 
 | The Pantheon, 
 
 J Aux grands Hommes la patrie reconnaissante. 
 
28 
 
 In Germany, enthusiasm has been more inti- 
 mately diffused throughout all ranks. The spark 
 which kindled its literature into a blaze lit up also 
 the torch of science. A Blumenbach, a Gauss, 
 and a Humboldt — worthy contemporaries of the 
 scholars, the poets, and the philosophers of their 
 epoch, — inherited the genius of a Leibnitz and of 
 a Euler. The academies of Berlin, of Gottingen, 
 of Leipsic, of Munich, and of Vienna, became the 
 foci of learning, and their transactions the rendez- 
 vous of the wise. Proud to imitate, and happy to 
 admire the productions of foreign genius, the Ger- 
 man brought into the field of science a patience and 
 a research alike unknown to the practical Briton 
 and to the refining Gaul. The former employed 
 philosophy in aid of invention, and the latter in 
 generalizing the principles of science, while the 
 German has applied invention and science to phi- 
 losophy, and thus found formulae for determining 
 the phenomena of an essence far surpassing in its 
 mysterious and expansive power, all other won- 
 ders of creation — the human mind. 
 
29 
 
 In England, important results have likewise 
 been obtained, less perhaps in science than in art, 
 less in theory than in practical invention. Its in- 
 stitutions of learning have undergone no essential 
 change ; and this may be one of the evil conse- 
 quences of its conservatism. The calculating 
 machine of Babbage is nevertheless the mechanical 
 wonder of our age. Performing computations of 
 which the length and intricacy have hitherto re- 
 tarded the progress of science, and indelibly re- 
 cording and multiplying each result, it has become 
 one of the iron fingers of art, and allows a wider 
 and more varied range to scientific inquiry. Sen- 
 sible, though late, of the advantages of combination 
 in the pursuit of learning, and, mayhap, ambitious 
 of reviving the intelligent age of Newton, Barrow, 
 Halley, Flamstead, Cotes, and Maclaurin, — the 
 learned of England have for six years past, courte- 
 ously invited, and hospitably entertained at York, 
 at Oxford, at Cambridge, at Edinburgh, at Dublin, 
 and at Bristol, the learned of all nations. At this 
 annual scientific congress, which is even now in 
 session at Liverpool, the proceedings of the past 
 
30 
 
 year are communicated, the rate of progression as- 
 certained, and the objects of immediate, as well as 
 remote future inquiry laid down and distributed. A 
 convocation of German naturalists was recently 
 held at Stuttgard, and the French Scientific Associ- 
 ation which originally met at Poictiers, was assem- 
 bled during the present month at Metz. 
 
 The great schools of the continent are alike open 
 to the stranger and to the citizen. At their portals 
 science beckons unto all to come and drink of the 
 waters of knowledge, and some European govern- 
 ments, satisfied that the intelligence of a country, 
 like the magnet, acquires fresh vigour from the 
 energies it imparts, have endowed the learned with 
 salaries which render them independent of the 
 pecuniary aid of their disciples. Thus, in Paris, 
 may any science be acquired, free of expence to 
 its votary. At its universities are taught and illus- 
 trated every branch of experimental philosophy, 
 of natural and of abstract science, of metaphysics, 
 of history, of legislation, and of letters. At the 
 king's library free access may be had to the books 
 
31 
 
 that reveal, and the philologists who explain, the 
 recondite elements of oriental literature ; and the 
 galleries and academies of the fine arts court the 
 visits of the amateur, and the studies of the artist. 
 To the disciples of Esculapius are opened the 
 schools of medicine and the vast and instructive 
 hospitals ; and at the Garden of Plants may be 
 viewed the cognate natural treasures of the world. 
 
 Within this latter justly renowned enclosure, 
 there stands upon an acclivity a lofty and magifi- 
 cent cedar of Lebanon. From its summit, years 
 of scientific glory contemplate the rich and varied 
 surface around. From beneath the salutary shade 
 of its wide-spreading branches, may be heard the 
 lion's roar, the tiger's yell, and the joyous carol of 
 birds of other climes — may be viewed the extensive 
 conservatories which enclose the treasures of the 
 three kingdoms of nature, and the quiet abodes of 
 the accomplished men, who each day draw from 
 these, new and eloquent truths — may be felt the be- 
 nign, yet elevating influence of the spot. Calm and 
 erect amid the blood-stained victories of the re- 
 
32 
 
 public, the glories of the empire, the reverses of 
 the hundred days, the frailties of the restoration, 
 and the troublous times of the last revolution, this 
 monarch of the mountain seems an enduring emblem 
 of the science which, aspiring to monuments more 
 durable than the arch or the column, and heedless 
 of the turmoils and vanities of the great metropolis, 
 fulfils in this new academe, and by an immutable 
 law, its own high destiny. 
 
 While the aspect of the sciences has varied with 
 their progress, the modes of effecting this have re- 
 mained essentially the same. Each new discovery 
 strengthened the sympathies which linked together 
 the votaries of science, and enhanced, in their eyes, 
 the value of union. But besides the intellectual 
 culture attained and diffused by these collective 
 efforts, a great moral lesson has thus been silently 
 inculcated upon mankind. From appreciating the 
 benefits of knowledge, men have proceeded to love 
 those who impart it, and hence have arisen in- 
 creased deference and respect for age and expe- 
 rience. Fresh intensity has been added to the 
 
33 
 
 social ties, the affections have become fortified, 
 and a just sense of gratitude towards God, ac- 
 coupled to the ardour of mental improvement. 
 This gradual amelioration of individual sentiments 
 has spread its kindly influence throughout the 
 masses, and science has inspired them with esteem 
 and affection for their great benefactors. 
 
 Such, gentlemen, is the inquiring spirit of the age ; 
 the same which a German poet has personified as 
 Titan, the giant, who, not content with his colossal 
 strength, or with having ascertained the laws of 
 celestial harmony, now aspires to scale heaven 
 itself; and to effect this, heaps mountain upon 
 mountain. It has been our fortune to participate 
 but slightly in these exploits of modern intelligence. 
 We have been occupied in rendering habitable and 
 productive the earth around us, and in forming 
 institutions suited to the liberties we enjoy. How 
 we are hereafter to achieve intellectual triumphs 
 which shall worthily succeed our moral victories, is 
 an enigma time alone can unravel. But, that such 
 is to be our future destiny, seems an unavoidable 
 
 5 
 
34 
 
 sequel to the gigantic strides of the arts and inven- 
 tions among us. Inheriting with the wisdom and 
 experience of by-gone centuries, the advantages of 
 a common language with England, and of sharing 
 in each wholesome impulse of European intelli- 
 gence, we now enter upon our career of national 
 manhood, with the buoyancy and vigour of youth 
 attempered, yet undiminished by past trials. Giving 
 to these energies a proper direction, the certainty 
 of our future greatness becomes brighter than the 
 most gorgeous visions of the imagination. Science, 
 whilome the companion of the sage and the hidden 
 object of individual devotion, even now seeks 
 among us a permanent abode. It has been the 
 object of this brief sketch to show that we all are 
 bound to welcome her within these walls. 
 
./ 
 
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 •