The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-31 00:00:00

w hen I urge you to take advantage of your period of study
—indeed you will be compelled, no doubt, by College ex-
amination to do so—(laughter and cheers) —by directing
your attention to the study of mathematics. (Cheers.) The
Scotch mind, which is a very reasoning mind—(cheers and
laughter)—which is a mind that loves investigation and the
pursuit of truth—(renewed applause)—is well known to be
peculiarly adapted to mathematical science. (Loud cheers.)
In a country that gave birth to the man who invented lo-
garithms, it is useless to inculcate anything upon that sub-
ject. (Laughter and cheers.) But depend upon it that
there is nothing which gives greater accuracy to the opera-
tions of the human mind than the study of mathematics.
It is, I will say, almost the only study which brings to the
mind the satisfactory demonstration of indisputable truth
—truth, I mean with reference to those matters to which it
extends. But it is, perhaps, the best system of logic. A
man who accustoms his mind to mathematical demonstra•
Lions will not wander into irreverent disputations, but will
know how to shape his ideas so as to present a conclusive
demonstration of the arguments which he wishes to bring
to bear upon any subject. Well, gentlemen, we should
have lived in vain, or at least the purposes of existence
would only be partially accomplished, if we were to shut
our minds to all that has passed before our time; and the
study of history is a most useful and necessary part of the
accomplishments which youths ought to acquire. History
will not indeed give you materials which by a geometrical
propositi in you can apply with accuracy; for as we find
among the millions of the human race that no two men
have features in all respects identical, so in regard to human
events, we cannot find in all historical record two events
which in all their concomitant circumstances are so alike,
that the ex duple of one can form a rule of conduct for the
others. (Loud cheers.) But it is of great service for those
who have to act, to know what have been failures and suc-
cesses, what have been the errors and achievements either
of men or nations in time past ; and these examples
may serve so far as to exemplify principles of action,
may serve as guides to every man either in pri-
vate or in public opinion. An acquaintance with his-
tory, therefore, is essential, so far as there are opportunities
for acquirement, with intense application to the particular
line of study. History, therefore, ought to be studied and
engrafted on the minds of the youtb. (Cheers.) Well, gen-
tlemen, so far we have gone. You will see I have started
with amusements and recreations, and these if resorted to
occasionally refresh the human judgment—give a pleasure
while enjoying them, and a fresh tone to the intellect when
a person again applies himself to more serious occupations.
(Cheers.) You have no want of national poets. (Cheers.)
The land of Burns—(loud cheers)—and the land of Sir
Walter Scott— (renewed cheers)—cannot fail to be full of
young men who, in their leisure hours, find pleasure in
reading the admirable works of these great and illustrious
men. (Loud cheers.) We have gone through some of the
prominent works of man, but I should also mention and
point out to your attention that range of study which re-
lates to what are more particularly called mechanics—the
laws of motion—the fundamental principles of which are
useful to every man whatever may be the line of life he is
going to enter ; and you have ample opportunities here for
making yourselves masters of the elementary principles at
least of that branch of human science. (Cheers.) Gentle •
men, we have talked here of the works of man, and they
are well deserving the care of investigation, they are well
deserving the care that you must use to acquire from them
those ideas and that knowledge they are so well qualified to
teach you, which will be not only of much service to you in
your after career, but a solace and a pleasure in those lei-
sure hours which you may have leave to take from the more
active pursuits of life, and to devote to them, (Cheers.)
But you should fall short of that which I recommend to
you if you did not devote a portion of that period of study,
if you did not devote a portion of that period of leisure, to
the contemplation of the works of God. (Cheers.) That
branch of knowledge has in many respects made wonderful
progress in late years, and by the labours of others it is
easier for you to acquire knowledge, There is this remark-
able difference between the present and former ages. In
former times there were men of great genius and of great
research who made great progress in the study of the laws
and phenomena of nature, but the mass of mankind have
little means by their labours. In those days men of science
contrived to give the results of laborious years in so short,
compendious and intelligent a manner, so that you are able
to profit by the labours of others, and profit by those results
which other men have worked out by long laborious study.
(Cheers.) The first object of study ought to be comprised
in chemistry, the operation of nature in all those elements
in which we live and deal, a knowledge of which is useful
to every man in his individual condition, and on the study
of which depend the industry, wealth, and prosperity of
nations. There is almost no science that has made more
wonderful progress of late years than chemistry, and
it is well deserving whatever may be your future career that
you should make yourselves acquainted with the leading
principles of that science. It isnot expected that those who
are destined for the church or the bar, or other such profes-
sions, that they should become skilful chemists, but they
should be acquainted with the general principles by which
substances act on each other, and this knowledge will be
found useful in every position in life. (Cheers.) Now,
they concern the peasant in his cottage, the workman in his
convenient dwelling, as much as they concern the great
manufacturer in the arrangements of his business, because
health and life are essentially connected with the practice
and the experienceand the counsel of the chemist. (Cheers.)
Now, then, gentlemen, it is only comparatively of late
years that men have turned their attention to acquiringscien-
tific knowledge with regard to the crust of the globe on
which we live, and certainly Scotland has contributed its
full share towards the knowledge and information gained.
What canbe more useful than any general information with
respect to the manner in which layer upon layer and rock
upon rock have been placed upon each other. It tells upon
the business of every day. It is only after that great know-
ledge which we have obtained that all your mineral expezi-
meats have been conducted with the success which has
attended them. A general knowledge of the arrangement
of the crust of the earth is an essential accomplishment for
every gentleman, and is useful in whatever pursuit a man
is about to engage. (Cheers.) Well, then, rising from the
crust of they earth and all these numerous phenomena and
arrangements connected with the atmosphere of our ocean ;
and the various circumstances belonging to the surface of
our globe, we naturally turn our thoughts to the position
and action of our globe, and that system of which our sun
is the centre, and that knowledge of astronomy, connected
at all events with the other system is so easily acquired and
so interesting when known, that no man who has an oppor-
tunity of investigating could for a moment neglect those
opportunities ani remain in ignorance. It is admirable to
think that all the varied arrangements upon which day
and night and the succession of the seasons depend have
been so beautifully adapted to the purpose of those who
inhabit this globe, and a knowledge of these things I trust
no man who hears me will fail to acquire, so far as oppor-
tunity offers. But there is a wider range with regard to
that great and extensive study. Our solar system, as is
well known, forms but an insignificant, a comparatively in-
significant, part in that great universe of which, on a star-
light night, we see some portion exposed to our view, and
the study of the mechanism of the universe is a study
which leads the mind to the most exalted thoughts—which
expands our considerations more than any other, and
which, although it is not decided by certain results
which have been maintained in the study of our
own solar system, yet I believe enough is known
to excite the wonder and the admiration of those who are
acquainted with it. (Applause.) Let it not be said that
these studies direct the mind from the practical precepts of
religion. On the contrary, I maintain that they tend to
strengthen and confirm that faith which is inculcated by
our revealed religion. (Cheers,) If, when, on the one hand,
we contemplate those marvellous arrangements extending
over space indefinite, and comprising worlds innumerable,
with order and arrangement that nothing but the most
supreme wisdom could have established—when we contem-
plate, in the first place, the arrangements for our systems,
when we consider the multitude of suns and worlds even
beyond the range of the telescopic power of man, and are
made sensible of the comparative insignificance of everything
that belongs to this earth, this speck of creation ; and if
there is any man who, in the consciousness of genius, in the
enjoyment of wealth, in the possession of sta' ion, is inspired
by feelings of vanity and pride when he reflects that the
world which he treads upon is a mere speck in creation,and
that he himself is an immeasurable atom in that speck—
these thoughts must tend to lower that pride, to divest him
of that vanity, and to teach him veneration and humility in
his position, (Loud cheers.) But, gentlemen, when he
turns his thoughts to the other scale, when he thinks and
considers the infinite variety, inconceivable ingenuity and
wisdom with which everything in this earth has b en adapted
to specific purposes, and to the enjoyment of created beings.
When he sees that even those smallest and most minute
animals of creation which are hardly perceptible, and some
not perceptible to the naked eye. There there is most ad-
mirable adaptation of every details for the purpose of the
enjoyment of that creature so long as it is to live—when he
reflects on the constitution of his own frame, and, more
than that, when he reflects upon all the facilities with which
his mind has been endowed—when he considers the powers
which have been given to man to extend his ken far away
from the globe which he inhabits, ar d to acquire a certain
amount of knowledge of things so distant that even, as it
is said, millions of years ere required to bring to us the
light which flows from their centre, he must be persuaded
that those arrangements were not intended in vain—he must
be convinced that those powers which havo been given to
his mind—those moral and intellectual powers with which
he has been endowed, have not been given simply for the
purpose of a day, and that the day is the life of man—he
must be convinced that they are designed to fit him for some
better and future state, and therefore I say that these great,
exalted, and sublime contemplations are calculated to

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