Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1846-04-30
0SSa
FOR The SENTINEL.
ADDRESS,
On the Acquisition Of knowledge,
BY J. .BARGER.

BY ]. ,BARGER.
Ladies and Genilemen-lt is with no little
embarrassment that ascend this stage in Your
presence: not because | discover myself sur
rounded by so large and intelligent an audience,
but because feel SO sensibly my want Of elo-
quence and ability to engage your attention.
Conld believe that you witness me on sis
occasion merely TO suppress the little forlitude
have assumed in rising before you, then in
deed should fail 10 perform what seems nshv
H. have devolved on Inc as duty But ydtir
presence proving 50 conducive to my encosr-
agement, shall proceed in few remarks on
the acquisition of science. Although this
subject may be an ordinary one with yon, and
although you have probably been entertained
lar more agreeaby OH the same topics by nay
fellow students, get thus subject appearing in
my humble opinion to be one Of the greatest i'm
por,ance to You, hope therefore that shall
not 5ecome weaTisome in The few additional
REMARKS which am about to make uIson it
In doing this, it will be unnecessary for me 10
burden your minds with wlla, you have alrea-
dy head III the most cogent manner, that il
is science which raises nation above anU,l-
-ef. aud that through its influence alone can any
nation prosper.
l.
remarks will be. that science is not only the
key to the desiinies of nations. but that it is
the path of happiness. Yet | would not here
have The presumption to claim any thing from
experience by which might portray to YOU
In proper colors the pleasure that science at
tofds To its votaries. But have we not in evil
dence of the fact, the united testimony of many
philosophers and sages, men whose veracity
we dare not doubt; and we know that the pur-
salt ef science h in all ages been reckoned one
Of the mos, happy and dgaiied of human &C.
equations. and that the name Ut philosopher
or lover Of wisdom is given to him only who
leads such a life. Yet it is by no means ne
cessary that person should do nothing but STU
dy known truths and explore new, in order to
ilerit this high title, for some of the greatest
philosophers in all ages have been men engag.
ed in the pursuits Of active lie. But it is the
man who, in whatever situation his lot may have
been cast, prefers the refined and elevating
Pleasures of knowledge, to the low grati6ca-
lions OF the sensus, and who justly and richly
deserves.t the name of philosopher. It's easy
10 show. that there is positive qualification
III the study of science. If it be a pleasure to
crafty curiosity. to know What we were once
ignorant of. to have our feelings of wonder
called forth, how pure delight of this very
No~c u
dents. .Recollect some Of the extraordinary
discoveries in mechanical philosophy. is
thsre any thing in all the idle books Of tales
and horrors, with. which youthful readers are So
much delighted, SO truly astonis hing, as the
fact, that few pounds Of water may, without
the aid OF any machinery, by being placed in a
certain way produce an irresistible force? And
what can be more strange than to know that
an ounce weight only should balance hundreds
OF pounds, by the Intervention of few thin
bars of iron! Then observe some of the ex-
traordinary truths which optical science dis
closes! Can any thing surprise US more than
TO find that the color of white is mixture of
all other colors. that red, blue, and green. and
all other colors merely by being blended in Ger
tain proportions, form what we had fancied to
be no color al all, rather than all colors toyeth
err We also find that chemistry is not behind
in its wonders. That the diamond should he
made OF the same material with coal; that wa
ter should consist Of inf1ammabe sui stance that
almost all acids should be composed of different
kinds OF air; and that one of those acids, whose
strength can dissolve any of the metals, should
be composed OF the selfsame ingredients as
me common air we breathe; these surely are
'hihgs caicuiaied to excite the wonder of any
rejecting mind, nay, of a mind but little ac
~ N"o". hHu YET tneSe are but
tinlng when compared with the phenomina
which astronomy holds TO our view. the enor.
nous masses Of the heavenly bodies: their mn.
tons, whose swiftness mocks the utmost ef.
forts of the Imagination. And akin TO This
pleasure Of contemplating new and extraordi-
nary truths, is the qualification Vt more learned
curiosity, by tracing resemblances and relation,
between things, which, to common comnre-
hension, seems so widely different. II Is
surely satisfaction, for instance, to know
that the same thing which causes the sens..
tons Of heat, causes also fuidi.y; that electric
ity, even the light which is seen on the back
of a cat when slightly rubbed Of frosty eve
ming, is the very same matter with the light
ming of the clouds; that plants breathe as Well
as ourselves, only differently, by day and by
night; that the air which burns in our lamns
enables balloon to mount Nothing can at
first sight appear less likely to depend on the
same cause than the processes of burning and
breathing-the rust Of metals and burning-tAe
influence ola plant upon the atmosphere it
grows in, and Of an animal upon the same air
At any time; nay, even of body burning in
the air; and yet all these operations SO unlike
under common observation, when viewed by
the light of science, are the very same. No
thing can be less alike than the working of
vast steam engine and the crawling ola fly up
CD window; yet we find, that these two pro-
cesses are performed by the very same means,
the weight of the atmospheric; and that the
sea horse climbs the ice hills by no other pow
er. Can we contemplate any thing more sur