The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-12-16
MISCELLANEOUS.
From the Boston Courier.
sdinburgh Philosophical Institution OF MIR.
>. Macauiay.

On the evening OF the % OF November there was a
public entertainment in the Musical Hail. Edinburgh, for
The purpose OF celebrating the establishment OF the
"Phlosophcal Institution" in that city The body of
the hall filled By eight hundred persons, good pro-
portion OF whom ladies in full dress while the gal
ehes and orchestra seats were also crowded, and all
eynced the deepest interest in the proceedings Of the
evening The Lord Provost occupied the chair, sup
ported By the Archbishop OF Dublin, Hon. I; b Macau-
Iay, NJ p, Professor Wilson, Lord Cuninghame, Hon
Fox Maule NJ. p, William Gibson Craig, esq, NJ p
Professor Nichol, Lord Murray, ID. M. Nor, esq, and
Professor Gregory. The proceedings were opened with
prayer After several toasts and a speech from the
Archbishop OF Dublin Mr. Maeaulay rose, and was
ceyed with npturous applau lie returned thanks for
the kindness OF his reception, and sad the directors of the
institution had revuesed him to propose toast, 1he
Literature OF Britain" He spoke Of the literary nstu-
TONS and particularly the libraries OF the city of Edn-
burgh which, although rich, not complete colec
lions Of English literature; and hoped that the directors
would not be satisfied The himself would not be sased)
until they possessed truly rich and complete collection
Of English teature-unt il would be impossible To seek
in vain upon their shelves for any English book, which is
valuable either BY OF IFS soundness OF syle or by
reason OF the light il might throw upon their civil eccle
siascal, intellectual social hstory-a collection, in
fact OF everything in the English language which can
afford either useful enjoyment harmless amusement
We give the rest OF his speech without abridgment
Remember that it is not impossible that some great
genius, qualified 10 enrich literature with durable
works and TO extend the empire OF mind over matter
may possibly for the first time feel in library the
sciousness OF powers yet undeyeloped II is not impos
sbe that in reading the first thought of some
thing great may cross the mind of future Hersche an
AEkwright, Waits but speak not OF these special
cases But what do anticipate is, that through the
whole OF that valuable class whose benefit we have
peculiarly in view, general intellectual, and, in conse-
quence hope and believe, general moral improvement
will be difused-that many hours, which otherwise
might be passed IN iolly and perhaps IN vice will be
which have positive tendency 10 elevate the character
Our own experience leads US to hope this My OBJ
seUaton in various parts of the world and among
Gus classes OF men, leads to hold this opinion strongly
have had occasion officially 10 form some notion OF
what those which affect the moral and intel
ectual character OF regiments, and venture to say that
there experienced judicous officer who will not
tell you that the whole character OF young body of Off
GERS will be materially affected by the circumstance
Of beng placed IN the Seny OF valuable library
support OF this fact was told il by most accomplish
ed man and eminent soldier and distinguished diplo-
mas who has enjoyed the confidence OF the first gen.
erals and statesmen which Europe has produced in our
own time When asked him to what he owed these
accomplished arts, he said to When | served
when young man n India, when 1t was mere
turning point in my life, when il was a mere chance
whether should become card player. a
mere smoke-monger, or mere toddy.drlnker, was
quartered for two years in the neighborhood of an
excellent library, which made accessible to me-
Now, as some OF the objections which have been urged
TO that species OF mental cultivation which trust this
ioly disposed of BY my esteemed friend the Lord Pro-
vost, and BY the Right Rev the Archbishop of Dublin
think that II would be superluous advert to them
There Is indeed, topic which have heard often urged
and sometimes BY of eminence against this and sim
liar institutions, which beg, with Your permission TO
notice. heir dread is of superficial knowledge They
say knowledge rs undoubtedly great blessing to man
kind 1t is closely connected with vrture is an nds-
pensable preparatve to freedom but then, il must be
profound knowledge; They say that a reading public
crowd of people who have a little Of mathematics
little of astronomy little of chemistry little reading
Of poery,,a little reading of history is dangerous to
states Such species OF half knowledge is worse than
ignorance Drink Deep taste not; drink largely, or
not at all. "a augh.j will spare you repeating the
well-known lines OF the poet
81 must confess this danger appeared to me very
threatening; and my reason for it is chiefly this, that
this apprehension to let know what the standard
OF profundy. Il is argument that presupposes that
there is some line between profound and superficial
know ledge similar to the line that runs between truth
men OF deep science, do that they have got to
the bottom, near the bottom When we talk OF deep
the vast of truth which is capable of being known
and which probably, IN the course of ages the human
mind will attain to- If that be the meaning, then we
all shallow together, and the greatest men that have
ever lived would be the first to confess their shallow
...#... ..... r.... ..,..n.. nee ,-.' A..
d" If could call up the greatest of human beings
Sir Isaac Newton--and if to ask him, whether
even IN those particular pursuits in which he attained the
highest excellence, he considered himself profoundly
knowing by comparison with the which is capable
OF being known, he would have told you that he
smatterer like ourselves and that the difference between
HIM and vanished when compared with the difference
between the OF science to be explored, just the
distance between person the level of the and
person on the top OF Ben Lomond utterly yanishes when
making observations the fixed stars. But if this be
not their standard what is their standard Is it the same
for one year together sor is il the any two
tres Is il not notorious that what proundty one
country is considered to be shallowness in another Is
not notorious that the proundty of one generation is
shallowness in the next' What now would be the
chemists of l746, the geoogists of l7i6, compared
with the chemists or biologists of 1916 There is
cessry and natural progress in every experimental sci
ence OF such nature that in generation the hind
rank necessarily occupies the place which the front rank
occupied in another generation. That knowledge
which entitled Rammohun Roy to be called the most pro-
found among the Hindoos, would have made but very
superficial member Of this institute That various know
ledge which entitled Sabo be called profound geor-
rapher, would have been called ignorance on the part OF
girl from the boarding school Mr. NIacauay then, in a
humorous manner went to show that the change
something like what occurred to CULVER in his wander
lngs. He was first shpwrecked in country OF little men,
among whom he devoured for breakfast whole gra-
nary OF corn and whole herd of cattle; but in little
while he found himself in country of giants In Lpu he
used to take the people up in his hand to hear them but
masters. just as CULVER the mountain in
Liput and the little mannkn in Brobdignag so in the
same manner, said Mr. Macauay, you will see the
intellectual giants OF one age become the ntelecu-
al pgmes OF the next And if these be the effects
which have followed from shallow knowledge, il
the thirteenth century, there should have been such
thing as profound and learned II strikes me that,
without much difficulty, you might make a parallel be-
tween the most profound and learned of the thir-
ieenth century, and some of those who will be here this
evening, and to whom, we trust our library will not be
altogether without advantage.
"Let US draw parallel in two points Take
our great and learned of hundred years ago, of
the time Of Henry the Third of Alexander the Third
Of Scotland-some who would be considered as the