The Middlebury galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1848-1850, 1849-02-20
Mr.. PRESIDENT.

Mr. President,
AND GENTLEMEN OF TIE SOCIETY -
When professional mcn are selected to make
soecchcS TO farmers think il wise TO make them
a considerable distance from their oSn homes.
Then if thew make great professions to theory, as
they probably will, their own practice will not
stand hard by TO scotf and upbraid them. Your
Kindness has given me This mpuniIy.-and shall
u>e ir.-of talking 10 llers Of the soil as one Of
their own number.
But il will be borne in mind that We do not
stand exactly where our fathers stood-Once
men. in every department of life. were compelled
10 act practically, Oh the belief Of facts for which
they could give TO adequate reason. Physicians,
IN decidinr on disease hal been guided by the
beating. of the pulse for fourteen centuries before
:hcv knew that the cause was the circulation OF
the blood Manufacturers had acted practically
on the fulling and telling power of wool, for hun
dreds of wears before they knew that II was caused
hv the scrrated fibre. Husbandmen have from
the first ages acted the belief that certain soils
will not sustain certain specific grains, but science
in her tardv round has just come 10 explain the
reasons for the actual and acting faith of fifty
centuries Again, it IS known that most of the
imnortant discoveries of the world have happen
ed as matter Of chance and accident rather than
of design. 4 monk had mixture in Alchemy
in n mortar. into which he accidentally drOpt 4
spark of fire. and saw the peste fly off in the air.
He was the dscOverer of gunpOwder, but lie did
not know the reason for the fact he had discov-
cred. Poor man, he was just as honestly igno-
rant as any modern priest of any explosive pow
er in his composition. He did not Start with the
elements and reason up a conclusion. 1t is said
that boy made one of the most important i'm
movements in the steam-engine, simply because
he was too lazy to stand in his place and perform
his allotted task These are fair illustrations Of
q great portion of the discoveries of the world
What was the necessity Of this state of things
There was Just one thing wanting, knowledg
of the connection between cause and effect or the
means bv which the cause produced the effect
This one thing needful modern science is labor
mo to give us; and she labors not in vain. 1t i:
often cast. as a reproach upon the present age
that she lacks many of the agencies in operation
in the dead empires CT the old world. Why is i
50 Why do The cities of Egypt-why doe
Pompeii, in her resurrection from lava grave o
seventeen centuries, present so many things which
modern science cannot explain! Because the,
were discoveries of accident, or fortuitous com
binations. whose nature was not understood evel
by the men who employed them. Such ruin can
not overtake the discoveries of the present age
When science has drawn her deductions from
we-known laws, and given these conclusions t
the guardianship of living language, they can
not be lost. The lava may sweep and bury al
entire continent at once, but the knowledge of I'll
discovery is already in safe archives across tn
p ocean. Nothing short of destruction that ami
hilateS the whole race of civilized man, can bio
out the knowledge of discoveries made on scien
tifc principles. This is the way in which moder
discoveries are made. Those telegraph wires
that bear their mighty messages, Of changin
commerce and crushing thrones and fugitive mon
archs, noiseeSsly and silently above our head:
and tell us no secrets those wires, that literal
carry intelligence from land 10 land on the wing