New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-07-12

I ulaied by the possibility OF the immediate AL
profitable application of any discovery they MAJ
make. The increase and diffusion Of this sort Il
knowledge will be far greater beyond the horizon of
the Smithsonian Institution than within its limit,
Here, higher conceptions Of the variety OF h,n..
knowledge ought to prevail. Mind as well as iat,,.
lset ought to have fair play-ought TO be embraces
within the transactions Of the Institution. TIN,
alone can il reach the highest and most truly hs.
nefcent region Of human knowledge. Harnonv
il the supreme law Of this region, as il is Of IN.
whole creation and harmony consists in IN,
proper combination of all the sounds, all IN.
forces, all the faculties and their respective pro.
! auctions. The ancients ever felt and acknovl.
edged this, in their idea that musical harmony
ruled the movements of the celestial spheres.
Ii is bad when the above describei exclusive.
ness fayonng certain branches only Of human
knowledge, becomes the rule Of an institutio,
such as this was intended to be and here thisi,
eminently the case. One looks in vain for CON-
prshensye, catholic spirit. There is no aspir..
ton to the higher spiritual rsgions-slatier, and
ever Matter. Very good is all this for the mses
Of science but, for the benefit Of the public at
large, for the sake of the founder, let little
Mind and Spirit be admitted. IL should not bs
forgot tina; any science carried out 0ae-sideGly TO
its utmost consequences, and torn from its bar-
monious connection with the a-bnding spirit,
runs finally into the absurd. With the micro
scope alsns you will not penetrate Nature and
snatch from her the secrets of creations with
the microscope or the retort you viii never be-
come the Demiourgos, or, as some Of you think
yourselves, the modern Prometheus; You will
never discover, master and be able to make plain
the thoughts of COP.
Yet this cemprehends the full amount given US
this winter in certain lectures at the Smithsonian
rooms, which have been trumpeted forth in the
ears of credulous public. These lectures will
furnish the matter for athrd volume of the Smith.
SORidH Contributions. But you forget, gentle
men, that there is after all more of the PSYCHE
than Of the Physis in the works Of God, and that
the latter without the former would have remain-
ed for ages rudis iHdigestaque moies, rude and
indigested mass. But conceted myrmidons al
ways forget the like. You neglect, and to speak
plainly, you nearly exclude all other branches of
human knowledge which delight form and ilami-
nate the mind. Thus you leave no room for the
nOThI, sOCh HsluIiCdi anu iCulif philosophical
sciences.
From the lower regions of fishes and fossils,
from the study of fragments of the physical Gre
alton, to which you give your whole lives, and in
which you rest your glory, you impotentiy as
sumo to unravel the thoughts Of Con. Neither
KIPLER nor NEWTON, LA PLACE nor LAvoIsiER,
MULLER, OWEN, Won Busch, Ellie DE BEAU
soNT--nor even the giant CuvIER-nor SO many
others-your masters in every respect-had the
like presumption. Whatever discoveries YOU
NAV make, your views will always remain con.
fined, from the want of a philosophical uniysr-
salty.
AS little as you with your microscope can ex-
plain God IN concrete, just little, for example,
can you by physical geography make known the
destinies of mankind. These are to be sought in
the great soul Of all that is spiritual on earth-the
philosophical conception of history. Neither
slopes nor counter-slOpes, table.lands nor decyi-
ties the courses and mouths of rivers, nor the
ferns and indentations Of continents, decide or
point out the destinies of communities or nations.
These things taken alone as guide lead again into
the absurd. Ii it be true that among rivers the
Euphrates, the Tigris, the Gauges and the Yellow
River have been descended by primitive tribes
or the pioneer settlers in those regions, still great
er is the number Of rivers which the founders of
nations and communities have assembled, and the
same is true of table-lands elevation, and noun
tain ranges. Not indentations and the like cas-
ualties make men free, but internal spiritual agen-
cies. Not physical combinations exclusively,
settle the destinies Of men, Of societies and of ma
tions, but that higher mind which you dsdain aud
forget. This alone can harmonic spirit and matter
and out ofthe accidental coRformations ofthe globe
directing and combining ali the forces and forms of
action-unfold the de stinies ofhumanity.
Thus not in the manipulation of Instruments
and of apparatus does knowledge, and useful know
ledge, consist. You never will bring out of them
what is required to make man moral, social and ft
for civil life. Yet herein consists real knowledge.
Thus in your uDgenial hands will be reduced to
nonentity the lofty and generous idea of the foun-
der of the Smithsonian lnstituton-who surely
wished for the increase and diffusion of moral
knowledge, as the only check of tine burdensome
prejudices under whose pressure he groaned.
II is not, then, for you to claim the possession
OF the attributes or crItera of catholic mind
Your clique m vain claims the right to represent
and direct American ntellect--to be its fountain M
knowledge. This clique, whose center is this In
stitution, backed by some members of the Coass
Survey, Of the Pacific Exploring Expedition, and
OF some individuals in Boston and its vicinity
this clique moves in spurious circle, barks and
shows its teeth to all who refuse to acknowledge
Its supremacy. In It's members, according to
their own trumpeting, are concentrated official
and non-oiiicial knowledge and learning Thus
Peter eulogizes Paul, Paul extols John, and 50
on and wo to anybody who dares dissent from,
or expose their presumption. The proceedings of
the Scientific meetings at New Haven. Cincinnati
and Albany bear strons evidencea af L.