The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-02-03

impossible they could 10 to pieces even driven on
tne rocks, where they would hold out till the passen-
gers escaped, II there was any possibility Of doing
30: steam was mighty In peace, how terrible would
u be in war; He did not believe in cannon and other
Instruments OF war as peacemakers. The only true
peacemaker was the Bible. William Penn, standing
before the Indians, was the true Christian model,
and ne trusted that the Japan expedition would
never fire any other guns than those Of ordinary
salutes. The magnetic needle in the compass
was very beautiful and useful application Of
iron. Magnetism was produced by currents of
electricity caused by the spiral motions Of the SUMS
rays. That magnets were produced by electricity
could be proved by experiments with the ordinary
galyanic battery. The earth, itself, was a great
magnet and was full OF that force, only portion OF
which was evolved The aurora borealis was the re-
suit Of this electricity. Franklin had proved the
identity Of the electricity of the battery with that
which is contained in the clouds. The
lecturer then adverted to the electrotype, pro-
duced by the galvanic battery, and the finest en-
lection, without, in the least nuring the original.
He next described the electric telegraph, which
would convey intelligence round the globe wthoutany
appreciable time, if the wires could only be laid.
between Paris and London The water there was
only four hundred feet deep. He was not prepared
TO say that the time would not arrive when the
wires would be laid across the ocean Connecting st.
James in London with the Capitol in Washington,
as rapidly as the lightning's fash Then would the
poetcal idea OF Pope be literally fulfilled when the
telegraph would wait sigh from Indus to the
POLE" daughter and cheers.) He then went on
to describe the daguerreotype and its beautiful uses
without iodine this discovery would never have
been made, and bromine and chlorine greatly beau
titled the art He then adverted to the various expe-
dtions from the United States lately enumerated in
the New YORK HERALD. These had made great
additions to science, and he was sorry when at Wash
ington to find these subjects much neglected. H
said time would not permit him to enter into the de
tails He might refer to various geological discove
rio r,ha RI vOlro nin oo<sO IN
trail fres-to storms-t0 the history of ancient life
OF plants and animals now extinct, and the remains
OF which were found in the catacombs and the pyra
mlds. There is no danger Of investigating those sub
jects provided are honest. One isolated fact add
ed to another, at length established general law.
Let not then despse an isolated fact because we
cannot for the present understand it. Who would
have thought that the amputated leg of frog at
galvansm Who can explain the connexion be-
tween the brain and the mind or the images of vari
GUS objects painted on the retina Of the eye without
confusion and afterwards called up before the imagi
nation as wildly as when they were first behcld
The remote causes were hidden from men, and all
they could say that the last cause discovered was
only the effect Of another cause, and thus the chain
went on till the last link fastened to the throne
OF God. He then ridicued the idea that organic life
could be produced by mechanical MEANS All the
congeres Of atoms in the world could not make an ee
plant, and he did not believe, notwithstanding the
recent experiments of learned men, that the smallest
IAscCG COulu Uc pIOOuCcO ny any mecudulCdI means
whatever. After all that the author of the " Yes
tges OF Creation had said he still believed that it
was impossible that Newton could ever be trans
formed into an ape or an ape into Newton; and he
did not think that there was much apprehension that
our descendants would at any distance Of time de.
generate into monkeys. Uaughter) He then con-
tended that there was no jar between religion and
science and, finally, adverted to Baron Won Hum
boldt whom he had met at Berlin, and who had
treated him in the most kindly manner and said he
knew much about him and what he had done
Of what Maury and Fremont had done. He
spoke of his being in South America himself, and of
having pointed out, forty years ago. the route to
Panama by the Rocky Mountains. He professor Sill
liman) and other gentlemen rendered him an address,
to which he replied: The Professor then read q
translation Of the reply, (Which was in French) in
which he adverts to Professor Agassz with eulogy.
The lecturer then showed the autograph of the
venerable Humboldt, now four score and four years,
and also his portrait, and concluded by panegerc
on that great man. whose science was mrrored in his
Cosmos.