New-York daily tribune., 1857-10-22
PROFESSOR CARNOCHANS LECTURE.

welldiaested, carefully expressed and entirely sue
cess u petformstce Its exordium celiseated the de-
| igbts ard util ties Of sciertfc study.
Itnsy be said cobtipued the lecturer that While we
have long expererced that knowledge is profitable we
are NV beginning to find ont that il is moral,
spd sbs.n q. last discover il to be religious.
Aristotle declared he highest and truest science to be
that which was most disinterested Bacon, treating
science a. separate from religion, asserted knowledge
70 bs ROVER ard held that truth must be tested By its
fruits that s s in.tIxm eptay in promoting the right
and useful! Both ssssriors may be justified aud req
onciled by the fac. that, While no real osledge Is
poweress az fuitless the fruits 6er To refinement
and value; the highest being. urqsesponabiy those
dsiuterest qualifications which minister to the high.
est warts END the highest faculties, ard ~hch earned
fer Philosophy the title OF divine love. realizing
the m, .ierious longing of tue soul and promoting the
accomplishments Of its destiny: tor In scierce as
in bliss
We give some further extracts from the Lecture as
follows:
But truth tie ragnnta o5ns Of science-s pos
sbe dehierementtbe aim and object of the sbors in
which you about to engage n these academic hs'ls
-wnere ard how is TO be tousd This inquiry leads
directly to the consideration OF The distinction of
truths prioTi and truths pdstertori, and OF the
meth ods which derive fr,w them.
"If there any truths which the mind possesses,
whether consciously uncopsciously, they may be
called a PRIOR truths as beougiUg 10 II prior to s
tbst il acquires from the world around On the other
hsnd truths viii b acquired from observation and
experience, called q posterior7 ttdtbs; because
they come 10 the ind after il Las become acquainted
with extern al facts How far prom truths are pos
shle il the great battle field of mental philosophy;
but 10 one at present msintains that The MUD can
know apy,brg at point Of time before IFS observs-
tion Of external things began However Independent
Of experience any process may appear TO De now IS
for nstarce, that by which geomer trica truths are
proved we may be sure that made much use OF
observaticn before educed the very laws which
place it in minds far above all need OF contrns
tory evioer ce from observation. mind which never
obss rv.d wcnd not be mind. But the quesfoo is
whether The facts which we observe do not fur
r;sb evider that something 10 the mind before II
was directed TO the facts; just we know by looking
them before looked; although. without putting
hem 10 their common use, could never have
known that we hsd the IN at ALL Sow, wi bout going
into the oi'pute how much OF our kpo~ledge is
riori we NAV be able to sho that a. least the con-
ditions of all our knowledge are so-that the mlGd
does not simply reflect the limoges Of things without,
but mpresses characters Of her own upon theu thai
Knowledge of things is lot the exact counterpart
Of the thIrgs but OF the things and mnd operating
together When we see our imsge 10 mirror, we
krow tbst our shape is the of 1t, the one
bar ard the power Of ecton in the mirror on The
ot-er: il we TO it multiplied or increased,
or dimnis' ed, or charged in hue, we should lnter
that the mrvor had severa angular faces or was con
cave, convex, made of tinted q .ss. Each
cf Lese properties would be inherent 10 the mirror
prior to presenting ourselves before it, they
its priori laws, although could only know them
a posttrieri by a trial. When an image s received
upon tie mirror Of the mind, we see that the latter,
also, has its laws and properties The mind does not
sin ply receive the impressions OF the senses; 1t
groups them judges about them, separates their quail
tiles from each other and draws inferences about
the qualities which ike objects, hitherto unknown,
may be expected to have. But, qualities, classes IN
ferences not objects Of sense however completely
they msy reside IN, or be drawn from these Objects
They have DO separate existence out Of the mind
while. within il. they are perfectly distinct This
tran utetion of objects of into their elements
ust therefore be the work Of the mind alone. 1t s
law Of the intellect itsef and never was or could
bave been in the sensuous impressions we have re-
ceived. The acts OF the miud quick, so Lumer
Gus complex, that they are not easy to note aud
describe although we daily perform them, and that
without serious mistakes. As the aot Of standing
erect simple apparently, cals Lotto operation nu'
merous arsy Of muscles by means of which the body
pc petualy swsys and duss Itself without conscious
effort so we may believe that the mind goes through
acts which, from long practice, scarcely awaken her
own attention, much ess the of pair and effort
yet which involve great number Of subordinate acts
depending on Distinct principles.
Thus the history Of the human mind embraces
two principal epochshat which preceded the era of
the experimental method aud that which, commenc
pg with il, will endure go long as mau shall desire to
know the world in which be lives. But we cannot
afford to sacrifice OF these epochs to the other for
equally their debtor: to the first, for Ms models
Of The sublime aud beautiful in poetry, eoqnence his
toTcal narrative architecture sculpture and phllcso.
ply. To The second for its immense development Of
the natural sciences.
"Suob is progress viewed In III greatest generality
and studied in it's details by the light of the nductive
method; that is to say, by ndng from effects TO
their causes, AID thus reaching In measure, the
cradle of buruan intelligence. This manner Of pro.
ceedirg will enable us to perceive the slowness OF
progress it's prolonged struggles and how little 1t
owes to sDy one individual For, however great may
have been the performance of the dscoverer he in
every case received vastly from bis precursors
and cotempcraris than he has ltt to posterlty. Is
public opinion always cor formabe to this view OF
pfCeTessl Assure6y il is not For nstance, the ma
jOrity Of filed with extravagant wonder at
such results sic am lOconOt0D and the electric ele
graph because they ignorant OF their antecedents
but the wise man who is not ignoran, OF them IS mod
crate in bis appreciation, ard declines Joining IN the
scclau alton OF fhe multitude. Besides men do not
sufficiently consider the immense superiority OF dis
covsres Of laws of nature over mechanical Invention
however Ingenious But Arcbimedes himself, OF
the grestest inventors the world has ever seen, es-
eemed mechanical inventions greatly inferior In value
TO those specuaiions which csny irresistible conVc-
ton 10 the mind Hans Cbristtsn Oersfed used 10 ca
The year 1920 the bappiest year OF his life, because 10
that year he discovered electro magnetism or the law
Of reciprocity betwet electrified bodies and tue msg
net 1T was in the deep recesses as It were, OF
cell says Sir John Hersche that 10 the midst Of hs
study a far idea fist struck upon the mind OF
OeIsted.' He waited long and calmly for the dawn
which at length opered upon him, atenng tne wnos s
relations OF science aud, indeed Of hfe The electric
telegraph ard other mechanical inventions OF recen.
cate are but servescepces from the surface OF
this deep ecoroite discovery which Oersfea
and which was yet to burst with a its mgn'y 'oioo
upon the world"
The perorstion of Dr. Carnocban was as follows
"Ifa moderate amount of selfes'eem be beneh'
cent provision Of nature it equally true that he ex-
segeIatit Of il pemicOus to the indi'lGaai aud 10
he soci, ~ Of which be ia member. The over-es-
roati,n Of ones own merit leads man TO soslhon.
When be does not become hostiie to the past he de-
spires il. or nothing n IT deserving his respect
"a q. fr tis contemporaries re does not ike them,
upier indeed they belong 70 the same sect as him
,eU Isolation fills bin with unmea'ured ambition
for bis own elevation q, the expense of bis fellow men,
for wbcm be has 1t engeuders an opposition
- La " and authority; an opposition which is based