The Kansas herald of freedom., 1858-10-23

fore ten years had elapsed he added to
his discoveries that of the fundamental
properties of light. So brilliant course
of discovery, in SO short time changing
and recoYstrncting analytical, astronomi-
cal, and optical science, almost defes be-
lief. The statement could only be deemed
possible by an appeal to the incontestible
evidence that proves it strictly true. By
rare felicity these doctrines gained uni
versal assent of all mankind as soon as
they were clearly understood, and their
originality has never been seriously called
in question. The limited nature of mans
faculties precludes the possibility of his
ever reaching at once the utmost excel
lence of which they are capable. Survey
the whole circle Of the sciences, and trace
the history of our own progress in each
you fiud this to be the universal rule.-
Nor is this great law of gradual progress
confined to the physical sciences; in the
moral it equally governs. Again, in con-
stitrtional policy, see by what slow de-
grees, from its first rude elements, the at
tendance of feudal tenants at their lords
court, and the summons of burghers to
grant supplies of money, the great discov-
cry Of modern times in the science Of
practical politics, has been effected, the
representative scheme which enables
States of any extent to enjoy popular
Government, and allows mixed monarchy
to be established, combining freedom with
order-a plan pronounced by the states
men and writers of antiquity, to be of
hardly possible formation, and wholly
impossible continuance. The globe itself,
as we'll as the science of its inhabitants,
has been explored according to the law
which forbids sudden and rapid leaping
forward, and DEGREES that each successive
step, prepared by the last, shall facilitate
the next. Even Columbus followed sew
eral successful discoveries on a small
scale; and is, by some, believed to have
had, unknown to him, predecessor in
the great exploit by which he pierced the
night of ages, and unfolded new world
to the eyes of the old. The arts afford
no exception to the general law. De-
mosthenes had eminent forerunners-Pe-
ricles the last. The art of war itself is NO
exception to the rule. The plan of bring.
ing an overpowering force to bear on a
given point, had been tried occasionally
before Frederick the Second reduced il
to system and the Wellingtons and
Napoleons of our own day made it the
foundation of their strategy, as it had al
SO been previously the handspring of our
naval tactics. So the inventing power OF
Watt, preceded as he was by Worcester
and Newcomer, but far more material by
Gauss and Papin, had been exercised on
some admirable contrivances, now forgot
ten, before he made the step which Gre
ated the steam engine anew; not only
the parallel motion, possibly corrollary
to the proposition on circular motion in
the Principal" but the separate conden-
sation, and, above all, the governor; per-
haps the most exquisite of mechanical
inventions; and now we have those here
present who apply the like principle to
the diffusion of knowledge, aware, as they
must be. that its expansion has the same
happy effect naturally, Of preventing mis-
chief from its excess which the skill ot
the great mechanist gave artifcially tc
steam, thus rendering his engine as safe
as it is powerful. A burst of applause.
The grand difference, then, between one
discovery or invention and another, is in
degree rather than in kind; the degree in
which person, while he outstrips those
whom he comes after, also lives, as il
were, before his age. Nor can any doubt
exist that in this respect Newton stand:
at the head of all who have extended
the bounds of knowledge. [Cheers. J.
The most marvellous attribute of New
tons discoveries, is that in which they
stand out prominent among all the othe
feats of scientific research, stamped will
the popularity Of his intellectual charac
ter. He not only enlarged the actual do
minion Of knowledge, penetrating to re
gions never before explored, and takin,
with firm hand undisPuted possession
but he showed how the bounds of the Wis
| ible horizon might be yet further extend
ed, and enabled his successors to occup,
what he could only deseSy; as the illus
trous discoverer of the New World mad
the inhabitants of the Old cast their eye
over lands and seas far distant from thos
he had traversed; lands and seas of whicl
they could form to themselves no concep
ton, any more than they had been able t
comprehend the course by which he le,
them on his grand enterprise. In thi
achievement, and in the qualities whicl
alone made it possible-inexhaustible fer
tility of resource-patience unsnbdued-
close meditation that could suffer no dis
traction; steady determination to pursu
paths that seemed all but hopeless, an
| uniinching courage to declare the truth
they led to, how far soever removed fror
ordinary apprehensien-in these charac
teristics of high and original genius W
\ may be prepared to compare the car eer {
4 those great men. But Columbus did nc
Z invent the mariners compass, as Newto
did the instrument which guided h
course, and enabled him to make, and b
successors to extend, his discoveries b
!, 4 closely following his directions in usin
!. it. Nor did the compass suffice to th
great navigator without any observation
though he dared to steer without char
, while it is certain that by the philosC
.pher's instrument, his discoveries are e1
tended over the whole system Of the rn
verse, determining the masses, the form
and the motions of all its parts throug
{ the mere inspection Of abstract calculi
$ tions and formulas analytically deducte'
New observations have been aceumulate
t with glasses far exceeding any powe
5 possessed By the resources of optics in Il
d days Of him to whom the science Of o.
tics, as well as dynamics, owes its orig
-ai--the theory and the fact have thus bee
. compared and reconciled together in mo
perfect harmony but that theory has r
: mained unimproved, and the great pril
g eipIe of gravitation, with most sublin
: results, now stands in the attitude, and
!, the dimensiops, and with the symmetr
D which both the law and its applicable
|, received at once from the mighty hand
/. its immortal author. Loud applause
$ But the contemplation Of Newton's di
. coveries raised, other feelings than wond
!, at his matchless genius. The light wi
v which it shines, is not more dazzling tn
II r 4