The penny press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1859-1860, 1859-11-10
Ohio Mechanics Institute Lectures
Philip Boileau Jones, on The Ends and

N---~~S VI SSA0hOSs
The first regular lecture of tho winter
course before the Ohio Mechanics Institute
was delivered last evening at the hall on the
corner of Sixth and Vine, by Philip Boilsau
Jones, to quite q small but attentive audience.
The lecturer seems to be quite young, cer-
tainly not more than thirty, and his round,
smooth face and slight moistache, give him
semblance which is almost boyish. His
manner is not good, and his voice is posi-
lively bad. He speaks rapidly, and his into
natious are often so imperfect that he some-
times utters acomplete sentence 80 that itcan
hardly be understood. His command of Ian
guage is good, but be ofttimes stops in the
midst of statement Of one of the profound
est problems in science, to insert a pun iu
brackets. This may vary the dull monotony
of prosy scientific lecture, but to say the
least It is in bad taste.
We didnot hear the introduction to his essay
of last night, but the lecture proper began with
the statement that science was an orange
ment and classification OF facts, and that its
principal aim was to elevate man. No man,
he said, could place his hand upon ono of the
levers of steam engine, and as the piston
moved backward and forward, and, simulta-
neously with it, his hand, feel his heart pulsate
in union with the throbbing of that mighty
machine, without having his eye grow brighter
and frame more erect, as he thought Of its
immense strength and the fact that he Is Its
master. 2
The discoverer of such an invention truly
deserved great praise, but still more was due
to him who could adapt it to the wants of man.
This engine now lsssensd distance, contracted
space, fed the hungry, Jlothed the naked, and
would eventually supply most Of the wants Of
mankind If it could but have boiler and some
fire and water. Certainly then your steam
engine was your great ,ivilizer, and preached
better sermons, and delivered better lectures
than could be found Of mere words.
The lecturer then left this part Of his subject
to speak Of the properties Of matter, aud
theorize in regard to It's particles, which were
solid, fluid and gaseous. Take the smallest of
these atoms, and it could be divided infinitely
almost, yet it would have shape, tenaoity,
fexibility, maleability, and all the properties
of the mass. Chalk is composed Of calcium,
carbon and oxygen, and the smallest atom,
although hardly discoverable with micro
scope, would still have the same component
parts.
The universe, he said, was made up of par
ticles, and, although they were very minute,
still there was space between them, and cleo
tricity, and light, and heat, were but the
cement by which they were kept together.
You might mix white and black powders 50
that they could not be dsting guishsd from each
other, still, although the atoms were made finer,
they were still separate. " II ri .
Z The lecturer illustrated his subject by num-
ber of experiments, which rendered II not only
instructive but entertaining. The lecture oo-
oupied over an hour in the delivery, and until
the close was listened to with considerable at
tentiOn. t- r. a..s