Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1865-10-13

ultimate results.
The rank acquired by eminent professional men is
due to their TRUTH strength and intellectual activity,
and such men would be eminent though their genius
had led them to espouse any other pursuit in life.
But the rank Of an inferior DOCTOR or botch-potic-
an Is not per above that Of an inferior farmer or
botch-mechanic.
The learning which enables the farmer to produce
bushel Of wheat at less cost than heretofore may be
classcd among "the bread and butter sciences" but
1t is so classed by those who have been educated in
different school, who do not hold the plough or feed
the OK and who, any is intended are entitled
to as much respect as the London Times would be
when criticising American Democracy and no more.
] am persuaded that in the economy Of the world the
laws of the Creator, whether relating to the planets
or to kernel Of wheat to the life Of nations or to the
life hidden in the tiny egg, are as much equal in dig
nifty as authority; not inferior to the laws of syntax,
and only inferior to the Divine laws of morality and
religion.
The highest reach of modern science has demon
srated that the cloud which covers the regions of the
unknown will not roll away until this mortal shall
have put on immortality and that the known is and
will be made clearer by every streak of sunlight shed
upon by science. The boundaries of the positively
unknown and positively known are more and more
accurately defined In what are called the practical
sciences the march made since the commencement Of
the present century ecipses the abors Of previous
ages. Our progress has made it than ever true
that "a point that yesterday invisible is our goal
to day and will be our starting post to.morrow."
Geology has had its birth
Agricultural chemistry, under the auspices Of Lie
big and others, has made place for itself and for al
most all its collateral relations and-'o use the ex-
pressve scriptural fgure---from grain of mustard
seed has become great $50 that the birds of the all
come and lodge in the branches thereof"
Botany has conquered new worlds, and instead Of
the beggary account Of eight nine thousand plant
once learnedly classified, now know and have
properly named more than hundred thousand spe-
cics.
Meteoroogy has advanced so far as to be of pract-
cal value.
Zoology through its numerous devotees is daily
| counting its trophies. Yesterday the bones of the
great elephant were unearthed while perhaps we
learn to-day,
"Thnt heas have little feas to bite 'em,
And go dd nfniticnl''
Mincralogy, longer studied by magicians in
search Of the philosophers stone, yields to the hard
requirements of utility and iron becomes more vaua-
bic than gold.
The philosophy of mechanics has released mankind
saving machines, harnesses the tireess energy of
steam, the eternal gravity of water and the enduring
muscle OF the horse, so that the products Of twenty
millions of people may now equd the products of a
hundred millions as organized century ago. The
American Sower Mower and Reaper have made the
vast praires of the West manageable without class
of "poor whites" vassals under feudal lords. The
plains of the South chastised by the chariot wheels of
war axle deep, may also be expected to "yeld the
peaceabe fruits of righteousness, and the lash of the
Patridrchdl slaYedrver will be known no more for
The sewing machine has nearly emancpated
woman from
"Band gusset and seam,
| Seam, gusset and band"
though, if it had been introduced twenty years ear
lier might have lost Hoods teaching appeal to the
rich in the "Song of the Shirt" Just when began
to be doubtful whether fishermen could with profit
pursue in the polar their gigantic game the whale,
and light the lamps e the world process Of dstillng
petroleum rock-o-sold six years ago two ounce
phials panaca for the ills Of horse-fesh-was
found out, and now, after lighting up all our rural
homes with brillauce rarely surpassed by the gas of
metropolitan cities we export millions Of gallons for
the consumption of the world at large The great
crop Of America Indian corn, $50 much Of which has
been made into that whiskey which is a source OF
to the government and revenue OF death to
those who drink M has perplexed the dstiIers great
" to get rid of the accharne matter, but o now it
is said to be more valuable to the sugar and
hrow array the alcohol for which the grain has been
so long mercilessy tortured.
Not to weary you with the long procession Of the
improvements of the age let it suffice to say that their
tendency for century has been, through the subiu-
cation of the forces of art and through the division of
u .t,o e tIan ortas asnflif
I . and thereby give to the industrious ample
means and time to fifty instruct and employ the in
tellect There is class in happy circumstances
to move forward in the march mankind has thus
made and is making than that of the farmer and the
vantage-ground should not go rnimproved
y The lawyer who does not by long and persistent
> study understand law ms science-so as to apply
principles instead of ca'es-is but pettifogger and
though he may command great fees will never be a
. great lawyer He has a trade but not profession
1t The physician who does not understand the of
" diseases and the reason of the remedies cannot b'
' more than q quack. All the collateral branches o
~ science relating to medicine and surgery must be
mastered to make n safe guide. Is it then unreason
able that the farmer should aspire to have better
sons for his practice than the precedent Of his father
Must he still wait for the old of the before he
butchers calf or plants potato? Ought he not t
" gather and revove the facts thckly strewn in hi
:" path? With so much varied learning pertinent to hi
-, practice, with
- - "tongues in trees books in running brooks
- Sermons in stones and good in everything"
m he has only to that learning which really uu
"a derlies his vocation and which he daily stumbes
al and few men, whatever their professions would be
T. entitled to rank as his peers.
N We may excuse Sancho for attempting to learn t
III read by chewing the four ana twenty letters Of the
of alphabet but excuse the whose only
IN knowledge of botany is derived from chewing tobac
Of CO? We may some feminine literary celebrt
for being ignorant Of the material of which bread
~ made, but ought we to excuse man who puts dow
al Old Bourbon with the idea that he is a good ally O
ad the French, acknowledging the corn2 W,
a. may excuse the intelligent and stylish mliner wh
- though never at fault in furnishing fashionable adie
err with all the paNphernala fat purses may demand
-, ignorant of the materials Of which the various stuff
~, are made or from whence they came; but can W
pardon like blank in the character of the E,rme
Nh who suffers those in other pursuits and professions
or life to know more of science and literature relating
IRA his own pursuit than he knows himself?
or Brute force will not bring out the treasure
,ro of the earth so abundantly so economical