Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-07-27
40 RsSs =! H1',aa-'res0R TSsasn 1GE,
AT THE
Commencement of the Worcester Free
Institute.


add anything new or interesting where so much
has been said on the subject of public instruc
ton, and where the people and the authorities
have always taken the lead in educational pro
gress; and especially when the subject of tech
ncal education was to be discussed in com
munity noted for the success of its widely
known manufacturing establishments; for the
| peculiar genius of the people in devising uselul
means and appliances for facilitating business
operations, and above all for the high apprecia-
ton which has always been exhibited OF tile
value of instruction in the arts and sciences.
1t seemed difficult to select any field OF
| thought, or mode Of presenting any SUBJECT ap-
propriate to this occasion, which bad not al
ready been fully dwelt upon by the eminent
men among yourselves, who have done so much
| to aid in the advancement of knowledge and
! learning, and whose good influences, IN this re-
| spect, have been felt far beyond the limits of
| your own state.
found, however, in the cordial note of invi-
tation which | received a suggestion which
opened to my own mind new tain of thought,
which appeared to me highly interesting, and
which | gladly adopt as the theme of my adj
dress. The precise words Of this suggestion are
"What are the principles and merits Of the ap-
plcations of science to active business"
1t may be assumed that the time has passed
during which it has been found necessary to
plead for the establishment of schools for in
struction in science. The value of technical
education is now quite universally admitted, and
scientific colleges are everywhere taking their
appropriate places and rank in our general sys-
TEN of education.
For this result, we are mainly indebted in
this country, to the enlightened and compre-
hensiVe views of individual citizens, who, fore
seeing the good TO be accomplished, have had
also the magnanimity of heart and mind to take
the lead in this, as they have in other great and
good works, which, without their timely and
efficient aid, would still have been found strug-
CLING for a feeble existence.
With the successful establishment OF these
new institutions, devoted to scientific instruc-
ton, there has, moreover, been an implied
promise on the part of their advocates, and also
on the part of both instructors and pupils, that
the just expectations of these founders and ben
efaclors, and Of the public by whose general
sympathy they are nourished, shall not be dis
appointed; that they shall fulfill the ends for
which they were created and are sustained.
The fulfllment in part of this promise is one
of the remaining duties of the graduates of to-
day. and while their ability TO perform this
duty to themselves and Others depends largely
on the character of the instruction they have
received and the manner in which they have
improved their time, we know well from the ex-
erciseS OF this morning that the opportunities
they have enjoyed in this young but vigorous
Institute, have been of the most sound and
practical character, and that the instruction Of
fered has been received into the hearts and
minds of honest, energetic young men, who will
IIlaht The D6sE uSb VI anu We art
directly TO the inquiry which may still be asked
concerning the specific advantages and princi-
Piles of the applications of the scientific knOwl-
edge which they have acquired, in the active
business pursuits which they may follow.
Whatever may be said in regard to the merits
OF one system or course of education as COM
pared with another, there can be no doubt that
the true aim OF all instruction should be to pre-
pare those who are about to enter upon the re-
spOnsibilites and duties of life for the most
efficient use and exercise of their faculties in
the special spheres of labor to which they may
be called.
Institutions of learning are not sustained for
the purpose of preparing men for life of pleas
ure and idleness; nor solely to enable them to
acquire easily and speedily the means of adj
ding TO their own comforts and enjoymentS, re-
CARELESS of the welfare and happiness of others;
but it is distinguishing principle of the Christ
ain civilization which fosters these institutions
that every man should work-that he should
continue to work while he has the power and
ability to do so-not as a mere means of sub
sistence, according to what may be called a sort
of Darwinian law of natural selection" sell
fish struggle for life and power, which finds its
extremes in the advocates of communism on the
one hand, and in the assumption of universal
dominion and infallibility on the other; but the
principle that every man should work, honestly
and faithfully, in his sphere and calling, in
wolves sacred duty which finds authority in
in the revealed word of the Supreme Being. 1t
| is there commanded that every one should
| labor, first, for those who are of his own house
| hold, that they be not burden upon others !;
and secondly, for the welfare of the helpless and
| unfortunate, that they may be sustained and
comforted; and for the public good, that there
shall be no cause of universal suffering.
We are taught also by universal experience
as well as by reason, that the very existence Of
this principle involves also another of universal
1snaNs nj az thn hs.xl
| which is, that no fragment of time should be
lost, no energy wasted or misapplied. This
| law of economy controls in a great degree the
conditions which are essential to the highest so
cial happiness; ii is applicable to the labor Of
| the intellect as well as TO that of the hands
two kinds of work which are equally honor able
equally important, equally healthful, and, al
the same time, equally exhaustive of the vital
| energies.
Where these fundamental principles are
| recognized as among the highest rules of human
action, imposed by divine authority alone, for
the well being and happiness of man, the con-
| clusiOn is inevitable that the world owes no man
| living who does not work honestly and faith
fully and with all charity to others, for his own
support and for the general good.
To prepare men for this useful labor, and to
| render them more efficient for the performance
of these private and public duties, is the main
object and aim of public instruction.
| Institutions devoted to scientific education
differ in no respect from Others in regard to
these objects, except that the spheres or avoca-
tons for which their systems of instruction are
| adapted, are connected more or less intimately
| with the applications OF the natural and mathe-
| NAUTICAL sciences to the ordinary affairs and
| transactions Of business pursuits
We are, therefore, TO inquire in what special
| manner the applications of the sciences taught
in this Gree Institute of Industrial Science u
| tend to promote efficiency of labor, the accom-.
plishment Of useful ends, in practical life, and
in what manner they aid in the fulfllment Of
this universal law Of economy in the employ.
ment of time, materials and labor.
Among the sciences of the present day, those
which are especially applicable to industrial
operations, and are prominently taught in scien
tifc colleges, are:
LIST. Mathematics, in part human invention
especially adaptable to reasoning and investiga.
| ton, by which the mathematical sciences have
been developed in all their useful relations.
| ID. The science Of mechanics, which treats OF
the laws of force and motion, and their relations
to time and space; the movements of bodies
and the strength of the materials of which they
are composed.
Sd. The science of physics, which treats Of
the inherent properties of bodies in nature, and
the changes which take place in them under the
agency of the natural forces of heat gravita.
ton, electricity magnetism, etc.
4th. The science of chemistry, which treats OF
the constitution of bodies, and the laws of their
| cOnDlnatlOns ana feactlonS under the forces OF
chemical affinity; their specific properties in
connection with these reactions in modifying
the general conditions under which substances
exist in nature.
5th The sciences of geology and mineralogy
which relate TO the materials which compose the
crust Of the earth, their order of occurrence
| their forms and properties.
9th. The science Of zoology, which treats OF
animal life in all its forms and relations.
industrial science" may be defined to be the
| application of all these sciences, and the arts
connected with them, to special spheres of labor
which have for their object the utilization of the
| forces of nature, the production of materials
| useful to man, and the transformation of these
materials into the forms and combinations in
which they are ultimately employed or con.
sumed, and technical instruction consists main.
| ly in imparting knowledge of these sciences
and of Others related to them, and the methods
of their application.
The merits of these applications are to be
found in the greater efficiency which
they give to labor-the labor of the hands
as well as the labor of the intellect-in
the promotion of the economy of time
and material, in the multiplication of hu,
man efforts, through machinery, and in the fire.
quent opening of new and varied channels of
industry. From all of which there results a
more universal diffusion of the means of com.
4 fort and happiness all pIascpc ond on