Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-10-06

upon the canvass Of the dead past of thi
people and this country, as it moves i
panoramic vision before the eyes of anti
quarlan philosophy And. as vet. how I'M
SATISFACTORY the effort to divine how an,
where OF inns strange peoples coming; tn,
why ana wherefore Of their losing tie ar
OF building and Of culture, of which re
cent discoveries afford such ample cyl
! dence.
IIls mtuUtoR on which we stand here
! to-day, constituting, as il does. a mart O
that vast area known as the " Missjssipp
Bottom" which geology indicates as an ae
cumrIlated deposit, resulting from the won.
| der-working agency of that right arm o
the sea- always in motion and nave,
weary; an agency, more mysterious in il,
Oyerlows than the erratic Gauges. more
productive of the various supplies adaptcd
to the wants, comfort and elevation of the
human race, than any part Of the habitable
globe, IS yet destined, in the far future, UNI
der the guidance Of mechanical skill and
agricultural science, to a development as
marvellous in the physical, as it viii be po-
tent in moral and political results in our
western world, as did the tabled Nile upon
the ancients Of the East.
See but the natural gifts as they are
found on the borders of this wonder-work-
er, as they come forth in due season upon
the northern banks where ice-crops are gath
cred from her limpid waters for summer use;
and contrast them with the grape that swings
In clusters about her southern waist in mid
winter; or with the pOmegranate, bursting
with juicy eXuberance; and the orange
tree, decorated at the same time with bios
SONS for the wreath Of the bride, and the
golden fruit for the wedding feast with
bananas of delicate flavor, as they cluster
hard by the fig Of ancient and sacred MEM
DRY; while the check of the peach, bushes
with its very ripeness along her borders,
ere the froSt-wOrk has melted from the
branches of her frozen frs in her more
northern latitude. See the vast prairies,
those fertile fields that need no clearing.
where Ceres gathers her golden crown for
annual feaSts, united by the links Of this
wateTy chain TO the cane-felds Of balmv
Louisiana, and the cotton cropth at stretch
es along her centre-bOrder like snoY-laden
forests, and say, if it is not the duty of the
husbandmen of this vast bottom" to
unite their talent and energies in develop
ing, by scientific, as well as well as practi-
cal means applied through both mechani-
cal and chemical experiments) the vast
and varied resources that lie temptingly be
fore them? Is it not the golden fruit of
Hesperides that invites yOu,with no Cerbe-
rus TO guard it, and not requiring the aiven-
ture and daring Of Hercules to pluck it {?
While mere mechanical invention will sub
Stitue the strength of his club, as chemistry
will WOO its Cerberus to sleep, and leave
an easy passage to that tree which bears
the coveted fruit. Is not the "philOsO-
piers stone buried within the bosom Of
this soil and within your reach? May |
not say to you, tillers of the ground, that
the very soil beneath your feet contains
diamond of more value than the KohinOor,
whose glistening gl0ries are but encased by
a thin colOring that dissOlves at the touch
of chemistry ?" And, feeling this, what
thoughtful planter can look on the bosom
of mother Earth and not feel a reverence,
such as the Jewish High Priest felt as he
zling Shekinah?
Can science then be successfully ap-
Piled to agriculture? is question Of mo
ment to the inquiring husbandmen.
When the lawyer, thoroughly imbued
with the principles Of his noble profession,
is enabled by the unerring rules of its sub
tie teachings to conduct his cause along the
path which has not been blazed by judicial
decisions, and where he reasons alone
with logical philosophy that traces effect to
cause and cause to effect, do We not say,
while we stand in admiration of the intel
lect and culture that can thus handle with
nice discrimination and bring to bear in all
their delicate relationship, reconcile princi-
pies which unerringly point TO a given re-
suit, it is scientific success? When the
surgeon applies the knife 70 remove the
root of disease which has fastened itself in
the vitals of its victim, or ligates the sew
cred artery and staunches the flow of
life'S crimson tide do we not bless the
triumph of science which thus holds hui
man existence upon the edge Of blade, or
imprisons it within the confines Of its
earthly tabernacle with a simple thread?
Again, when the YibratOry motion of the
lid Of the tea Kettle, by the influence of
steam, for the first time attraced the atten-
ton of the philosopher, il was not cOmprc-
hended that the simmering song of the
heated water was but the muttering Of a
giant struggling into birth! i giant.-the
fruit Of the intermarriage of fire and water
the development of whose strength, BY
the application of science, was to startle
the world, until every fibre Of its emotion
al nature would " tremble at his power
What but the application of mechanical
science in its comprehensive, yet minute
and practical form, brought forth from the
brain of Whitney, the cotton gin:
and from Arkwright, the factory, thus re-
lieving human muscles from the weary
wear to which they were daily subject
What but mechanical science, bringing to
bear in happy combination, existing princi-
pies, enabled Mccormack to send his reap
er with "sOng Of the harvester" into the
fields where Ceres waves her yellow
hair inviting the barbarOus gatherer, that
CLEANS with such parsimOneoUs accuracy as
to leave no waste-sheaves for the devoted
daughter Of some Naomi to gather in the
fields of modern Boaz,
In COmhill, Boston, little more than
quarter of a century since, a pale and
thoughtful young man of only twenty years
Of age, earned his daily bread by the manu-
tacture and repair Of nautical instruments
and philosophical apparatus in the shop of
Ari Davis. Familiar with the principles of
and glowing with genius, he set
about the manufacture of a sewing machine
Looking to the practical, Elias Howe, as he
iaily tOiled on that which sceptics called a
lream, may have only thought of that for
une which he has so amply realized; vet,
Dy combining and putting in practical opera
ion those scientific principles which govern
he invented a substitute for hui
nan fingers, that does not weary or wear
away, as it sews the lightest gossamer or the
heaviest leather; neither does it start foun-
ain of tears, nor does it wear out hui
nan eyes, IS with its "stitch. stitch.
itch ii makes a shirt as well as a shroud7
When we see such grand results as the fruit
# science applied TO inventions and discov-
.Ties, and the application of active and in
.ctive principles in harmonious combina-
ions for the welfare of our race, can we
lOubt for a moment that science can be sue
essfully applied 70 agriculture, the source Of |
VI life, and thus bring about a still greater
evolution in the mode Of culture, as well as
n developing the secret and hidden proper
les of the soil? If all is not known that can
'e known to multiply fiuitfulness of the !
arth and to increase and perpetuate its fer |
ility, then the man of science and his CO.
abOrer, the man Of practice, should strive
With cheerful and hopeful assiduity to dem /
nstrate the one and accomplish the other. |
Z the laws of vegetable life can be compre- /
ended by the human understanding, and /.
II their mysterious and beautiful relations .
Md bare to common inspection by its keen I
nalysis, what practical vigor, what philO- !!
Ophic reflection, lightened and frightened /
y poetic thoughts, inspired by the beautiful, /