Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-02-27


studies and researches become not |
Only Interesting but Elscinating-how |
/ their objects will attire themselves in rain
| bow unts and
CHARM THE INVESTIGATION.
| devote myself, for a time, to rocks, |
strata, folds and fossils, and, in the whole |
range Of science, there is nothing like
| geology. i study flowers, fruits and the
| beautiful plant-WOrld around us, and surely
botany must wear the laurel get among
the atoms in molecules, see their wonder
full arrangement and marvellous metamOr-
phOseS, the others are ignored, and chemistry
comes of conqueror, and conqueror only
because last revelled in.
So the anatOmist becomes enamored and
weds anatomy; and the Psychologist has his
lady-loye whom he worships as queen.
To each zealot (where zeal is according
| to knowledge, and the field is Gods crea-
tiOn,) a chosen study becomes a mine Of
wealth from which are taken diamonds and
azure sapphires, an inexhaustiblem mine that
swells out the deeper we 60, that constantly
yields brighter and more wonderful jewels,
and in which there is no bottom, no
barren sections, no safety. Such
mines have been planned by the
infinite, and begemmed by his hand.
The finite, though it may open and enter
far enough to be enraptured, can never
fathOn. The microscopes, We now call
splendid, cannot reach molecules, much
less their atoms, which, I(perhaps like
planets around a central SUM- reyolye
within. As stellar distances grow beyond
our conceptions, so, on the other hand, the
lines of minuteneSs shrink far out of sight.
Thus zeal, no matter in what direction it
may be exercised, whether heavenwards
among the stars, or earthward among rocks
and particles, or in living matt II or dead
matter, in bone structure, nerve structure
or cell structure, will always find aliment
to feast upon, and the bundles ocean to be
exhausted, which lay at NeWton's feet.
But, gentlemen, am reminded that.the
time allotted me is rapidly passing. l
would like to dwell upon the innate power
there isinwill-internalsis sister of zeal-speak
OF how it mUsters into service all energies,
physical and spiritual, within reach, for the
accomplishment of its purpoSes-how it
gives to character decision and efficiency,
and how il has been the locks of many in
+ tellectual, moral and political Simpsons.
II is enough to say, that without it, moth
ing valuable in life can be attained; that
with it, in subsection 10 the lofty principle
Of good will to men, everything for the de-
velOpment Of mans nObleSt nature can be
accomplished, and man himself raised to a
position near 10 that of the angels.
| would have you remember, gentlemen,
that your life-wOrk as physicians, as men,
as both, will not be symmetrical, unless
you add something TO the sum Of knOwl-
edge. Men of your profession; prae-
+ ticed in the use of the scalpel; students
of organisms; skilled in diagnosis;
trained to think, investigate and TO APP
h.
implements, are expected to advance be
yond the confines of the known, to explore
the unknown. and to map it for the use of
their fellow-men and pOsterity. There is
an abundance of material to work upon.
Thousands Of facts, pregnant with theOreti-
cal and practical interest, remain to be dis
e covered. New concentrations are to take
the place of the old. No science is COM
plete-all are progressive. The chemistry
!, | of to-day is not the chemistry your fathers
studied. nor will il be the chemistry your
| children viii study. Old editions are
! thrown aside. PharmacOpeas, dlspenSato-
! ries and manuals of every branch are re
| yised each decade in order that new facts
: and principles may be incorporated These
are results Of an army Of thinkers and in
{ vestigatOrs. Can you not join this army?
4 Be inspired with the spirit of Robert Burns
{. who yearned to make, if nothing more, one
: wee book for old ScOtland's sake. So
may YOU yearn to add to the CON-
mon store already accumulated, a simple
fact-an original thought, new process, an
: | elective instrument, for the sake of the
! profession you have adopted, and for the
) sake of humanity. But, with a laudahle
{ ambition and a right inspiration, great
! thiags may be accomplished. Why not as
pire To be Harveys, Sydenhams, Danas and
Agassizs. These are examples worthy Of
imitation.
e Agassiz. What a food Of memories
Z and thoughts crowd around his name. /
o see him now standing before me; his round,
frank face beaming with intelligence and
good will. Born abroad, vet one OF us-Of
kin in principle and love of liberty-he ate
: OF our bread and his blood became AmeTiss
Il can. Here is q model for youthful inveSti-
7 gators, In his own language "He had no
D time TO make money! His aim was high
I er. He thought to interpret the thoughts
! of the Almighty as manifested in creation.
! He delighted in the beautiful and truthful
idea that "The laws Of nature are the
/ thoughts Of God" and many times has the
: expression been used in his lectures and in
: his writings. To unlock the arena OF
!, nature-to solve and make plain its mys-
|
u teal and the useful were the worthy pur-
e poses he had in view. Sing Of sublime
d lives, Who will say this is not one? You
: aud are interested in the results Of his la
: Dor which, though the man is dead, still
Y live to teach and enlighten us. 1t was not
: simply the machinery Of man and its work
, ings that engrOSSed his power his inyeSti-
: cations, while including these, ranged
I through the entire chain Of being down to
: the glow worm that CLEANS in the darkness
and the pOlyp that transforms sea bottoms
: into fairy gardens of sen.ient shrubs and
E flowers. BY his work, dark points in the
structure and
; PHYSIOLOGICAL MOVEMENTS OF OUR
FRAMES
have been illuminated, analOgies pointed
= out, developments traced, types established,
/. and species and genera marshalled in
: Crander divisions. So much for original in
q vestigatiOn.
There was. gentlemen, no stain OF athe-
ism on his eScutcheOn, and for this we honor
him the more. He had no faith in the old
theory of progressive development, which
+ Darwin. in his abnormal mental activity,
has, of late years, revived He fully recnS-
nized the fact that all animals are linked
together in a wonderful chain OF afilnitieS
and anll0gless Ous thls, no JsstlSilt, - SlIhpig
the unity and harmony Of the works Of the
one only God. How could il be otherwise
where supreme intelligence plans and eX-
eeutes? This very harmony and system
are themselves proofs that God has created
and rules.
We have 10 sympathy with Darwinism,
e nor with any thing that would impair our
e, faith in God the Father. Remove this faith,
Il man, the earth, the universe become but an
g accident. and all things resolve into impen-
4, etrable darkness. The sun that floods the
e earth with light; he moon that sheds her
J, rays over the plains; the stars that nightly
II twinkle in the heavens; the ocean with its
), tumultuOus roar; the trees that rise in state
Il ly grandeur; the flowers that bloom in peer
d less splendor; the mountains, the rocks; the
d hills, the wales; all that's organized or unor-
ganized; animate or neutrality-suspicious.