The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-05-20
THE ERA OF SCIENCE.
ADDRESS UPOS THE MECHANICS'
ARTS AND MODERN EDUCATION."
The Eloquent Words of DIR. X. II. Thurston
OF Cornell, Before tho Mechanics'
Institute of Richmond.

Below Is given the full text OF DR.. r.
II. Thurston's address before the Mechan-
les Institute Friday night, with the excep-
ton of his beautifully worded tributes TO
the life and character of Watts and Ste
venson.
In beginning his address he referred
in beautiful language TO Virginia and to
Richmond. the capital city, and to their
commercial and historical prominence.
The following is the address. with the
exceptions above noted.
The relation which ought TO be sustained
between the existing system or mechanic
arts in our country and the various edu-
cations which are taking form in these
later years is a subject In which all are
vitality interested; and this Is especially
the case in those OF our States In which
these arts have hitherto been undeyelop-
ed. although nature has placed at the
very doors Of their people every essential
element Of success in the production Of
wealth through the exercise or those
arts
Agriculture and the mechanic arts.
| hand in hand, produce all wealth, sus-
| tain and promote all improvements and
of the whole system of modern civiliZa-
ton. In fact, agriculture has come 10
be one Of the mechanic arts, doing Its
| work with tools and machinery, and
prospecting in proportion to the fruit
fulness Of invention. We may, therefore,
assert that upon the promotion ana per-
lection OF the mechanic arts depends the
| future welfare of every nation.
Among ali the various educations which
are practiced or proposed, none is so
! essential. so promising Of advantage to
the people and TO the nation, as is the
education of the student and pracution-
er in the mechanic arts.
We may make classic scholars; we may
| FIJI our pulpts, crowd the bar over
crowd the profession Of medicine; none
of these. not all Of these together. can
do for the people an insignificant fraction
| of the good which may be accomplished
by the suitable and effective education
of the sons Of mechanics who propose en-
tering the paths pursued by their faith
! ers.
The fact IS patent and the remark al
most trte; but 1t is well for US to OBJ
serve that the nineteenth century is the
beginning Of an era Of prime importance
TO humanity. and an era promising to be-
come historically more notable than any
The Era of Science Applied in The Arts.
SCIENCE AND TIE ARTS.
The abstract branches of learning date
back to the times of the ancients the
arts date back 70 Tubal Cain; but the
union Of science and art became posi-
bic only after the physical sciences were
placed upon firm foundation by the in
PRODUCTION Of the experimental method
| ,Lo ma the times or
Gilbert, Lavoisier, and Faraday. when
apoUed science became the basis of all
| the arts Two thousand years of thought
and speculation had less influence upon
the material welfare of the race than
have. now, two centuries OF right meth
DDS of work in science; far less than a
single century of application of the ply
steal sciences to the promotion Of the
useful ARTS. Our whole contemporary
system of Industries has grown, since the
DAVIS of Watt, out Of the development
of scientific methods in invention con-
struction, and production.
The world has been thus advanced
further. in a single century. than in all
tho preceding ages. The "science OF
cience-advancement' has been perfected
and the results have been seen in every
field of human activity. Watt adopted
the scientific method of investigation. and
converted the wasteful, imperfect limited
use of the old Slavery and Newcomer
engines Of his time into the wonderful
machine which has since taken upon
, itself the whole load OF productive LABOR
Of the world.
The colleges and the schools have beer
given, Of late. little credit Tor the pro-
gress which has been made during lh'
century. in the industries and the arts
o1rr
that II is to the Senate Of the UNIVERSE
~ of Glasgow that we owe the dscov-
erv Of James Watt. and, through tha'
discovery. all that wonderful expansion
of every art which followed the intro
drction of the modern steam-engine
without which even modern science
would have had but a stunted growth ahc
the arts a still more limited develop
ment - - vvo++
,,roved the handspring of all subsequent
l,rovth in wealth. comfort, largely Of th'
borniness of the world now familiar &c
US. , -.
The great inventor founded a prize a
the University of Glasgow. in 1913, as n
said ITO excite that spirit OF inquiry anl
exertion among the students OF the COZ
! Iooa which appears TO me the more use
| full, as the very tAiS'OiiNN - -
tain. as a nation. seems to me, In grea
measure. TO depend upon her eXeruons II
science and the arts" a spirit whicf
HE own. work illustrated in supreme de
| gree.
If is that spirit. quite as much az
real knowledge which the school shoui.
stimulate and supply. The right splrl
being awakened, all the rest follows IN
| eyitably.
Supplementing the study OF the mih
and it's proddcts-the ancient learning
Nv the study of nature and her laws
With q view to their application TO IN
promotion Of the best interests OF IN
world. the advancement Of every higheS
, faculty and purpose Of the race-th'
characteristics of modern learning-th
scholar Of to-day finds at once the mos
attractive and engrossing fields OF wor
and the most fruitful departments o
G intellectual labor
y sUPpLEMENTING THE SCHOLASTIC.
In our day the colleges and the school
are doing more than ever before TO 40
e vance the best interests Of the race The
are supplementlng the purely scholasti
and intellectual, gymnastic, curriculum Z
the middle ages with the applied serene
70 and special instruction needed by ia
: ton of workers. -,
! The older schools taught. not IN
- sciences. the literatures, and the arts
IT, .t,,o but mainly the literatureS, an