Year: 1872

TIN OPENING MEETING-sPEECH OF Dr.. CAR


PENTER-MAN AS THE INTERPRETERS VI


NATURE.


The annual meeting of the British Assocla-
tlon for the Advancement of Science began on the m
of August at Brighton The retiring President Sir VIII
liam Thompson resigned the chair to his successor DE-
william b. Carpenter LII. d., who, In the course OF MS
inaugural address, said


II has been customary with successive occupants OF
this chair open the proceedings OF the meetngs Over
some aspect OF nature in her relation 10 man But am
not aware that any one OF tRS n mas man as the


Interpreter of Nature - and have therefore thought
it not inappropriate TO ead rosies you " nv ne which ST
are formed those fundamental conceptions OF mat
ter and force, OF cause ana enect. 9i law anu &
constitute the Philosophi0 primd OF Bacon There Is
great deal OF what cannot ps df s enc eIV
40 caed-abrOad in the world at the present time Ana


none 10 satisfy Won that those who set up their own
coneepons of the orderly sequence which tney discern
I'm the phenomena Of nature as liked ana Getermlnate
laws by which those phenomena not only are but
always have been and always must be, invariably gov
erned are really guilty OF the intellectual AFRO,
eance they condemn in the systems Of the ancens, and
Mace themselves in nt1gOnism TO those real phiiOs-
ophers by whose grasp and insight that order
has been so far disclosed. For what love
OF the truth as it is in nature was ever more
conspcuous than that which Kepler displayed In his
of the conceptions OF the planetary
system which his Imagination had successively de
ysed so soon proved 70 be inconsistent with the
ing description Of the way IN which his enemy Mars
"whOm he had left at home despsed captive" had
from fbe prisons Of the tables who does not recognize
the justice OF sehers definition Of the real philosopher


as one who always loves truth better than his system
And when at last he had gained the OF sue
cess so pete that s he says he thought he must DO
dreaming. that he had been reasoning In circle, VINO
docs not feel the almost suDlimy OF the seaDnegaOn
ton such glorious reward OF his life Of toll he abstans
from claiming the applause OF ms cOtempOraIles Dut
leaves his fame 10 after ages In these noble words The
book is wTtten TO be read either now o1 Dy posteIy


not which. II may well wait century Tor reader
as God has waited 5000 years for an observer"


And when yet greater than hepler was bringing 20
It's final issue that randest OF all scientific conceptions,
long pondered over by his almost superhuman intellect
which linked together the Heavens and the Earth IN tho
OF universal attraction, establishing the truth
giving 70 Kepers laws a significance OF which their
author had never dreamed-what was the menaing OF
that agitation which prevented the philosopher from
completing his computation, and compelled him % hand
it over 70 his tend That It not the thought OF his
own greatness, but the glimpse OF the grand universal
order thus revealed to his mental yisiOn which shook
the soul Newton to its foundations we have the proof
child picking up shells the shore OF the vast ocean OF
truh-a comparison which will be evidence to all time
miy Though Is with The Intellectual representation
OF Nature which call science that we are primarily
concerned II will not be without ITS to cast glance
In the first instance at the other two principal characters
under which man acts her interpreter-those namely
OF the artist and OF the poet The artist serves the n
terpreter OF Nature not when he works as the mere
copyst, delneang that which he sees with his bodily
eyes and which could well for ourselves but
when he endeavors TO awaken within us the perception
sense has recognized and thus mpar 10 the pleasure
he has himself derived from their contemplation.


As two artists agree In the original constitution
and acquired habits OF their minds, all look at Nature
with different mentaD eyes; that 10 each Nature Is
what he individually in her. The poet again. serves
as the interpreter Of Nature not much when by skill


fu WOrdpanng whether in prose verse; he calls up
before mental vision the picture Of actual
into appropriate forms those deeper impressions made
by the Nature around him on the moral and emotional
OF his nature he transfers these impressions 20
the corresponding part OF For Is the attribute OF
the secret OF those mysterious
influences which all unknOwingly experience; and
having discovered this TO himself TO bring Others by
the power he thus wieds, into the like sympathetic
lation with Nature, evOking with sklful touch the
varied response of the souls finest chords Tightening
its Joys assuaging Its griefs and eevang It's aspira-
tons. While, then, the artist 70 picture what no
sees in Nature the object OF the poet 10 represent
what feels in Nature and 10 each true poet Nature
IS what he individually finds in her The philosophers
of the artist the poet because II based facts
which any verify, and is elaborated by
ing processes which all admit the validity. He looks
at the universe vast book lying open before him,
Ofwhch has In the first place 10 learn the character
then TO master the language, and finally 10 apprebend
the ideas which that language conveys In that book
there are many chapters, treating OF different subjects
and as life too short Tor any one man to grasp the
whole the scientific Interpretation Of this book 70
lie the work of many ntelects, differing not merely IN
the range IN the character of their powers But
while there are dversties or gifts there Il the same
snrt While takes his special direction the gene
ri method OF study Is for all And 10 Is tes-
timonV alike 10 the ruth Of that method and 10 the
unity of nature that there Is an everncreasing ten
dency toward agreement among thoSe "ho use IL asn'