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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16227-0.txt b/16227-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e108d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/16227-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2497 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Uses of Astronomy, by Edward Everett + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: The Uses of Astronomy + An Oration Delivered at Albany on the 28th of August, 1856 + +Author: Edward Everett + +Release Date: July 6, 2005 [eBook #16227] +[Most recently updated: December 15, 2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Peter Barozzi, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE USES OF ASTRONOMY *** + + + + + THE USES OF ASTRONOMY. + + + AN ORATION + + + Delivered at Albany, on the 28th of August, 1856 + + BY + + EDWARD EVERETT, + + + ON THE + + OCCASION OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE DUDLEY + ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY, + + + WITH A + + CONDENSED REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS, + + AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE + + DEDICATION OF NEW YORK STATE GEOLOGICAL HALL. + + + NEW YORK: + PUBLISHED BY ROSS & TOUSEY, + 103 NASSAU STREET. + 1856. + + + + + A NOTE EXPLANATORY. + + The undersigned ventures to put forth this report of Mr. + EVERETT'S Oration, in connection with a condensed account of the + Inauguration of the Dudley Observatory, and the Dedication of + the New State Geological Hall, at Albany,--in the hope that the + demand which has exhausted the newspaper editions, may exhaust + this as speedily as possible; not that he is particularly + tenacious of a reward for his own slight labors, but because he + believes that the extensive circulation of the record of the two + events so interesting and important to the cause of Science will + exercise a beneficial influence upon the public mind. The effort + of the distinguished Statesman who has invested Astronomy with + new beauties, is the latest and one of the most brilliant of + his compositions, and is already wholly out of print, though + scarcely a month has elapsed since the date of its delivery. + The account of the proceedings at Albany during the Ceremonies + of Inauguration is necessarily brief, but accurate, and is + respectfully submitted to the consideration of the reader. + + A. MAVERICK. + NEW YORK, _October 1, 1856._ + + + + + TWO NEW INSTITUTIONS OF SCIENCE; + + AND + + THE SCENES WHICH ATTENDED THEIR CHRISTENING. + + +In the month of August last, two events took place in the city of +Albany, which have more than an ephemeral interest. They occurred in +close connection with the proceedings of a Scientific Convention, +and the memory of them deserves to be cherished as a recollection of +the easy way in which Science may be popularized and be rendered so +generally acceptable that the people will cry, like Oliver Twist, for +more. It is the purpose of this small publication to embody, in a form +more durable than that of the daily newspaper, the record of proceedings +which have so near a relation to the progress of scientific research. A +marked feature in the ceremonies was the magnificent Oration of the Hon. +EDWARD EVERETT, inaugurating the Dudley Observatory of Albany; and it is +believed that the reissue of that speech in its present form will be +acceptable to the admirers of that distinguished gentleman, not less +than to the lovers of Science, who hung with delight upon his words. + + + THE DEDICATION OF THE GEOLOGICAL HALL. + +On Wednesday, August 27, 1856, the State Geological Hall of New York +was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. For the purpose of affording +accommodation to the immense crowds of people who, it was confidently +anticipated, would throng to this demonstration and that of the +succeeding day, at which Mr. EVERETT spoke, a capacious Tent was +arranged with care in the center of Academy Park, on Capitol Hill; +and under its shelter the ceremonies of the inauguration of both +institutions were conducted without accident or confusion; attended on +the first day by fully three thousand persons, and on the second by a +number which may be safely computed at from five to seven thousand. + +The announcement that Hon. WM. H. SEWARD would be present at the +dedication of the Geological Hall, excited great interest among the +citizens; but the hope of his appearance proved fallacious. His place +was occupied by seven picked men of the American Association for the +Advancement of Science, one of whom (Prof. HENRY) declared his inability +to compute the problem why seven men of science were to be considered +equal to one statesman. The result justified the selections of the +committee, and although the Senator was not present, the seven +Commoners of Science made the occasion a most notable one by the flow +of wit, elegance of phrase, solidity and cogency of argument, and rare +discernment of natural truths, with which their discourse was garnished. + +The members of the American Association marched in procession to the +Tent, from their place of meeting in the State Capitol. On the stage +were assembled many distinguished gentlemen, and in the audience were +hundreds of ladies. GOV. CLARK and Ex-Governors HUNT and SEYMOUR, of New +York, Sir WM. LOGAN, of Canada, Hon. GEORGE BANCROFT, and others as well +known as these, were among the number present. The tent was profusely +decorated. Small banners in tri-color were distributed over the entire +area covered by the stage, and adorned the wings. The following +inscriptions were placed over the front of the rostrum,--that in honor +of "_The Press_" occupying a central position: + + GEOLOGY. THE PRESS. + METEOROLOGY. MINERALOGY. + METALLURGY. ETHNOLOGY. + ASTRONOMY. + +The following were arranged in various positions on the right and left: + + CHEMISTRY. TELEGRAPH. + PHYSIOLOGY. LETTERS. + CONCHOLOGY. HYDROLOGY. + PALÆONTOLOGY. ZOOLOGY. + MICROSCOPY. ICHTHYOLOGY. + ART. MANUFACTURES. + STEAM. AGRICULTURE. + COMMERCE. PHYSICS. + SCIENCE. ANATOMY. + NAVIGATION. BOTANY. + +The proceedings of the day were opened with prayer by Rev. GEO. W. +BETHUNE, D.D., of Brooklyn. + +Hon. GARRIT Y. LANSING, of Albany, then introduced Professor LOUIS +AGASSIZ, of Cambridge, Mass., who was the first of the "seven men +of science" to entertain his audience, always with the aid of the +inevitable black-board, without which the excellent Professor would be +as much at a loss as a chemist without a laboratory. Professor AGASSIZ +spoke for an hour, giving his views of a new theory of animal +development. He began by saying:-- + + We are here to inaugurate the Geological Hall, which has grown + out of the geological survey of the State. To make the occasion + memorable, a distinguished statesman of your own State, and Mr. + FRANK C. GRAY, were expected to be present and address you. The + pressure of public duties has detained Mr. SEWARD, and severe + sickness has detained Mr. GRAY. I deeply lament that the occasion + is lost to you to hear my friend Mr. GRAY, who is a devotee to + science, and as warm-hearted a friend as ever I knew. Night + before last I was requested to assist in taking their place--I, + who am the most unfit of men for the post. I never made a speech. + I have addressed learned bodies, but I lack that liberty of + speech--the ability to present in finished style, and with that + rich imagery which characterize the words of the orator, the + thoughts fitting to such an occasion as this. He would limit + himself, he continued, to presenting some motives why the + community should patronize science, and foster such institutions + as this. We scientific men regard this as an occasion of the + highest interest, and thus do not hesitate to give the sanction + of the highest learned body of the country as an indorsement of + the liberality of this State. The geological survey of New York + has given to the world a new nomenclature. No geologist can, + hereafter, describe the several strata of the earth without + referring to it. Its results, as recorded in your published + volumes, are treasured in the most valuable libraries of the + world. They have made this city famous; and now, when the + scientific geologist lands on your shore, his first question is, + "Which is the way to Albany? I want to see your fossils." But + Paleontology is only one branch of the subject, and many others + your survey has equally fostered. + + He next proceeded to show that organized beings were organized + with reference to a plan, which the relations between different + animals, and between different plants, and between animals and + plants, everywhere exhibit;--drew sections of the body of a + fish, and of the bird, and of man, and pointed out that in each + there was the same central back-bone, the cavity above and + the ribbed cavity below the flesh on each side, and the skin + over all--showing that the maker of each possessed the same + thought--followed the same plan of structure. And upon that plan + He had made all the kinds of quadrupeds, 2,000 in number, all the + kinds of birds, 7,000 in number, all of the reptiles, 2,000 to + 3,000 in number, all the fish, 10,000 to 12,000 in number. All + their forms may be derived as different expressions of the same + formula. There are only four of these great types; or, said he, + may I not call them the four tunes on which Divinity has played + the harmonies that have peopled, in living and beautiful reality, + the whole world? + + + PROFESSOR HITCHCOCK ON REMINISCENCES. + +ERASTUS C. BENEDICT, Esq. of New York, introduced Prof. HITCHCOCK, of +Amherst, as a gentleman whose name was very familiar, who had laid +aside, voluntarily, the charge of one of the largest colleges in New +England, but who could never lay aside the honors he had earned in the +literature and science of geology. + +After a few introductory observations, Prof. HITCHCOCK said:-- + + This, I believe, is the first example in which a State Government + in our country has erected a museum for the exhibition of its + natural resources, its mineral and rock, its plants and animals, + living and fossil. And this seems to me the most appropriate spot + in the country for placing the first geological hall erected by + the Government; for the County of Albany was the district where + the first geological survey was undertaken, on this side of the + Atlantic, and, perhaps, the world. This was in 1820, and ordered + by that eminent philanthropist, Stephen Van Rensselaer, who, + three years later, appointed Prof. Eaton to survey, in like + manner, the whole region traversed by the Erie Canal. This was + the commencement of a work, which, during the last thirty years, + has had a wonderful expansion, reaching a large part of the + States of the Union, as well as Canada, Nova Scotia, and New + Brunswick, and, I might add, several European countries, where + the magnificent surveys now in progress did not commence till + after the survey of Albany and Rensselaer Counties. How glad + are we, therefore, to find on this spot the first Museum of + Economical Geology on this side of the Atlantic! Nay, embracing + as it does all the department of Natural History, I see in it + more than a European Museum of Economical Geology, splendid + though they are. I fancy, rather, that I see here the germ of a + Cis-Atlantic British Museum, or Garden of Plants. + + North Carolina was the first State that ordered a geological + survey; and I have the pleasure of seeing before me the gentleman + who executed it, and in 1824-5 published a report of 140 pages. + I refer to Professor Olmstead, who, though he has since won + brighter laurels in another department of science, will always be + honored as the first commissioned State geologist in our land. + +Of the New York State Survey he said:-- + + This survey has developed the older fossiliferous rocks, with a + fullness and distinctness unknown elsewhere. Hence European + savans study the New York Reports with eagerness. In 1850, as I + entered the Woodwardian Museum, in the University of Cambridge, + in England, I found Professor McCoy busy with a collection of + Silurian fossils before him, which he was studying with Hall's + first volume of Paleontology as his guide; and in the splendid + volumes, entitled _British Paleozoric Rocks and Fossils_, which + appeared last year as the result of those researches, I find + Professor Hall denominated the great American Paleontologist. I + tell you, Sir, that this survey has given New York a reputation + throughout the learned world, of which she may well be proud. Am + I told that it will, probably, cost half a million? Very well. + The larger the sum, the higher will be the reputation of New + York for liberality; and what other half million expended in our + country, has developed so many new facts or thrown so much light + upon the history of the globe, or won so world-wide and enviable + a reputation? + +And of Geological Surveys in general:-- + + In regard to this matter of geological surveys, I can hardly + avoid making a suggestion here. So large a portion of our country + has now been examined, more or less thoroughly, by the several + State governments, that it does seem to me the time has come + when the National government should order a survey--geological, + zoological, and botanical--of the whole country, on such a + liberal and thorough plan as the surveys in Great Britain are + now conducted; in the latter country it being understood that at + least thirty years will be occupied in the work. Could not the + distinguished New York statesman who was to have addressed us + to-day be induced, when the present great struggle in which he + is engaged shall have been brought to a close, by a merciful + Providence, to introduce this subject, and urge it upon Congress? + And would it not be appropriate for the American Association + for the Advancement of Science to throw a petition before the + government for such an object? Or might it not, with the consent + of the eminent gentleman who has charge of the Coast Survey, be + connected therewith, as it is with the Ordnance Survey in Great + Britain. + +The history of the American Association was then given:-- + + Prof. Mather, I believe, through Prof. Emmons, first suggested to + the New-York Board of Geologists in November, 1838, in a letter + proposing a number of points for their consideration. I quote + from him the following paragraph relating to the meeting. As to + the credit he has here given me of having personally suggested + the subject, I can say only that I had been in the habit for + several years of making this meeting of scientific men a sort + of hobby in my correspondence with such. Whether others did the + same, I did not then, and do not now know. Were this the proper + place, I could go more into detail on this point; but I will + merely quote Prof. Mather's language to the Board:-- + + * * * * "Would it not be well to suggest the propriety of a + meeting of Geologists and other scientific men of our country at + some central point next fall,--say at New-York or Philadelphia? + There are many questions in our Geology that will receive new + light from friendly discussion and the combined observations of + various individuals who have noted them in different parts of our + country. Such a meeting has been suggested by Prof. Hitchcock; + and to me it seems desirable. It would undoubtedly be an + advantage not only to science but to the several surveys that are + now in progress and that may in future be authorized. It would + tend to make known our scientific men to each other personally, + give them more confidence in each other, and cause them to + concentrate their observation on those questions that are of + interest in either a scientific or economical point of view. More + questions may be satisfactorily settled in a day by oral + discussion in such a body, than a year by writing and + publication."[A] + + [Footnote A: In the letter alluded to, on examination, we + discover another passage bearing on the point, which, owing to + the Professor's modesty we suspect, he did not read. Prof. Mather + adds. "You, so far as I know, first suggested the matter of such + an Association. I laid the matter before the Board of Geologists + of New-York, specifying some of the advantages that might be + expected to result; and Prof. Vanuxem probably made the motion + before the Board in regard to it."] + + Though the Board adopted the plan of a meeting, various causes + delayed the first over till April, 1840, when we assembled in + Philadelphia, and spent a week in most profitable and pleasant + discussion, and the presentation of papers. Our number that year + was only 18, because confined almost exclusively to the State + geologists; but the next year, when we met again in Philadelphia, + and a more extended invitation was given, about eighty were + present; and the members have been increasing to the present + time. But, in fact, those first two meetings proved the type, in + all things essential, of all that have followed. The principal + changes have been those of expansion and the consequent + introduction of many other branches of science with their eminent + cultivators. In 1842, we changed the name to that of the + Association of American Geologists and Naturalists; and in 1847, + to that of the American Association for the Advancement of + Science. I trust it has not yet reached its fullest development, + as our country and its scientific men multiply, and new fields of + discovery open. + +Prof. H. said of this particular occasion:-- + + We may be quite sure that this Hall will be a center of deep + interest to coming generations. Long after we shall have passed + away will the men of New-York, as they survey these monuments, + feel stimulated to engage in other noble enterprises by this + work of their progenitors, and from many a distant part of the + civilized world will men come here to solve their scientific + questions, and to bring far-off regions into comparison with + this. New-York, then, by her liberal patronage, has not only + acquired an honorable name among those living in all civilized + lands, but has secured the voice of History to transmit her fame + to far-off generations. + + + SIR WILLIAM LOGAN ASKS "THE WAY TO ALBANY." + +Sir WILLIAM E. LOGAN, of Canada, in a brief speech acknowledged the +services rendered by the New-York Survey to Canada. He should manifest +ingratitude if he declined to unite in the joyful occasion of +inaugurating the Museum which was to hold forever the evidence of the +truth of its published results. The Survey of Canada had been ordered, +and the Commission of five years twice renewed; and the last time, the +provision for it was more than doubled. It happened to him, as Mr. +Agassiz had said: after crossing the ocean first, the first thing he +asked was, "Which is the way to Albany?" and when he arrived here, he +found that with the aid of Prof. Hall's discoveries, he had only to take +up the different formations as he had left them on the boundary line, +and follow them into Canada. It was both a convenience and a necessity +to adopt the New-York nomenclature, which was thus extended over an area +six times as large as New-York. In Paris he heard De Vernier using the +words Trenton and Niagara, as if they were household words. He was +delighted to witness the impatience with which Barron inquired when the +remaining volumes of the Paleontology of New-York would be published. +Your Paleontological reputation, said he, has made New-York known, +even among men not scientific, all over Europe. I hope you will not +stop here, but will go on and give us in equally thorough, full, and +magnificent style, the character of the Durassic and Cretaceous +formations. + + + PROFESSOR HENRY ON DUTCHMEN. + +Professor HENRY was at a loss to know by what process they had arrived +at the conclusion that seven men of science must be substituted to fill +the place of one distinguished statesman whom they had expected to hear. +He prided himself on his Albany nativity. He was proud of the old Dutch +character, that was the substratum of the city. The Dutch are hard to be +moved, but when they do start their momentum is not as other men's in +proportion to the velocity, but as the square of the velocity. So when +the Dutchman goes three times as fast, he has nine times the force of +another man. The Dutchman has an immense potentia agency, but it wants a +small spark of Yankee enterprise to touch it off. In this strain the +Professor continued, making his audience very merry, and giving them a +fine chance to express themselves with repeated explosions of laughter. + + + PROFESSOR DAVIES ON THE PRACTICAL NATURE OF SCIENCE. + +Prof. CHARLES DAVIES was introduced by EX-GOVERNOR SEYMOUR, and spoke +briefly, but humorously and very much to the point, in defense of the +practical character of scientific researches. He said that to one +accustomed to speak only on the abstract quantities of number and space, +this was an unusual occasion, and this an unusual audience; and inquired +how he could discuss the abstract forms of geometry, when he saw before +him, in such profusion, the most beautiful real forms that Providence +has vouchsafed to the life of man. He proposed to introduce and develop +but a single train of thought--the unchangeable connection between what +in common language is called the theoretical and practical, but in more +technical phraseology, the ideal and the actual. The actual, or true +practical, consists in the uses of the forces of nature, according to +the laws of nature; and here we must distinguish between it and the +empirical, which uses, or attempts to use, those forces, without a +knowledge of the laws. The true practical, therefore, is the result, or +actual, of an antecedent ideal. The ideal, full and complete, must exist +in the mind before the actual can be brought forth according to the +laws of science. Who, then, are the truly practical men of our age? Are +they not those who are engaged most laboriously and successfully in +investigating the great laws? Are they not those who are pressing out +the boundaries of knowledge, and conducting the mind into new and +unexplored regions, where there may yet be discovered a California of +undeveloped thought? Is not the gentleman from Massachusetts (Professor +Agassiz) the most practical man in our country in the department of +Natural History, not because he has collected the greatest number of +specimens, but because he has laid open to us all the laws of the animal +kingdom? Are the formulas written on the black-board by the gentleman +from Cambridge (Prof. Pierce) of no practical value, because they cannot +be read by the uninstructed eye? A single line may contain the elements +of the motions of all the heavenly bodies; and the eye of science, +taking its stand-point at the center of gravity of the system, will +see in the equation the harmonious revolutions of all the bodies which +circle the heavens. It is such labors and such generalizations that have +rendered his name illustrious in the history of mathematical science. +Is it of no practical value that the Chief of the Coast Survey (Prof. +Bache), by a few characters written upon paper, at Washington, has +determined the exact time of high and low tide in the harbor of Boston, +and can determine, by a similar process, the exact times of high and low +water at every point on the surface of the globe? Are not these results, +the highest efforts of science, also of the greatest practical utility? +And may we not, then, conclude that _there is nothing truly practical +which is not the consequence of an antecedent ideal_? + +Science is to art what the great fly-wheel and governor of a +steam-engine are to the working part of the machinery--it guides, +regulates, and controls the whole. Science and art are inseparably +connected; like the Siamese Twins, they cannot be separated without +producing the death of both. + +How, then, are we to regard the superb specimens of natural history, +which the liberality, the munificence; and the wisdom of our State have +collected at the Capitol? They are the elements from which we can here +determine all that belongs to the Natural History of our State; and may +we not indulge the hope, that science and genius will come here, and, +striking them with a magic wand, cause the true practical to spring into +immortal life? + + +Remarks were also uttered by Prof. CHESTER DEWEY, President ANDERSON, +and Rev. Dr. COX. + +And thus ended the Inauguration of the State Geological Hall. + +We turn to the Observatory, in regular order of succession. + + + + + INAUGURATION OF DUDLEY OBSERVATORY. + + +The Inauguration of the Dudley Observatory took place under the same +tent which was appropriated to the dedication of the Geological Hall, +and on the day following that event. An immense audience was assembled, +drawn by the announcement of Mr. EVERETT'S Oration. + +At a little past three o'clock the procession of _savans_ arrived from +the Assembly Chamber, escorted by the Burgesses Corps. Directly in front +of the speaker's stand sat Mrs. DUDLEY, the venerable lady to whose +munificence the world is indebted for this Observatory. She was dressed +in an antique, olive-colored silk, with a figure of a lighter color, a +heavy, red broché shawl, and her bonnet, cap, &c., after the strictest +style of the old school. Her presence added a new point of interest. + +Prayer having been uttered by Rev. Dr. SPRAGUE, of Albany, THOMAS W. +OLCOTT, Esq., introduced to the audience Ex-Governor WASHINGTON HUNT, +who spoke briefly in honor of the memory of CHARLES E. DUDLEY, whose +widow has founded and in part endowed this Observatory with a liberality +so remarkable. + +Remarks were offered by Dr. B. A. GOULD and Prof. A. D. BACHE, and +Judge HARRIS read the following letter from Mrs. DUDLEY, announcing +another munificent donation in aid of the new Observatory--$50,000, +in addition to the $25,000 which had been already expended in the +construction of the building. The letter was received with shouts of +applause, Prof. AGASSIZ rising and leading the vast assemblage in three +vehement cheers in honor of Mrs. DUDLEY! + + ALBANY, Thursday, Aug. 14, 1856. + +_To the Trustees of the Dudley Observatory:_ + + GENTLEMEN,--I scarcely need refer in a letter to you to the + modest beginning and gradual growth of the institution over which + you preside, and of which you are the responsible guardians. But + we have arrived at a period in its history when its inauguration + gives to it and to you some degree of prominence, and which must + stamp our past efforts with weakness and inconsideration, or + exalt those of the future to the measure of liberality necessary + to certain success. + + You have a building erected and instruments engaged of unrivaled + excellence; and it now remains to carry out the suggestion of + the Astronomer Royal of England in giving permanency to the + establishment. The very distinguished Professors BACHE, PIERCE, + and GOULD, state in a letter, which I have been permitted to see, + that to expand this institution to the wants of American science + and the honors of a national character, will require an + investment which will yield annually not less than $10,000; and + these gentlemen say, in the letter referred to,-- + + "If the greatness of your giving can rise to this occasion, as + it has to all our previous suggestions, with such unflinching + magnanimity, we promise you our earnest and hearty coöperation, + and stake our reputation that the scientific success shall fill + up the measure of your hopes and anticipations." + + For the attainment of an object so rich in scientific reward and + national glory, guaranteed by men with reputations as exalted and + enduring as the skies upon which they are written, contributions + should be general, and not confined to an individual or a place. + + For myself, I offer, as my part of the required endowment, the + sum of $50,000 in addition to the advances which I have already + made; and, trusting that the name which you have given to the + Observatory may not be regarded as an undeserved compliment, and + that it will not diminish the public regard by giving to the + institution a seemingly individual character, + + I remain, Gentlemen, your obedient servant, + BLANDINA DUDLEY. + +Judge HARRIS then introduced the Orator of the occasion, Hon. EDWARD +EVERETT, whose speech is given verbatim in these pages. + + + THE INSTRUMENTS OF THE DUDLEY OBSERVATORY. + +During the Sessions of the American Association, the new Astronomical +Instruments of Dudley Observatory were described in detail by Dr. B. A. +GOULD, who is the Astronomer in charge. We condense his statements:-- + + The Meridian Circle and Transit instrument were ordered from + Pistor & Martins, the celebrated manufacturers of Berlin, by + whom the new instrument at Ann Arbor was made. A number of + improvements have been introduced in the Albany instruments, not + perhaps all absolutely new, but an eclectic combination of late + adaptations with new improvements. Dr. Gould made a distinction + of modern astronomical instruments into two classes, the English + and the German. The English is the massive type; the German, + light and airy. The English instrument is the instrument of the + engineer; the German, the instrument of the artist. In ordering + the instruments for the Albany Observatory, the Doctor preferred + the German type and discarded the heavier English. He instanced, + as a specimen of the latter, the new instrument at Greenwich, + recently erected under the superintendence of the Astronomer + Royal. That instrument registers observations in single seconds; + the Dudley instrument will register to tenths of seconds. That + has six or eight microscopes; this has four. That has a gas lamp, + by the light of which the graduations are read off; the Albany + instrument has no lamp, and the Doctor considered the lamp a + hazardous experiment, affecting the integrity of the experiment, + not only by its radiant heat but by the currents of heated air + which it produces. The diameter of the object-glass of the Albany + instrument is 7-1/2 French inches clear aperture, or 8 English + inches, and the length of the tube 8 feet. He would have + preferred an instrument in which the facilities of manipulation + would have been greater, but was hampered by one proviso, upon + which the Trustees of the institution insisted--that this should + be the biggest instrument of its kind; and the instruction was + obeyed. The glass was made by Chance, and ground by Pistor + himself. The eye-piece is fitted with two micrometers, for + vertical and horizontal observations. Another apparatus provides + for the detection and measurement of the flexure of the tube. + Much trouble was experienced in securing a good casting for the + steel axis of the instrument. Three were found imperfect under + the lathe, and the fourth was chosen; but even then the pivots + were made in separate pieces, which were set in very deeply and + welded. Dr. Gould said he had been requested by the gentlemen who + had this enterprise in charge to suggest, as a mark of respect to + a gentleman of Albany who was a munificent patron of Science, + that this instrument be known as the Olcott Meridian Circle. + + + WHAT THE DUDLEY OBSERVATORY IS. + +It stands a mile from the Capitol, in the city of Albany, upon the crest +of a hill, so difficult of approach, as to be in reality a Hill of +Science. There are two ways of getting to it. In both cases there are +rail fences to be clambered over, and long grass to wade through, +settlements to explore, and a clayey road to travel; but these are minor +troubles. The elevation of the hill above tide-water is, perhaps, 200 +feet; its distance from the Capitol about a mile and a half. The view +for miles is unimpeded; and the Observatory is belted about with woods +and verdant lawns. There could not be a finer location or a purer air. +The plateau contains some fifteen acres. + +The Observatory is constructed in the form of a Latin cross. Its eastern +arm is an apartment 22 by 24 feet, in which the meridian circle is to be +placed. The western arm is a room of the same dimensions, intended for +the transit instrument. From the north and south faces of both rooms +are semi-circular apsides, projecting 6 feet 6 inches, containing the +Collimator piers and the vertical openings for observation. The entire +length of each room is, therefore, 37 feet. In the northern arm are +placed the library, 23 feet by 27 feet; two computing rooms, 12 feet +by 23 feet each; side entrance halls, staircases, &c. The southern arm +contains the principal entrance, consisting of an arched colonnade of +four Tuscan columns, surrounded by a pediment. A broad flight of stone +steps leads to this colonnade; and through the entrance door beneath +it to the main central hall, 28 feet square, in which are placed (in +niches) the very beautiful electric clock and pendulum presented by +Erastus Corning, Esq. The center of this hall is occupied by a massive +pier of stone, 10 feet square, passing from the basement into the dome +above, and intended for the support of the great heliometer. Directly +opposite the entrance door is a large niche, in which it is proposed to +place the bust of the late Mr. Dudley. Immediately above this hall is +the equatorial room, a circular apartment, 22 feet 6 inches in diameter, +and 24 feet high, covered by a low conical roof, in which and in the +walls are the usual observing slits. The drum, or cylindrical portion, +of this room is divided into two parts--the lower one fixed, the upper, +revolving on cast-iron balls moving in grooved metal plates, can command +the entire horizon. + +The building is in two stories--the upper of brick, with freestone +quoins, impost and window and door dressings, rests upon a rusticated +basement of freestone, six feet high. The style adopted is the modern +Italian, of which it is a very excellent specimen. The building has been +completed some time; but, in consequence of the size of the instruments +now procured being greater than that originally contemplated, sundry +alterations were required in the Transit and Meridian Circle rooms. +These consist of the semi-circular projections already mentioned, and +which, by varying the outlines of the building, will add greatly to its +beauty and picturesqueness. + +The piers for the Meridian Circle and Transit have, after careful +investigation, been procured from the Lockport quarries. The great +density and uniformity of the structure of the stone, and the facility +with which such large masses as are required for this purpose can be +procured there, have induced the selection of these quarries. The stones +will weigh from six and a half to eight tons each. + +The main building was erected from the drawings of Messrs. Woollett and +Ogden, Architects, Albany; the additions and the machinery have been +designed by Mr. W. Hodgins, Civil Engineer; and the latter is now being +constructed under his superintendence, in a very superior manner, at the +iron works of Messrs. Pruyn and Lansing, Albany. + +The entire building is a tasteful and elegant structure, much superior +in architectural character to any other in America devoted to a similar +purpose. + + + + + ORATION. + + +FELLOW CITIZENS OF ALBANY:-- + +Assembled as we are, under your auspices, in this ancient and hospitable +city, for an object indicative of a highly-advanced stage of scientific +culture, it is natural, in the first place, to cast a historical glance +at the past. It seems almost to surpass belief, though an unquestioned +fact, that more than a century should have passed away, after Cabot had +discovered the coast of North America for England, before any knowledge +was gained of the noble river on which your city stands, and which was +destined by Providence to determine, in after times, the position of the +commercial metropolis of the Continent. It is true that Verazzano, a +bold and sagacious Florentine navigator, in the service of France, had +entered the Narrows in 1524, which he describes as a very large river, +deep at its mouth, which forced its way through steep hills to the sea; +but though he, like all the naval adventurers of that age, was sailing +westward in search of a shorter passage to India, he left this part +of the coast without any attempt to ascend the river; nor can it be +gathered from his narrative that he believed it to penetrate far into +the interior. + + + VOYAGE OF HENDRICK HUDSON. + +Near a hundred years elapsed before that great thought acquired +substance and form. In the spring of 1609, the heroic but unfortunate +Hudson, one of the brightest names in the history of English maritime +adventure, but then in the employment of the Dutch East India Company, +in a vessel of eighty tons, bearing the very astronomical name of the +_Half Moon_, having been stopped by the ice in the Polar Sea, in the +attempt to reach the East by the way of Nova Zembla, struck over to the +coast of America in a high northern latitude. He then stretched down +southwardly to the entrance of Chesapeake Bay (of which he had gained +a knowledge from the charts and descriptions of his friend, Captain +Smith), thence returning to the north, entered Delaware Bay, standing +out again to sea, arrived on the second of September in sight of the +"high hills" of Neversink, pronouncing it "a good land to fall in with, +and a pleasant land to see;" and, on the following morning, sending his +boat before him to sound the way, passed Sandy Hook, and there came to +anchor on the third of September, 1609; two hundred and forty-seven +years ago next Wednesday. What an event, my friends, in the history of +American population, enterprise, commerce, intelligence, and power--the +dropping of that anchor at Sandy Hook! + + + DISCOVERY OF THE HUDSON RIVER. + +Here he lingered a week, in friendly intercourse with the natives of New +Jersey, while a boat's company explored the waters up to Newark Bay. And +now the great question. Shall he turn back, like Verazzano, or ascend +the stream? Hudson was of a race not prone to turn back, by sea or by +land. On the eleventh of September he raised the anchor of the _Half +Moon_, passed through the Narrows, beholding on both sides "as beautiful +a land as one can tread on;" and floated cautiously and slowly up the +noble stream--the first ship that ever rested on its bosom. He passed +the Palisades, nature's dark basaltic Malakoff, forced the iron gateway +of the Highlands, anchored, on the fourteenth, near West Point; swept +onward and upward, the following day, by grassy meadows and tangled +slopes, hereafter to be covered with smiling villages;--by elevated +banks and woody heights, the destined site of towns and cities--of +Newburg, Poughkeepsie, Catskill;--on the evening of the fifteenth +arrived opposite "the mountains which lie from the river side," where +he found "a very loving people and very old men;" and the day following +sailed by the spot hereafter to be honored by his own illustrious name. +One more day wafts him up between Schodac and Castleton; and here he +landed and passed a day with the natives,--greeted with all sorts of +barbarous hospitality,--the land "the finest for cultivation he ever set +foot on," the natives so kind and gentle, that when they found he would +not remain with them over night, and feared that he left them--poor +children of nature!--because he was afraid of their weapons,--he, whose +quarter-deck was heavy with ordnance,--they "broke their arrows in +pieces, and threw them in the fire." On the following morning, with +the early flood-tide, on the 19th of September, 1609, the _Half Moon_ +"ran higher up, two leagues above the Shoals," and came to anchor in +deep water, near the site of the present city of Albany. Happy if he +could have closed his gallant career on the banks of the stream which +so justly bears his name, and thus have escaped the sorrowful and +mysterious catastrophe which awaited him the next year! + + + CHAMPLAIN'S VOYAGE AND THE GROWTH OF COLONIES. + +But the discovery of your great river and of the site of your ancient +city, is not the only event which renders the year 1609 memorable in the +annals of America and the world. It was one of those years in which a +sort of sympathetic movement toward great results unconsciously pervades +the races and the minds of men. While Hudson discovered this mighty +river and this vast region for the Dutch East India Company, Champlain, +in the same year, carried the lilies of France to the beautiful +lake which bears his name on your northern limits; the languishing +establishments of England in Virginia were strengthened by the second +charter granted to that colony; the little church of Robinson removed +from Amsterdam to Leyden, from which, in a few years, they went forth, +to lay the foundations of New England on Plymouth Rock; the seven United +Provinces of the Netherlands, after that terrific struggle of forty +years (the commencement of which has just been embalmed in a record +worthy of the great event by an American historian) wrested from Spain +the virtual acknowledgment of their independence, in the Twelve Years' +Truce; and James the First, in the same year, granted to the British +East India Company their first permanent charter,--corner-stone of an +empire destined in two centuries to overshadow the East. + + + GALILEO'S DISCOVERIES + +One more incident is wanting to complete the list of the memorable +occurrences which signalize the year 1609, and one most worthy to be +remembered by us on this occasion. Cotemporaneously with the events +which I have enumerated--eras of history, dates of empire, the +starting-point in some of the greatest political, social, and moral +revolutions in our annals, an Italian astronomer, who had heard of the +magnifying glasses which had been made in Holland, by which distant +objects could be brought seemingly near, caught at the idea, constructed +a telescope, and pointed it to the heavens. Yes, my friends, in the same +year in which Hudson discovered your river and the site of your ancient +town, in which Robinson made his melancholy hegira from Amsterdam to +Leyden, Galileo Galilei, with a telescope, the work of his own hands, +discovered the phases of Venus and the satellites of Jupiter; and now, +after the lapse of less than two centuries and a half, on a spot then +embosomed in the wilderness--the covert of the least civilized of all +the races of men--we are assembled--descendants of the Hollanders, +descendants of the Pilgrims, in this ancient and prosperous city, to +inaugurate the establishment of a first-class Astronomical Observatory. + + + EARLY DAYS OF ALBANY. + +One more glance at your early history. Three years after the landing of +the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Fort Orange was erected, in the center of what +is now the business part of the city of Albany; and, a few years later, +the little hamlet of Beverswyck began to nestle under its walls. Two +centuries ago, my Albanian friends, this very year, and I believe this +very month of August, your forefathers assembled, not to inaugurate an +observatory, but to lay the foundations of a new church, in the place of +the rude cabin which had hitherto served them in that capacity. It was +built at the intersection of Yonker's and Handelaar's, better known +to you as State and Market streets. Public and private liberality +coöperated in the important work. The authorities at the Fort gave +fifteen hundred guilders; the patroon of that early day, with the +liberality coëval with the name and the race, contributed a thousand; +while the inhabitants, for whose benefit it was erected, whose numbers +were small and their resources smaller, contributed twenty beavers "for +the purchase of an oaken pulpit in Holland." Whether the largest part of +this subscription was bestowed by some liberal benefactress, tradition +has not informed us. + + + NEW AMSTERDAM + +Nor is the year 1656 memorable in the annals of Albany alone. In +that same year your imperial metropolis, then numbering about three +hundred inhabitants, was first laid out as a city, by the name of New +Amsterdam.[A] In eight years more, New Netherland becomes New York; Fort +Orange and its dependent hamlet assumes the name of Albany. A century +of various fortune succeeds; the scourge of French and Indian war is +rarely absent from the land; every shock of European policy vibrates +with electric rapidity across the Atlantic; but the year 1756 finds +a population of 300,000 in your growing province. Albany, however, +may still be regarded almost as a frontier settlement. Of the twelve +counties into which the province was divided a hundred years ago, the +county of Albany comprehended all that lay north and west of the city; +and the city itself contained but about three hundred and fifty houses. + +[Footnote A: These historical notices are, for the most part, abridged +from Mr. Brodhead's excellent history of New York.] + + + TWO HUNDRED YEARS. + +One more century; another act in the great drama of empire; another +French and Indian War beneath the banners of England; a successful +Revolution, of which some of the most momentous events occurred within +your limits; a union of States; a Constitution of Federal Government; +your population carried to the St. Lawrence and the great Lakes, and +their waters poured into the Hudson; your territory covered with a +net-work of canals and railroads, filled with life and action, and +power, with all the works of peaceful art and prosperous enterprise with +all the institutions which constitute and advance the civilization of +the age; its population exceeding that of the Union at the date of the +Revolution; your own numbers twice as large as those of the largest city +of that day, you have met together, my Friends, just two hundred years +since the erection of the little church of Beverswyck, to dedicate a +noble temple of science and to take a becoming public notice of the +establishment of an institution, destined, as we trust, to exert a +beneficial influence on the progress of useful knowledge at home and +abroad, and through that on the general cause of civilization. + + + SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS. + +You will observe that I am careful to say the progress of science "at +home and abroad;" for the study of Astronomy in this country has long +since, I am happy to add, passed that point where it is content to +repeat the observations and verify the results of European research. It +has boldly and successfully entered the field of original investigation, +discovery, and speculation; and there is not now a single department of +the science in which the names of American observers and mathematicians +are not cited by our brethren across the water, side by side with the +most eminent of their European contemporaries. + +This state of things is certainly recent. During the colonial period +and in the first generation after the Revolution, no department of +science was, for obvious causes, very extensively cultivated in +America--astronomy perhaps as much as the kindred branches. The +improvement in the quadrant, commonly known as Hadley's, had already +been made at Philadelphia by Godfrey, in the early part of the last +century; and the beautiful invention of the collimating telescope was +made at a later period by Rittenhouse, an astronomer of distinguished +repute. The transits of Venus of 1761 and 1769 were observed, and +orreries were constructed in different parts of the country; and some +respectable scientific essays are contained and valuable observations +are recorded in the early volumes of the Transactions of the +Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia, and the American Academy of Arts +and Sciences at Boston and Cambridge. But in the absence of a numerous +class of men of science to encourage and aid each other, without +observatories and without valuable instruments, little of importance +could be expected in the higher walks of astronomical life. + + + AMERICAN OBSERVATIONS. + +The greater the credit due for the achievement of an enterprise +commenced in the early part of the present century, and which would +reflect honor on the science of any country and any age; I mean the +translation and commentary on Laplace's _Mécanique Celeste_, by +Bowditch; a work of whose merit I am myself wholly unable to form +an opinion, but which I suppose places the learned translator and +commentator on a level with the ablest astronomers and geometers of the +day. This work may be considered as opening a new era in the history +of American science. The country was still almost wholly deficient in +instrumental power; but the want was generally felt by men of science, +and the public mind in various parts of the country began to be turned +towards the means of supplying it. In 1825, President John Quincy Adams +brought the subject of a National Observatory before Congress. Political +considerations prevented its being favorably entertained at that +time; and it was not till 1842, and as an incident of the exploring +expedition, that an appropriation was made for a dépôt for the charts +and instruments of the Navy. On this modest basis has been reared the +National Observatory at Washington; an institution which has already +taken and fully sustains an honorable position among the scientific +establishments of the age. + +Besides the institution at Washington, fifteen or twenty observatories +have within the last few years, been established in different parts +of the country, some of them on a modest scale, for the gratification +of the scientific taste and zeal of individuals, others on a broad +foundation of expense and usefulness. In these establishments, +public and private, the means are provided for the highest order of +astronomical observation, research, and instruction. There is already +in the country an amount of instrumental power (to which addition +is constantly making), and of mathematical skill on the part of our +men of science, adequate to a manly competition with their European +contemporaries. The fruits are already before the world, in the +triangulation of several of the States, in the great work of the Coast +Survey, in the numerous scientific surveys of the interior of the +Continent, in the astronomical department of the Exploring Expedition, +in the scientific expedition to Chili, in the brilliant hydrographical +labors of the Observatory at Washington, in the published observations +of Washington and Cambridge, in the Journal conducted by the Nestor +of American Science, now in its eighth lustrum; in the _Sidereal +Messenger_, the _Astronomical Journal_, and the _National Ephemeris_; +in the great chronometrical expeditions to determine the longitude of +Cambridge, better ascertained than that of Paris was till within the +last year; in the prompt rectification of the errors in the predicted +elements of Neptune; in its identification with Lalande's missing star, +and in the calculation of its ephemeris; in the discovery of the +satellite of Neptune, of the eighth satellite of Saturn, and of the +innermost of its rings; in the establishment, both by observation and +theory, of the non-solid character of Saturn's rings; in the separation +and measurement of many double and triple stars, amenable only to +superior instrumental power, in the immense labor already performed +in preparing star catalogues, and in numerous accurate observations +of standard stars; in the diligent and successful observation of the +meteoric showers; in an extensive series of magnetic observations; in +the discovery of an asteroid and ten or twelve telescopic comets; in +the resolution of nebulæ which had defied every thing in Europe but +Lord Rosse's great reflector; in the application of electricity to the +measurement of differences in longitude; in the ascertainment of the +velocity of the electro-magnetic fluid, and its truly wonderful uses +in recording astronomical observations. These are but a portion of the +achievements of American astronomical science within fifteen or twenty +years, and fully justify the most sanguine anticipations of its further +progress. + +How far our astronomers may be able to pursue their researches, will +depend upon the resources of our public institutions, and the liberality +of wealthy individuals in furnishing the requisite means. With the +exception of the observatories at Washington and West Point, little +can be done, or be expected to be done, by the government of the Union +or the States; but in this, as in every other department of liberal +art and science, the great dependence,--and may I not add, the safe +dependence?--as it ever has been, must continue to be upon the bounty of +enlightened, liberal, and public-spirited individuals. + + + THE DUDLEY OBSERVATORY. + +It is by a signal exercise of this bounty, my Friends, that we are +called together to-day. The munificence of several citizens of this +ancient city, among whom the first place is due to the generous lady +whose name has with great propriety been given to the institution, has +furnished the means for the foundation of the Dudley Observatory at +Albany. On a commanding elevation on the northern edge of the city, +liberally given for that purpose by the head of a family in which the +patronage of science is hereditary, a building of ample dimensions has +been erected, upon a plan which combines all the requisites of solidity, +convenience, and taste. A large portion of the expense of the structure +has been defrayed by Mrs. Blandina Dudley; to whose generosity, and that +of several other public-spirited individuals, the institution is also +indebted for the provision which has been made for an adequate supply of +first-class instruments, to be executed by the most eminent makers in +Europe and America; and which, it is confidently expected, will yield to +none of their class in any observatory in the world.[A] + +[Footnote A: Prof. Loomis, in _Harper's Magazine_ for June, p. 49.] + +With a liberal supply of instrumental power; established in a community +to whose intelligence and generosity its support may be safely confided, +and whose educational institutions are rapidly realizing the conception +of a university; countenanced by the gentleman who conducts the United +States Coast Survey with such scientific skill and administrative +energy; committed to the immediate supervision of an astronomer to +whose distinguished talent had been added the advantage of a thorough +scientific education in the most renowned universities of Europe, and +who, as the editor of the _American Astronomical Journal_, has shown +himself to be fully qualified for the high trust;--under these favorable +circumstances, the Dudley Observatory at Albany takes its place among +the scientific foundations of the country and the world. + + + WONDERS OF ASTRONOMY. + +It is no affected modesty which leads me to express the regret that this +interesting occasion could not have taken place under somewhat different +auspices. I feel that the duty of addressing this great and enlightened +assembly, comprising so much of the intelligence of the community and of +the science of the country, ought to have been elsewhere assigned; that +it should have devolved upon some one of the eminent persons, many of +whom I see before me, to whom you have been listening the past week, +who, as observers and geometers, could have treated the subject with a +master's power; astronomers, whose telescopes have penetrated the depths +of the heavens, or mathematicians, whose analysis unthreads the maze +of their wondrous mechanism. If, instead of commanding, as you easily +could have done, qualifications of this kind, your choice has rather +fallen on one making no pretensions to the honorable name of a man of +science,--but whose delight it has always been to turn aside from the +dusty paths of active life, for an interval of recreation in the green +fields of sacred nature in all her kingdoms,--it is, I presume, because +you have desired on an occasion of this kind, necessarily of a popular +character, that those views of the subject should be presented which +address themselves to the general intelligence of the community, and +not to its select scientific circles. There is, perhaps, no branch of +science which to the same extent as astronomy exhibits phenomena which, +while they task the highest powers of philosophical research, are also +well adapted to arrest the attention of minds barely tinctured with +scientific culture, and even to teach the sensibilities of the wholly +uninstructed observer. The profound investigations of the chemist into +the ultimate constitution of material nature, the minute researches of +the physiologist into the secrets of animal life, the transcendental +logic of the geometer, clothed in a notation, the very sight of which +terrifies the uninitiated,--are lost on the common understanding. But +the unspeakable glories of the rising and the setting sun; the serene +majesty of the moon, as she walks in full-orbed brightness through the +heavens; the soft witchery of the morning and the evening star; the +imperial splendors of the firmament on a bright, unclouded night; the +comet, whose streaming banner floats over half the sky,--these are +objects which charm and astonish alike the philosopher and the peasant, +the mathematician who weighs the masses and defines the orbits of the +heavenly bodies, and the untutored observer who sees nothing beyond the +images painted upon the eye. + + + WHAT IS AN ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY? + +An astronomical observatory, in the general acceptation of the word, is +a building erected for the reception and appropriate use of astronomical +instruments, and the accommodation of the men of science employed +in making and reducing observations of the heavenly bodies. These +instruments are mainly of three classes, to which I believe all others +of a strictly astronomical character may be referred. + +1. The instruments by which the heavens are inspected, with a view to +discover the existence of those celestial bodies which are not visible +to the naked eye (beyond all comparison more numerous than those which +are), and the magnitude, shapes, and other sensible qualities, both of +those which are and those which are not thus visible to the unaided +sight. The instruments of this class are designated by the general name +of Telescope, and are of two kinds,--the refracting telescope, which +derives its magnifying power from a system of convex lenses; and the +reflecting telescope, which receives the image of the heavenly body upon +a concave mirror. + +2d. The second class of instruments consists of those which are designed +principally to measure the angular distances of the heavenly bodies +from each other, and their time of passing the meridian. The transit +instrument, the meridian circle, the mural circle, the heliometer, +and the sextant, belong to this class. The brilliant discoveries +of astronomy are, for the most part, made with the first class of +instruments; its practical results wrought out by the second. + +3d. The third class contains the clock, with its subsidiary apparatus, +for measuring the time and making its subdivisions with the greatest +possible accuracy; indispensable auxiliary of all the instruments, by +which the positions and motions of the heavenly bodies are observed, and +measured, and recorded. + + + THE TELESCOPE. + +The telescope may be likened to a wondrous cyclopean eye, endued with +superhuman power, by which the astronomer extends the reach of his +vision to the further heavens, and surveys galaxies and universes +compared with which the solar system is but an atom floating in the air. +The transit may be compared to the measuring rod which he lays from +planet to planet, and from star to star, to ascertain and mark off the +heavenly spaces, and transfer them to his note-book; the clock is that +marvelous apparatus by which he equalizes and divides into nicely +measured parts a portion of that unconceived infinity of duration, +without beginning and without end, in which all existence floats as on a +shoreless and bottomless sea. + +In the contrivance and the execution of these instruments, the utmost +stretch of inventive skill and mechanical ingenuity has been put forth. +To such perfection have they been carried, that a single second of +magnitude or space is rendered a distinctly visible and appreciable +quantity. "The arc of a circle," says Sir J. Herschell, "subtended by +one second, is less than the 200,000th part of the radius, so that on a +circle of six feet in diameter, it would occupy no greater linear extent +than 1-5700 part of an inch, a quantity requiring a powerful microscope +to be discerned at all."[A] The largest body in our system, the sun, +whose real diameter is 882,000 miles, subtends, at a distance of +95,000,000 miles, but an angle of little more than 32; while so +admirably are the best instruments constructed, that both in Europe +and America a satellite of Neptune, an object of comparatively +inconsiderable diameter, has been discovered at a distance of 2,850 +millions of miles. + +[Footnote A: _Outlines_, § 131.] + + + UTILITY OF ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS. + +The object of an observatory, erected and supplied with instruments of +this admirable construction, and at proportionate expense, is, as I have +already intimated, to provide for an accurate and systematic survey +of the heavenly bodies, with a view to a more correct and extensive +acquaintance with those already known, and as instrumental power +and skill in using it increase, to the discovery of bodies hitherto +invisible, and in both classes to the determination of their distances, +their relations to each other, and the laws which govern their +movements. + +Why should we wish to obtain this knowledge? What inducement is there +to expend large sums of money in the erection of observatories, and in +furnishing them with costly instruments, and in the support of the men +of science employed in making, discussing, and recording, for successive +generations, those minute observations of the heavenly bodies? + +In an exclusively scientific treatment of this subject, an inquiry +into its utilitarian relations would be superfluous--even wearisome. +But on an occasion like the present, you will not, perhaps, think it +out of place if I briefly answer the question, What is the use of an +observatory, and what benefit may be expected from the operations of +such an establishment in a community like ours? + +1. In the first place, then, we derive from the observations of the +heavenly bodies which are made at an observatory, our only adequate +measures of time, and our only means of comparing the time of one +place with the time of another. Our artificial time-keepers--clocks, +watches, and chronometers--however ingeniously contrived and admirably +fabricated, are but a transcript, so to say, of the celestial motions, +and would be of no value without the means of regulating them by +observation. It is impossible for them, under any circumstances, to +escape the imperfection of all machinery the work of human hands; and +the moment we remove with our time-keeper east or west, it fails us. It +will keep home time alone, like the fond traveler who leaves his heart +behind him. The artificial instrument is of incalculable utility, but +must itself be regulated by the eternal clock-work of the skies. + + + RELATIONS BETWEEN NATURAL PHENOMENA AND DAILY LIFE. + +This single consideration is sufficient to show how completely the daily +business of life is affected and controlled by the heavenly bodies. +It is they--and not our main-springs, our expansion balances, and our +compensation pendulums--which give us our time. To reverse the line of +Pope: + + "'Tis with our watches as our judgments;--none + Go just alike, but each believes his own." + +But for all the kindreds and tribes and tongues of men--each upon their +own meridian--from the Arctic pole to the equator, from the equator to +the Antarctic pole, the eternal sun strikes twelve at noon, and the +glorious constellations, far up in the everlasting belfries of the +skies, chime twelve at midnight;--twelve for the pale student over his +flickering lamp; twelve amid the flaming glories of Orion's belt, if he +crosses the meridian at that fated hour; twelve by the weary couch of +languishing humanity; twelve in the star-paved courts of the Empyrean; +twelve for the heaving tides of the ocean; twelve for the weary arm of +labor; twelve for the toiling brain; twelve for the watching, waking, +broken heart; twelve for the meteor which blazes for a moment and +expires; twelve for the comet whose period is measured by centuries; +twelve for every substantial, for every imaginary thing, which exists in +the sense, the intellect, or the fancy, and which the speech or thought +of man, at the given meridian, refers to the lapse of time. + +Not only do we resort to the observation of the heavenly bodies for the +means of regulating and rectifying our clocks, but the great divisions +of day and month and year are derived from the same source. By the +constitution of our nature, the elements of our existence are closely +connected with celestial times. Partly by his physical organization, +partly by the experience of the race from the dawn of creation, man as +he is, and the times and seasons of the heavenly bodies, are part and +parcel of one system. The first great division of time, the day-night +(nychthemerum), for which we have no precise synonym in our language, +with its primal alternation of waking and sleeping, of labor and rest, +is a vital condition of the existence of such a creature as man. The +revolution of the year, with its various incidents of summer and winter, +and seed-time and harvest, is not less involved in our social, material, +and moral progress. It is true that at the poles, and on the equator, +the effects of these revolutions are variously modified or wholly +disappear; but as the necessary consequence, human life is extinguished +at the poles, and on the equator attains only a languid or feverish +development. Those latitudes only in which the great motions and +cardinal positions of the earth exert a mean influence, exhibit man in +the harmonious expansion of his powers. The lunar period, which lies +at the foundation of the _month_, is less vitally connected with human +existence and development; but is proved by the experience of every age +and race to be eminently conducive to the progress of civilization and +culture. + +But indispensable as are these heavenly measures of time to our life and +progress, and obvious as are the phenomena on which they rest, yet owing +to the circumstance that, in the economy of nature, the day, the month, +and the year are not exactly commensurable, some of the most difficult +questions in practical astronomy are those by which an accurate division +of time, applicable to the various uses of life, is derived from the +observation of the heavenly bodies. I have no doubt that, to the Supreme +Intelligence which created and rules the universe, there is a harmony +hidden to us in the numerical relation to each other of days, months, +and years; but in our ignorance of that harmony, their practical +adjustment to each other is a work of difficulty. The great +embarrassment which attended the reformation of the calendar, after the +error of the Julian period had, in the lapse of centuries, reached ten +(or rather twelve) days, sufficiently illustrates this remark. It is +most true that scientific difficulties did not form the chief obstacle. +Having been proposed under the auspices of the Roman pontiff, the +Protestant world, for a century and more, rejected the new style. +It was in various places the subject of controversy, collision, and +bloodshed.[A] It was not adopted in England till nearly two centuries +after its introduction at Rome; and in the country of Struve and the +Pulkova equatorial, they persist at the present day in adding eleven +minutes and twelve seconds to the length of the tropical year. + +[Footnote A: Stern's "_Himmelskunde_," p. 72.] + + + GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. + +2. The second great practical use of an Astronomical Observatory is +connected with the science of geography. The first page of the history +of our Continent declares this truth. Profound meditation on the +sphericity of the earth was one of the main reasons which led Columbus +to undertake his momentous voyage; and his thorough acquaintance with +the astronomical science of that day was, in his own judgment, what +enabled him to overcome the almost innumerable obstacles which attended +its prosecution.[A] In return, I find that Copernicus in the very +commencement of his immortal work _De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium_, +fol. 2, appeals to the discovery of America as completing the +demonstration of the sphericity of the earth. Much of our knowledge of +the figure, size, density, and position of the earth, as a member of +the solar system, is derived from this science; and it furnishes us +the means of performing the most important operations of practical +geography. Latitude and longitude, which lie at the basis of all +descriptive geography, are determined by observation. No map deserves +the name, on which the position of important points has not been +astronomically determined. Some even of our most important political and +administrative arrangements depend upon the coöperation of this science. +Among these I may mention the land system of the United States, and the +determination of the boundaries of the country. I believe that till it +was done by the Federal Government, a uniform system of mathematical +survey had never in any country been applied to an extensive territory. +Large grants and sales of public land took place before the Revolution, +and in the interval between the peace and the adoption of the +Constitution; but the limits of these grants and sales were ascertained +by sensible objects, by trees, streams, rocks, hills, and by reference +to adjacent portions of territory, previously surveyed. The uncertainty +of boundaries thus defined, was a never-failing source of litigation. +Large tracts of land in the Western country, granted by Virginia +under this old system of special and local survey, were covered with +conflicting claims; and the controversies to which they gave rise +formed no small part of the business of the Federal Court after its +organization. But the adoption of the present land-system brought order +out of chaos. The entire public domain is now scientifically surveyed +before it is offered for sale; it is laid off into ranges, townships, +sections, and smaller divisions, with unerring accuracy, resting on the +foundation of base and meridian lines; and I have been informed that +under this system, scarce a case of contested location and boundary has +ever presented itself in court. The General Land Office contains maps +and plans, in which every quarter-section of the public land is laid +down with mathematical precision. The superficies of half a continent is +thus transferred in miniature to the bureaus of Washington; while the +local Land Offices contain transcripts of these plans, copies of which +are furnished to the individual purchaser. When we consider the tide of +population annually flowing into the public domain, and the immense +importance of its efficient and economical administration, the utility +of this application of Astronomy will be duly estimated. + +[Footnote A: Humboldt, _Histotre de la Geographie_, &c., Tom. 1, +page 71.] + +I will here venture to repeat an anecdote, which I heard lately from +a son of the late Hon. Timothy Pickering. Mr. Octavius Pickering, on +behalf of his father, had applied to Mr. David Putnam of Marietta, to +act as his legal adviser, with respect to certain land claims in the +Virginia Military district, in the State of Ohio. Mr. Putnam declined +the agency. He had had much to do with business of that kind, and found +it beset with endless litigation. "I have never," he added, "succeeded +but in a single case, and that was a location and survey made by General +Washington before the Revolution; and I am not acquainted with any +surveys, except those made by him, but what have been litigated." + +At this moment, a most important survey of the coast of the United +States is in progress, an operation of the utmost consequence, in +reference to the commerce, navigation, and hydrography of the country. +The entire work, I need scarce say, is one of practical astronomy. The +scientific establishment which we this day inaugurate is looked to for +important coöperation in this great undertaking, and will no doubt +contribute efficiently to its prosecution. + +Astronomical observation furnishes by far the best means of defining the +boundaries of States, especially when the lines are of great length and +run through unsettled countries. Natural indications, like rivers and +mountains, however indistinct in appearance, are in practice subject to +unavoidable error. By the treaty of 1783, a boundary was established +between the United States and Great Britain, depending chiefly on the +course of rivers and highlands dividing the waters which flow into the +Atlantic Ocean from those which flow into the St. Lawrence. It took +twenty years to find out which river was the true St. Croix, that being +the starting point. England then having made the extraordinary discovery +that the Bay of Fundy is not a part of the Atlantic Ocean, forty years +more were passed in the unsuccessful attempt to re-create the highlands +which this strange theory had annihilated; and just as the two countries +were on the verge of a war, the controversy was settled by compromise. +Had the boundary been accurately described by lines of latitude and +longitude, no dispute could have arisen. No dispute arose as to the +boundary between the United States and Spain, and her successor, Mexico, +where it runs through untrodden deserts and over pathless mountains +along the 42d degree of latitude. The identity of rivers may be +disputed, as in the case of the St. Croix; the course of mountain chains +is too broad for a dividing line; the division of streams, as experience +has shown, is uncertain; but a degree of latitude is written on the +heavenly sphere, and nothing but an observation is required to read the +record. + + + QUESTIONS OF BOUNDARY. + +But scientific elements, like sharp instruments, must be handled with +scientific accuracy. A part of our boundary between the British +Provinces ran upon the forty-fifth degree of latitude; and about forty +years ago, an expensive fortress was commenced by the government of the +United States, at Rouse's Point, on Lake Champlain, on a spot intended +to be just within our limits. When a line came to be more carefully +surveyed, the fortress turned out to be on the wrong side of the line; +we had been building an expensive fortification for our neighbor. But in +the general compromises of the Treaty of Washington by the Webster and +Ashburton Treaty in 1842, the fortification was left within our +limits.[A] + +[Footnote A: Webster's Works. Vol. V., 110, 115.] + +Errors still more serious had nearly resulted, a few years since, in +a war with Mexico. By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in 1848, the +boundary line between the United States and that country was in part +described by reference to the town of El Paso, as laid down on a +specified map of the United States, of which a copy was appended to the +treaty. This boundary was to be surveyed and run by a joint commission +of men of science. It soon appeared that errors of two or three degrees +existed in the projection of the map. Its lines of latitude and +longitude did not conform to the topography of the region; so that it +became impossible to execute the text of the treaty. The famous Mesilla +Valley was a part of the debatable ground; and the sum of $10,000,000, +paid to the Mexican Government for that and for an additional strip of +territory on the southwest, was the smart-money which expiated the +inaccuracy of the map--the necessary result, perhaps, of the want of +good materials for its construction. + +It became my official duty in London, a few years ago, to apply to +the British Government for an authentic statement of their claim to +jurisdiction over New Zealand. The official _Gazette_ for the 2d of +October, 1840, was sent me from the Foreign Office, as affording the +desired information. This number of the _Gazette_ contained the +proclamations issued by the Lieutenant Governor of New Zealand, "in +pursuance of the instructions he received from the Marquis of Normanby, +one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State," asserting the +jurisdiction of his government over the islands of New Zealand, and +declaring them to extend "from 34° 30' North to 47° 10' South latitude." +It is scarcely necessary to say that south latitude was intended in both +instances. This error of 69° of latitude, which would have extended the +claim of British jurisdiction over the whole breadth of the Pacific, +had, apparently, escaped the notice of that government. + + + COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION. + +It would be easy to multiply illustrations in proof of the great +practical importance of accurate scientific designations, drawn from +astronomical observations, in various relations connected with +boundaries, surveys, and other geographical purposes; but I must hasten +to + +3. A third important department, in which the services rendered by +astronomy are equally conspicuous. I refer to commerce and navigation. +It is mainly owing to the results of astronomical observation, that +modern commerce has attained such a vast expansion, compared with that +of the ancient world. I have already reminded you that accurate ideas +in this respect contributed materially to the conception in the mind +of Columbus of his immortal enterprise, and to the practical success +with which it was conducted. It was mainly his skill in the use of +astronomical instruments--imperfect as they were--which enabled him, in +spite of the bewildering variation of the compass, to find his way +across the ocean. + +With the progress of the true system of the universe toward general +adoption, the problem of finding the longitude at sea presented itself. +This was the avowed object of the foundation of the observatory at +Greenwich;[A] and no one subject has received more of the attention of +astronomers, than those investigations of the lunar theory on which +the requisite tables of the navigator are founded. The pathways of the +ocean are marked out in the sky above. The eternal lights of the heavens +are the only Pharos whose beams never fail, which no tempest can shake +from its foundation. Within my recollection, it was deemed a necessary +qualification for the master and the mate of a merchant-ship, and even +for a prime hand, to be able to "work a lunar," as it was called. The +improvements in the chronometer have in practice, to a great extent, +superseded this laborious operation; but observation remains, +and unquestionably will for ever remain, the only dependence for +ascertaining the ship's time and deducting the longitude from the +comparison of that time with the chronometer. + +[Footnote A: Grant's _Physical Astronomy_, p. 460.] + +It may, perhaps, be thought that astronomical science is brought already +to such a state of perfection that nothing more is to be desired, or at +least that nothing more is attainable, in reference to such practicable +applications as I have described. This, however, is an idea which +generous minds will reject, in this, as in every other department of +human knowledge. In astronomy, as in every thing else, the discoveries +already made, theoretical or practical, instead of exhausting the +science, or putting a limit to its advancement, do but furnish the means +and instruments of further progress. I have no doubt we live on the +verge of discoveries and inventions, in every department, as brilliant +as any that have ever been made; that there are new truths, new facts, +ready to start into recognition on every side; and it seems to me there +never was an age, since the dawn of time, when men ought to be less +disposed to rest satisfied with the progress already made, than the age +in which we live; for there never was an age more distinguished for +ingenious research, for novel result, and bold generalization. + +That no further improvement is desirable in the means and methods of +ascertaining the ship's place at sea, no one I think will from +experience be disposed to assert. The last time I crossed the Atlantic, +I walked the quarter-deck with the officer in charge of the noble +vessel, on one occasion, when we were driving along before a leading +breeze and under a head of steam, beneath a starless sky at midnight, at +the rate certainly of ten or eleven miles an hour. There is something +sublime, but approaching the terrible, in such a scene;--the rayless +gloom, the midnight chill,--the awful swell of the deep,--the dismal +moan of the wind through the rigging, the all but volcanic fires within +the hold of the ship. I scarce know an occasion in ordinary life in +which a reflecting mind feels more keenly its hopeless dependence on +irrational forces beyond its own control. I asked my companion how +nearly he could determine his ship's place at sea under favorable +circumstances. Theoretically, he answered, I think, within a +mile;--practically and usually within three or four. My next question +was, how near do you think we may be to Cape Race;--that dangerous +headland which pushes its iron-bound unlighted bastions from the +shore of Newfoundland far into the Atlantic,--first landfall to +the homeward-bound American vessel. We must, said he, by our last +observations and reckoning, be within three or four miles of Cape Race. +A comparison of these two remarks, under the circumstances in which we +were placed at the moment, brought my mind to the conclusion, that it is +greatly to be wished that the means should be discovered of finding the +ship's place more accurately, or that navigators would give Cape Race a +little wider berth. But I do not remember that one of the steam packets +between England and America was ever lost on that formidable point. + +It appears to me by no means unlikely that, with the improvement of +instrumental power, and of the means of ascertaining the ship's time +with exactness, as great an advance beyond the present state of art and +science in finding a ship's place at sea may take place, as was effected +by the invention of the reflecting quadrant, the calculation of lunar +tables, and the improved construction of chronometers. + + + BABBAGE'S DIFFERENCE MACHINE. + +In the wonderful versatility of the human mind, the improvement, when +made, will very probably be made by paths where it is least expected. +The great inducement to Mr. Babbage to attempt the construction of an +engine by which astronomical tables could be calculated, and even +printed, by mechanical means and with entire accuracy, was the errors +in the requisite tables. Nineteen such errors, in point of fact, were +discovered in an edition of Taylor's Logarithms printed in 1796; some +of which might have led to the most dangerous results in calculating a +ship's place. These nineteen errors, (of which one only was an error of +the press), were pointed out in the _Nautical Almanac_ for 1832. In one +of these _errata_ the seat of the error was stated to be in cosine of +14° 18' 3". Subsequent examination showed that there was an error of one +second in this correction; and, accordingly, in the _Nautical Almanac_ +of the next year a new correction was necessary. But in making the new +correction of one second, a new error was committed of ten degrees. +Instead of cosine 14° 18' 2" the correction was printed cosine 4° 18' 2" +making it still necessary, in some future edition of the _Nautical +Almanac_, to insert an _erratum_ in an _erratum_ of the _errata_ in +Taylor's logarithms.[A] + +[Footnote A: Edinburgh Review, Vol. LIX., 282.] + +In the hope of obviating the possibility of such errors, Mr. Babbage +projected his calculating, or, as he prefers to call it, his difference +machine. Although this extraordinary undertaking has been arrested, in +consequence of the enormous expense attending its execution, enough has +been achieved to show the mechanical possibility of constructing an +engine of this kind, and even one of far higher powers, of which Mr. +Babbage has matured the conception, devised the notation, and executed +the drawings--themselves an imperishable monument of the genius of the +author. + +I happened on one occasion to be in company with this highly +distinguished man of science, whose social qualities are as pleasing as +his constructive talent is marvelous, when another eminent _savant_, +Count Strzelecki, just returned from his Oriental and Australian tour, +observed that he found among the Chinese, a great desire to know +something more of Mr. Babbage's calculating machine, and especially +whether, like their own _swampan_, it could be made to go into the +pocket. Mr. Babbage good-humouredly observed that, thus far, he had been +very much out of pocket with it. + + + INCREASED COMMAND OF INSTRUMENTAL POWER. + +Whatever advances may be made in astronomical science, theoretical +or applied, I am strongly inclined to think that they will be made +in connection with an increased command of instrumental power. The +natural order in which the human mind proceeds in the acquisition +of astronomical knowledge is minute and accurate observation of the +phenomena of the heavens, the skillful discussion and analysis of these +observations, and sound philosophy in generalizing the results. + +In pursuing this course, however, a difficulty presented itself, which +for ages proved insuperable--and which to the same extent has existed +in no other science, viz.: that all the leading phenomena are in their +appearance delusive. It is indeed true that in all sciences superficial +observation can only lead, except by chance, to superficial knowledge; +but I know of no branch in which, to the same degree as in astronomy, +the great leading phenomena are the reverse of true; while they yet +appeal so strongly to the senses, that men who could foretell eclipses, +and who discovered the precession of the equinoxes, still believed that +the earth was at rest in the center of the universe, and that all the +host of heaven performed a daily revolution about it as a center. + +It usually happens in scientific progress, that when a great fact is at +length discovered, it approves itself at once to all competent judges. +It furnishes a solution to so many problems, and harmonizes with so many +other facts,--that all the other _data_ as it were crystallize at once +about it. In modern times, we have often witnessed such an impatience, +so to say, of great truths, to be discovered, that it has frequently +happened that they have been found out simultaneously by more than one +individual; and a disputed question of priority is an event of very +common occurrence. Not so with the true theory of the heavens. So +complete is the deception practiced on the senses, that it failed more +than once to yield to the suggestion of the truth; and it was only when +the visual organs were armed with an almost preternatural instrumental +power, that the great fact found admission to the human mind. + + + THE COPERNICAN SYSTEM. + +It is supposed that in the very dawn of science, Pythagoras or his +disciples explained the apparent motion of the heavenly bodies about +the earth by the diurnal revolution of the earth on its axis. But this +theory, though bearing so deeply impressed upon it the great seal of +truth, _simplicity_, was in such glaring contrast with the evidence of +the senses, that it failed of acceptance in antiquity or the middle +ages. It found no favor with minds like those of Aristotle, Archimedes, +Hipparchus, Ptolemy, or any of the acute and learned Arabian or mediæval +astronomers. All their ingenuity and all their mathematical skill were +exhausted in the development of a wonderfully complicated and ingenious, +but erroneous history. The great master truth, rejected for its +simplicity, lay disregarded at their feet. + +At the second dawn of science, the great fact again beamed into the mind +of Copernicus. Now, at least, in that glorious age which witnessed the +invention of printing, the great mechanical engine of intellectual +progress, and the discovery of America, we may expect that this +long-hidden revelation, a second time proclaimed, will command the +assent of mankind. But the sensible phenomena were still too strong +for the theory; the glorious delusion of the rising and the setting +sun could not be overcome. Tycho de Brahe furnished his Observatory +with instruments superior in number and quality to all that had been +collected before; but the great instrument of discovery, which, by +augmenting the optic power of the eye, enables it to penetrate beyond +the apparent phenomena, and to discern the true constitution of the +heavenly bodies, was wanting at Uranienburg. The observations of Tycho +as discussed by Kepler, conducted that most fervid, powerful, and +sagacious mind to the discovery of some of the most important laws of +the celestial motions; but it was not till Galileo, at Florence, had +pointed his telescope to the sky, that the Copernican system could be +said to be firmly established in the scientific world. + + + THE HOME OF GALILEO. + +On this great name, my Friends, assembled as we are to dedicate a temple +to instrumental Astronomy, we may well pause for a moment. + +There is much, in every way, in the city of Florence to excite the +curiosity, to kindle the imagination, and to gratify the taste. +Sheltered on the north by the vine-clad hills of Fiesoli, whose +cyclopean walls carry back the antiquary to ages before the Roman, +before the Etruscan power, the flowery city (Fiorenza) covers the sunny +banks of the Arno with its stately palaces. Dark and frowning piles +of mediæval structure; a majestic dome, the prototype of St. Peter's; +basilicas which enshrine the ashes of some of the mightiest of the dead; +the stone where Dante stood to gaze on the Campanile; the house of +Michael Angelo, still occupied by a descendant of his lineage and name, +his hammer, his chisel, his dividers, his manuscript poems, all as if +he had left them but yesterday; airy bridges, which seem not so much to +rest on the earth as to hover over the waters they span; the loveliest +creations of ancient art, rescued from the grave of ages again to +enchant the world; the breathing marbles of Michael Angelo, the glowing +canvas of Raphael and Titian, museums filled with medals and coins of +every age from Cyrus the younger, and gems and amulets and vases from +the sepulchers of Egyptian Pharaohs coëval with Joseph, and Etruscan +Lucumons that swayed Italy before the Romans,--libraries stored with the +choicest texts of ancient literature,--gardens of rose and orange, +and pomegranate, and myrtle,--the very air you breathe languid with +music and perfume;--such is Florence. But among all its fascinations, +addressed to the sense, the memory, and the heart, there was none +to which I more frequently gave a meditative hour during a year's +residence, than to the spot where Galileo Galilei sleeps beneath the +marble door of Santa Croce; no building on which I gazed with greater +reverence, than I did upon the modest mansion at Arcetri, villa at once +and prison, in which that venerable sage, by command of the Inquisition, +passed the sad closing years of his life. The beloved daughter on whom +he had depended to smooth his passage to the grave, laid there before +him; the eyes with which he had discovered worlds before unknown, +quenched in blindness: + + Ahime! quegli occhi si son fatti oscuri, + Che vider più di tutti i tempi antichi, + E luce fur dei secoli futuri. + +That was the house, "where," says Milton (another of those of whom the +world was not worthy), "I found and visited the famous Galileo, grown +old--a prisoner to the Inquisition, for thinking on astronomy otherwise +than as the Dominican and Franciscan licensers thought."[A] Great +Heavens! what a tribunal, what a culprit, what a crime! Let us thank +God, my Friends, that we live in the nineteenth century. Of all the +wonders of ancient and modern art, statues and paintings, and jewels and +manuscripts,--the admiration and the delight of ages,--there was nothing +which I beheld with more affectionate awe than that poor, rough tube, +a few feet in length,--the work of his own hands,--that very "optic +glass," through which the "Tuscan Artist" viewed the moon, + + "At evening, from the top of Fesolé, + Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands, + Rivers, or mountains, in her spotty globe." + +that poor little spy-glass (for it is scarcely more) through which +the human eye first distinctly beheld the surface of the moon--first +discovered the phases of Venus, the satellites of Jupiter, and the +seeming handles of Saturn--first penetrated the dusky depths of the +heavens--first pierced the clouds of visual error, which, from the +creation of the world, involved the system of the Universe. + +[Footnote A: Prose Works, vol. 1, p. 213.] + +There are occasions in life in which a great mind lives years of rapt +enjoyment in a moment. I can fancy the emotions of Galileo, when, first +raising the newly-constructed telescope to the heavens, he saw fulfilled +the grand prophecy of Copernicus, and beheld the planet Venus crescent +like the moon. It was such another moment as that when the immortal +printers of Mentz and Strasburg received the first copy of the Bible +into their hands, the work of their divine art; like that when Columbus, +through the gray dawn of the 12th of October, 1492 (Copernicus, at the +age of eighteen, was then a student at Cracow), beheld the shores of San +Salvador; like that when the law of gravitation first revealed itself to +the intellect of Newton; like that when Franklin saw by the stiffening +fibers of the hempen cord of his kite, that he held the lightning in his +grasp; like that when Leverrier received back from Berlin the tidings +that the predicted planet was found. + +Yes, noble Galileo, thou art right, _E pur si muove._ "It does move." +Bigots may make thee recant it; but it moves, nevertheless. Yes, the +earth moves, and the planets move, and the mighty waters move, and the +great sweeping tides of air move, and the empires of men move, and the +world of thought moves, ever onward and upward to higher facts and +bolder theories. The Inquisition may seal thy lips, but they can no more +stop the progress of the great truth propounded by Copernicus, and +demonstrated by thee, than they can stop the revolving earth. + +Close now, venerable sage, that sightless, tearful eye; it has seen +what man never before saw--it has seen enough. Hang up that poor +little spy-glass--it has done its work. Not Herschell nor Rosse have, +comparatively, done more. Franciscans and Dominicans deride thy +discoveries now; but the time will come when, from two hundred +observatories in Europe and America, the glorious artillery of science +shall nightly assault the skies, but they shall gain no conquests in +those glittering fields before which thine shall be forgotten. Rest in +peace, great Columbus of the heavens--like him scorned, persecuted, +broken-hearted!--in other ages, in distant hemispheres, when the +votaries of science, with solemn acts of consecration, shall dedicate +their stately edifices to the cause of knowledge and truth, thy name +shall be mentioned with honor. + + + NEW PERIODS IN ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCE. + +It is not my intention, in dwelling with such emphasis upon the +invention of the telescope, to ascribe undue importance, in promoting +the advancement of science, to the increase of instrumental power. +Too much, indeed, cannot be said of the service rendered by its +first application in confirming and bringing into general repute the +Copernican system; but for a considerable time, little more was effected +by the wondrous instrument than the gratification of curiosity and +taste, by the inspection of the planetary phases, and the addition +of the rings and satellites of Saturn to the solar family. Newton, +prematurely despairing of any further improvement in the refracting +telescope, applied the principle of reflection; and the nicer +observations now made, no doubt, hastened the maturity of his great +discovery of the law of gravitation; but that discovery was the work of +his transcendent genius and consummate skill. + +With Bradley, in 1741, a new period commenced in instrumental astronomy, +not so much of discovery as of measurement. The superior accuracy and +minuteness with which the motions and distances of the heavenly bodies +were now observed, resulted in the accumulation of a mass of new +materials, both for tabular comparison and theoretical speculation. +These materials formed the enlarged basis of astronomical science +between Newton and Sir William Herschell. His gigantic reflectors +introduced the astronomer to regions of space before unvisited--extended +beyond all previous conception the range of the observed phenomena, and +with it proportionably enlarged the range of constructive theory. The +discovery of a new primary planet and its attendant satellites was +but the first step of his progress into the labyrinth of the heavens. +Cotemporaneously with his observations, the French astronomers, and +especially La Place, with a geometrical skill scarcely, if at all, +inferior to that of its great author, resumed the whole system of +Newton, and brought every phenomenon observed since his time within his +laws. Difficulties of fact, with which he struggled in vain, gave way to +more accurate observations; and problems that defied the power of his +analysis, yielded to the modern improvements of the calculus. + + + HERSCHELL'S NEBULAR THEORY. + +But there is no _Ultima Thule_ in the progress of science. With the +recent augmentations of telescopic power, the details of the nebular +theory, proposed by Sir W. Herschell with such courage and ingenuity, +have been drawn in question. Many--most--of those milky patches in which +he beheld what he regarded as cosmical matter, as yet in an unformed +state,--the rudimental material of worlds not yet condensed,--have been +resolved into stars, as bright and distinct as any in the firmament. +I well recall the glow of satisfaction with which, on the 22d of +September, 1847, being then connected with the University at Cambridge, +I received a letter from the venerable director of the Observatory +there, beginning with these memorable words:--"You will rejoice with +me that the great nebula in Orion has yielded to the powers of our +incomparable telescope! * * * It should be borne in mind that this +nebula, and that of Andromeda [which has been also resolved at +Cambridge], are the last strongholds of the nebular theory."[A] + +[Footnote A: _Annals of the Observatory of Harvard College_, p. 121.] + +But if some of the adventurous speculations built by Sir William +Herschell on the bewildering revelations of his telescope have been +since questioned, the vast progress which has been made in sidereal +astronomy, to which, as I understand, the Dudley Observatory will be +particularly devoted, the discovery of the parallax of the fixed stars, +the investigation of the interior relations of binary and triple systems +of stars, the theories for the explanation of the extraordinary, not to +say fantastic, shapes discerned in some of the nebulous systems--whirls +and spirals radiating through spaces as vast as the orbit of Neptune;[A] +the glimpses at systems beyond that to which our sun belongs;--these are +all splendid results, which may fairly be attributed to the school of +Herschell, and will for ever insure no secondary place to that name in +the annals of science. + +[Footnote A: See the remarkable memoir of Professor Alexander, "On the +origin of the forms and the present condition of some of the clusters of +stars, and several of the nebulæ," (Gould's _Astronomical Journal_, Vol. +iii, p. 95.)] + + + RELATIONSHIP OF THE LIBERAL ARTS. + +In the remarks which I have hitherto made, I have had mainly in view +the direct connection of astronomical science with the uses of life and +the service of man. But a generous philosophy contemplates the subject +in higher relations. It is a remark as old, at least, as Plato, and +is repeated from him more than once by Cicero, that all the liberal +arts have a common bond and relationship.[A] The different sciences +contemplate as their immediate object the different departments of +animate and inanimate nature; but this great system itself is but +one, and its parts are so interwoven with each other, that the most +extraordinary relations and unexpected analogies are constantly +presenting themselves; and arts and sciences seemingly the least +connected, render to each other the most effective assistance. + +[Footnote A: Archias, i.; De Oratore, iii., 21.] + +The history of electricity, galvanism, and magnetism, furnishes the most +striking illustration of this remark. Commencing with the meteorological +phenomena of our own atmosphere, and terminating with the observation +of the remotest heavens, it may well be adduced, on an occasion like +the present. Franklin demonstrated the identity of lightning and the +electric fluid. This discovery gave a great impulse to electrical +research, with little else in view but the means of protection from +the thunder-cloud. A purely accidental circumstance led the physician +Galvani, at Bologna, to trace the mysterious element, under conditions +entirely novel, both of development and application. In this new form it +became, in the hands of Davy, the instrument of the most extraordinary +chemical operations; and earths and alkalis, touched by the creative +wire, started up into metals that float on water, and kindle in the +air. At a later period, the closest affinities are observed between +electricity and magnetism, on the one hand; while, on the other, the +relations of polarity are detected between acids and alkalis. Plating +and gilding henceforth become electrical processes. In the last +applications of the same subtle medium, it has become the messenger of +intelligence across the land and beneath the sea; and is now employed by +the astronomer to ascertain the difference of longitudes, to transfer +the beats of the clock from one station to another, and to record the +moment of his observations with automatic accuracy. How large a share +has been borne by America in these magnificent discoveries and +applications, among the most brilliant achievements of modern science, +will sufficiently appear from the repetition of the names of Franklin, +Henry, Morse, Walker, Mitchell, Lock, and Bond. + + + VERSATILITY OF GENIUS. + +It has sometimes happened, whether from the harmonious relations to +each other of every department of science, or from rare felicity of +individual genius, that the most extraordinary intellectual versatility +has been manifested by the same person. Although Newton's transcendent +talent did not blaze out in childhood, yet as a boy he discovered great +aptitude for mechanical contrivance. His water-clock, self-moving +vehicle, and mill, were the wonder of the village; the latter propelled +by a living mouse. Sir David Brewster represents the accounts as +differing, whether the mouse was made to advance "by a string attached +to its tail," or by "its unavailing attempts to reach a portion of corn +placed above the wheel." It seems more reasonable to conclude that +the youthful discoverer of the law of gravitation intended by the +combination of these opposite attractions to produce a balanced +movement. It is consoling to the average mediocrity of the race to +perceive in these sportive assays, that the mind of Newton passed +through the stage of boyhood. But emerging from boyhood, what a bound it +made, as from earth to heaven! Hardly commencing bachelor of arts, at +the age of twenty-four, he untwisted the golden and silver threads of +the solar spectrum, simultaneously or soon after conceived the method of +fluxions, and arrived at the elemental idea of universal gravity before +he had passed to his master's degree. Master of Arts indeed! That +degree, if no other, was well bestowed. Universities are unjustly +accused of fixing science in stereotype. That diploma is enough of +itself to redeem the honors of academical parchment from centuries of +learned dullness and scholastic dogmatism. + +But the great object of all knowledge is to enlarge and purify the soul, +to fill the mind with noble contemplations, to furnish a refined +pleasure, and to lead our feeble reason from the works of nature up to +its great Author and Sustainer. Considering this as the ultimate end of +science, no branch of it can surely claim precedence of Astronomy. No +other science furnishes such a palpable embodiment of the abstractions +which lie at the foundation of our intellectual system; the great ideas +of time, and space, and extension, and magnitude, and number, and +motion, and power. How grand the conception of the ages on ages required +for several of the secular equations of the solar system; of distances +from which the light of a fixed star would not reach us in twenty +millions of years, of magnitudes compared with which the earth is but a +foot-ball; of starry hosts--suns like our own--numberless as the sands +on the shore; of worlds and systems shooting through the infinite +spaces, with a velocity compared with which the cannon-ball is a +way-worn, heavy-paced traveler![A] + +[Footnote A: Nichol's _Architecture of the Heavens_, p. 160.] + + + THE SPECTACLE OF THE HEAVENS. + +Much, however, as we are indebted to our observatories for elevating our +conceptions of the heavenly bodies, they present, even to the unaided +sight, scenes of glory which words are too feeble to describe. I had +occasion, a few weeks since, to take the early train from Providence to +Boston; and for this purpose rose at 2 o'clock in the morning. Every +thing around was wrapped in darkness and hushed in silence, broken only +by what seemed at that hour the unearthly clank and rush of the train. +It was a mild, serene midsummer's night; the sky was without a +cloud--the winds were whist. The moon, then in the last quarter, had +just risen, and the stars shone with a spectral luster but little +affected by her presence; Jupiter, two hours high, was the herald of the +day; the Pleiades, just above the horizon, shed their sweet influence in +the east; Lyra sparkled near the zenith; Andromeda veiled her newly +discovered glories from the naked eye in the south; the steady Pointers, +far beneath the pole, looked meekly up from the depths of the north to +their sovereign. + +Such was the glorious spectacle as I entered the train. As we proceeded, +the timid approach of twilight became more perceptible; the intense blue +of the sky began to soften, the smaller stars, like little children, +went first to rest; the sister-beams of the Pleiades soon melted +together; but the bright constellations of the west and north remained +unchanged. Steadily the wondrous transfiguration went on. Hands of +angels hidden from mortal eyes shifted the scenery of the heavens; the +glories of night dissolved into the glories of the dawn. The blue sky +now turned more softly gray; the great watch-stars shut up their holy +eyes; the east began to kindle. Faint streaks of purple soon blushed +along the sky; the whole celestial concave was filled with the inflowing +tides of the morning light, which came pouring down from above in one +great ocean of radiance; till at length, as we reached the Blue Hills, a +flash of purple fire blazed out from above the horizon, and turned the +dewy teardrops of flower and leaf into rubies and diamonds. In a few +seconds the everlasting gates of the morning were thrown wide open, and +the lord of day, arrayed in glories too severe for the gaze of man, +began his course. + +I do not wonder at the superstition of the ancient Magians, who in the +morning of the world went up to the hill-tops of Central Asia, and +ignorant of the true God, adored the most glorious work of his hand. +But I am filled with amazement, when I am told that in this enlightened +age, and in the heart of the Christian world, there are persons who can +witness this daily manifestation of the power and wisdom of the Creator, +and yet say in their hearts, "There is no God." + + + UNDISCOVERED BODIES. + +Numerous as are the heavenly bodies visible to the naked eye, and +glorious as are their manifestations, it is probable that in our own +system there are great numbers as yet undiscovered. Just two hundred +years ago this year, Huyghens announced the discovery of one satellite +of Saturn, and expressed the opinion that the six planets and six +satellites then known, and making up the perfect number of _twelve_, +composed the whole of our planetary system. In 1729 an astronomical +writer expressed the opinion that there might be other bodies in our +system, but that the limit of telescopic power had been reached, and no +further discoveries were likely to be made.[A] The orbit of one comet +only had been definitively calculated. Since that time the power of the +telescope has been indefinitely increased; two primary planets of the +first class, ten satellites, and forty-three small planets revolving +between Mars and Jupiter, have been discovered, the orbits of six or +seven hundred comets, some of brief period, have been ascertained;--and +it has been computed, that hundreds of thousands of these mysterious +bodies wander through our system. There is no reason to think that all +the primary planets, which revolve about the sun, have been discovered. +An indefinite increase in the number of asteroids may be anticipated; +while outside of Neptune, between our sun and the nearest fixed star, +supposing the attraction of the sun to prevail through half the +distance, there is room for ten more primary planets succeeding each +other at distances increasing in a geometrical ratio. The first of +these will, unquestionably, be discovered as soon as the perturbations +of Neptune shall have been accurately observed; and with maps of the +heavens, on which the smallest telescopic stars are laid down, it may be +discovered much sooner. + +[Footnote A: _Memoirs of A.A.S._, vol. iii, 275.] + + + THE VASTNESS OF CREATION. + +But it is when we turn our observation and our thoughts from our own +system, to the systems which lie beyond it in the heavenly spaces, that +we approach a more adequate conception of the vastness of creation. All +analogy teaches us that the sun which gives light to us is but one of +those countless stellar fires which deck the firmament, and that every +glittering star in that shining host is the center of a system as vast +and as full of subordinate luminaries as our own. Of these suns--centers +of planetary systems--thousands are visible to the naked eye, millions +are discovered by the telescope. Sir John Herschell, in the account of +his operations at the Cape of Good Hope (p. 381) calculates that about +five and a half millions of stars are visible enough to be _distinctly +counted_ in a twenty-foot reflector, in both hemispheres. He adds, that +"the actual number is much greater, there can be little doubt." His +illustrious father, estimated on one occasion that 125,000 stars passed +through the field of his forty foot reflector in a quarter of an hour. +This would give 12,000,000 for the entire circuit of the heavens, in a +single telescopic zone; and this estimate was made under the assumption +that the nebulæ were masses of luminous matter not yet condensed into +suns. + +These stupendous calculations, however, form but the first column of the +inventory of the universe. Faint white specks are visible, even to the +naked eye of a practiced observer in different parts of the heavens. +Under high magnifying powers, several thousands of such spots are +visible,--no longer however, faint, white specks, but many of them +resolved by powerful telescopes into vast aggregations of stars, each +of which may, with propriety, be compared with the milky way. Many of +these nebulæ, however, resisted the power of Sir Wm. Herschell's great +reflector, and were, accordingly, still regarded by him as masses of +unformed matter, not yet condensed into suns. This, till a few years +since, was, perhaps, the prevailing opinion; and the nebular theory +filled a large space in modern astronomical science. But with the +increase of instrumental power, especially under the mighty grasp of +Lord Rosse's gigantic reflector, and the great refractors at Pulkova and +Cambridge, the most irresolvable of these nebulæ have given way; and the +better opinion now is, that every one of them is a galaxy, like our own +milky way, composed of millions of suns. In other words, we are brought +to the bewildering conclusion that thousands of these misty specks, the +greater part of them too faint to be seen with the naked eye, are, not +each a universe like our solar system, but each a "swarm" of universes +of unappreciable magnitude.[A] The mind sinks, overpowered by the +contemplation. We repeat the words, but they no longer convey distinct +ideas to the understanding. + +[Footnote A: Humboldt's _Cosmos_, iii. 41.] + + + CONCEPTIONS OF THE UNIVERSE. + +But these conclusions, however vast their comprehension, carry us but +another step forward in the realms of sidereal astronomy. A proper +motion in space of our sun, and of the fixed stars as we call them, +has long been believed to exist. Their vast distances only prevent its +being more apparent. The great improvement of instruments of measurement +within the last generation has not only established the existence of +this motion, but has pointed to the region in the starry vault around +which our whole solar and stellar system, with its myriad of attendant +planetary worlds, appears to be performing a mighty revolution. If, +then, we assume that outside of the system to which we belong and in +which our sun is but a star like Aldebaran or Sirius, the different +nebulæ of which we have spoken,--thousands of which spot the +heavens--constitute a distinct family of universes, we must, following +the guide of analogy, attribute to each of them also, beyond all the +revolutions of their individual attendant planetary systems, a great +revolution, comprehending the whole; while the same course of analogical +reasoning would lead us still further onward, and in the last analysis, +require us to assume a transcendental connection between all these +mighty systems--a universe of universes, circling round in the infinity +of space, and preserving its equilibrium by the same laws of mutual +attraction which bind the lower worlds together. + +It may be thought that conceptions like these are calculated rather to +depress than to elevate us in the scale of being; that, banished as he +is by these contemplations to a corner of creation, and there reduced +to an atom, man sinks to nothingness in this infinity of worlds. But a +second thought corrects the impression. These vast contemplations are +well calculated to inspire awe, but not abasement. Mind and matter are +incommensurable. An immortal soul, even while clothed in "this muddy +vesture of decay," is in the eye of God and reason, a purer essence than +the brightest sun that lights the depths of heaven. The organized human +eye, instinct with life and soul, which, gazing through the telescope, +travels up to the cloudy speck in the handle of Orion's sword, and bids +it blaze forth into a galaxy as vast as ours, stands higher in the order +of being than all that host of luminaries. The intellect of Newton which +discovered the law that holds the revolving worlds together, is a nobler +work of God than a universe of universes of unthinking matter. + +If, still treading the loftiest paths of analogy, we adopt the +supposition,--to me I own the grateful supposition,--that the countless +planetary worlds which attend these countless suns, are the abodes of +rational beings like man, instead of bringing back from this exalted +conception a feeling of insignificance, as if the individuals of our +race were but poor atoms in the infinity of being, I regard it, on the +contrary, as a glory of our human nature, that it belongs to a family +which no man can number of rational natures like itself. In the order of +being they may stand beneath us, or they may stand above us; _he_ may +well be content with his place, who is made "a little lower than the +angels." + + + CONTEMPLATION OF THE HEAVENS. + +Finally, my Friends, I believe there is no contemplation better adapted +to awaken devout ideas than that of the heavenly bodies,--no branch of +natural science which bears clearer testimony to the power and wisdom of +God than that to which you this day consecrate a temple. The heart of +the ancient world, with all the prevailing ignorance of the true nature +and motions of the heavenly orbs, was religiously impressed by their +survey. There is a passage in one of those admirable philosophical +treatises of Cicero composed in the decline of life, as a solace under +domestic bereavement and patriotic concern at the impending convulsions +of the state, in which, quoting from some lost work of Aristotle, he +treats the topic in a manner which almost puts to shame the teachings of +Christian wisdom. + +"Præclare ergo Aristoteles, 'Si essent,' inquit, 'qui sub terra semper +habitavissent, bonis et illustribus domiciliis quæ essent ornata signis +atque picturis, instructaque rebus iis omnibus quibus abundant ii qui +beati putantur, nec tamen exissent unquam supra terram; accepissent +autem fama et auditione, esse quoddam numen et vim Deorum,--deinde +aliquo tempore patefactis terræ faucibus ex illis abditis sedibus +evadere in hæc loca quæ nos incolimus, atque exire potuissent; cum +repente terram et maria coelumque, vidissent; nubium magnitudinem +ventorumque vim, cognovissent; aspexissentque solem, ejusque tum +magnitudinem, pulchritudinemque; tum etiam efficientiam cognovissent, +quod is diem efficeret, toto coelo luce diffusa; cum autem terras nox +opacasset, tum coelum totum cernerent astris distinctum et ornatum, +lunæque luminum varietatem tum crescentis tum senescentis, corumque +omnium ortus et occasus atque in æternitate ratos immutabilesque +cursus;--hæc cum viderent, profecto et esse Deos, et hæc tanta opera +Deorum esse, arbitrarentur."[A] + +There is much by day to engage the attention of the Observatory; the +sun, his apparent motions, his dimensions, the spots on his disc (to +us the faint indications of movements of unimagined grandeur in his +luminous atmosphere), a solar eclipse, a transit of the inferior +planets, the mysteries of the spectrum;--all phenomena of vast +importance and interest. But night is the astronomer's accepted time; he +goes to his delightful labors when the busy world goes to its rest. A +dark pall spreads over the resorts of active life; terrestrial objects, +hill and valley, and rock and stream, and the abodes of men disappear; +but the curtain is drawn up which concealed the heavenly hosts. There +they shine and there they move, as they moved and shone to the eyes of +Newton and Galileo, of Kepler and Copernicus, of Ptolemy and Hipparchus; +yes, as they moved and shone when the morning stars sang together, and +all the sons of God shouted for joy. All has changed on earth; but +the glorious heavens remain unchanged. The plow passes over the site +of mighty cities,--the homes of powerful nations are desolate, the +languages they spoke are forgotten; but the stars that shone for them +are shining for us; the same eclipses run their steady cycle; the same +equinoxes call out the flowers of spring, and send the husbandman +to the harvest; the sun pauses at either tropic as he did when his +course began; and sun and moon, and planet and satellite, and star and +constellation and galaxy, still bear witness to the power, the wisdom, +and the love, which placed them in the heavens and uphold them there. + +[Footnote A: "Nobly does Aristotle observe, that if there were beings +who had always lived under ground, in convenient, nay, in magnificent +dwellings, adorned with statues and pictures, and every thing which +belongs to prosperous life, but who had never come above ground; who had +heard, however, by fame and report, of the being and power of the gods; +if, at a certain time, the portals of the earth being thrown open, +they had been able to emerge from those hidden abodes to the regions +inhabited by us; when suddenly they had seen the earth, the sea, and +the sky; had perceived the vastness of the clouds and the force of the +winds; had contemplated the sun, his magnitude and his beauty, and +still more his effectual power, that it is he who makes the day, by +the diffusion of his light through the whole sky; and, when night had +darkened the earth, should then behold the whole heavens studded and +adorned with stars, and the various lights of the waxing and waning +moon, the risings and the settings of all these heavenly bodies, and the +courses fixed and immutable in all eternity; when, I say, they should +see these things, truly they would believe that there were gods, and +these so great things are their works."--Cicero, _De Natura Deorum_ lib. +ii., § 30.] + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE USES OF ASTRONOMY *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Uses of Astronomy<br /> +  An Oration Delivered at Albany on the 28th of August, 1856</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Edward Everett</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: July 6, 2005 [eBook #16227]<br /> +[Most recently updated: December 15, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Peter Barozzi, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE USES OF ASTRONOMY ***</div> + +<h1>THE USES OF ASTRONOMY.<br /><br /></h1> + +<h2>AN ORATION<br /><br /></h2> + +<h3>Delivered at Albany, on the 28th of August, 1856</h3> + +<p class="centerbold"><small>BY</small></p> + +<h2>EDWARD EVERETT,</h2> + +<p class="centerbold"><small>ON THE</small><br /><br /></p> + +<h2>OCCASION OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE<br /> +DUDLEY ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY,</h2> + +<p class="centerbold"> +<small>WITH A</small><br /><br /> +<big>CONDENSED REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS,</big><br /><br /> +<small>AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE</small><br /><br /> +DEDICATION OF NEW YORK STATE GEOLOGICAL HALL.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="centerbold"> +<big>NEW YORK:</big><br /> +PUBLISHED BY ROSS & TOUSEY,<br /> +103 NASSAU STREET.<br /> +1856.<br /><br /><br /></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS<br /></h2> + +<div class='centerbold'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="5" summary="toc"> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>Page</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A Note Explanatory</td><td align='right'><a href="#Pg_2">2</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Two New Institutions of Science</td><td align='right'><a href="#Pg_3">3</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Dedication of the Geological Hall</td><td align='right'><a href="#Pg_3a">3</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Inauguration of Dudley Observatory</td><td align='right'><a href="#Pg_9a">9</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Oration</td><td align='right'><a href="#Pg_13">13</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_2" id="Pg_2" title="Pg_2">[2]</a></span></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A NOTE EXPLANATORY.<br /><br /></h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The undersigned ventures to put forth this report of Mr. <span class="smcap">Everett's</span> +Oration, in connection with a condensed account of the Inauguration +of the Dudley Observatory, and the Dedication of the New State +Geological Hall, at Albany,—in the hope that the demand which has +exhausted the newspaper editions, may exhaust this as speedily as +possible; not that he is particularly tenacious of a reward for his +own slight labors, but because he believes that the extensive +circulation of the record of the two events so interesting and +important to the cause of Science will exercise a beneficial +influence upon the public mind. The effort of the distinguished +Statesman who has invested Astronomy with new beauties, is the +latest and one of the most brilliant of his compositions, and is +already wholly out of print, though scarcely a month has elapsed +since the date of its delivery. The account of the proceedings at +Albany during the Ceremonies of Inauguration is necessarily brief, +but accurate, and is respectfully submitted to the consideration +of the reader.</p></div> + +<p class="textright">A. MAVERICK.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 2em;">New York</span>, <i>October 1, 1856.</i></p> + +<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_3" id="Pg_3" title="Pg_3">[3]</a></span></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>TWO NEW INSTITUTIONS OF SCIENCE;</h2> + +<p class="centerbold"><small>AND</small><br /><br /> + +THE SCENES WHICH ATTENDED THEIR CHRISTENING.<br /><br /></p> + + +<p>In the month of August last, two events took place in the city of Albany, +which have more than an ephemeral interest. They occurred in close +connection with the proceedings of a Scientific Convention, and the memory of +them deserves to be cherished as a recollection of the easy way in which Science +may be popularized and be rendered so generally acceptable that the people will +cry, like Oliver Twist, for more. It is the purpose of this small publication to +embody, in a form more durable than that of the daily newspaper, the record of +proceedings which have so near a relation to the progress of scientific research. +A marked feature in the ceremonies was the magnificent Oration of the Hon. +<span class="smcap">Edward Everett</span>, inaugurating the Dudley Observatory of Albany; and it is +believed that the reissue of that speech in its present form will be acceptable +to the admirers of that distinguished gentleman, not less than to the lovers of +Science, who hung with delight upon his words.</p> + + +<div><a name="Pg_3a" id="Pg_3a" title="Pg_3a"></a></div> + +<p class="section">THE DEDICATION OF THE GEOLOGICAL HALL.</p> + +<p>On Wednesday, August 27, 1856, the State Geological Hall of New York was +dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. For the purpose of affording accommodation +to the immense crowds of people who, it was confidently anticipated, +would throng to this demonstration and that of the succeeding day, at which Mr. +<span class="smcap">Everett</span> spoke, a capacious Tent was arranged with care in the center of Academy +Park, on Capitol Hill; and under its shelter the ceremonies of the inauguration +of both institutions were conducted without accident or confusion; attended +on the first day by fully three thousand persons, and on the second by a number +which may be safely computed at from five to seven thousand.</p> + +<p>The announcement that Hon. <span class="smcap">Wm. H. Seward</span> would be present at the dedication +of the Geological Hall, excited great interest among the citizens; but the +hope of his appearance proved fallacious. His place was occupied by seven +picked men of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of +whom (Prof. <span class="smcap">Henry</span>) declared his inability to compute the problem why seven +men of science were to be considered equal to one statesman. The result justified +the selections of the committee, and although the Senator was not present, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_4" id="Pg_4" title="Pg_4">[4]</a></span>the seven Commoners of Science made the occasion a most notable one by the +flow of wit, elegance of phrase, solidity and cogency of argument, and rare discernment +of natural truths, with which their discourse was garnished.</p> + +<p>The members of the American Association marched in procession to the Tent, +from their place of meeting in the State Capitol. On the stage were assembled +many distinguished gentlemen, and in the audience were hundreds of ladies. +<span class="smcap">Gov. Clark</span> and Ex-Governors <span class="smcap">Hunt</span> and <span class="smcap">Seymour</span>, of New York, Sir <span class="smcap">Wm. Logan</span>, +of Canada, Hon. <span class="smcap">George Bancroft</span>, and others as well known as these, were +among the number present. The tent was profusely decorated. Small banners +in tri-color were distributed over the entire area covered by the stage, and +adorned the wings. The following inscriptions were placed over the front of the +rostrum,—that in honor of "<i>The Press</i>" occupying a central position:</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="depts"> +<tr><td align='left' class="tableleft"></td><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>GEOLOGY.</td><td align='left'>THE PRESS.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>METEOROLOGY.</td><td align='left'>MINERALOGY.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>METALLURGY.</td><td align='left'>ETHNOLOGY.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan="2">ASTRONOMY.</td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left' colspan="2">The following were arranged in various positions on the right and left:</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>CHEMISTRY.</td><td align='left'>TELEGRAPH.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>PHYSIOLOGY.</td><td align='left'>LETTERS.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>CONCHOLOGY.</td><td align='left'>HYDROLOGY.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>PALÆONTOLOGY.</td><td align='left'>ZOOLOGY.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>MICROSCOPY.</td><td align='left'>ICHTHYOLOGY.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>ART.</td><td align='left'>MANUFACTURES.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>STEAM.</td><td align='left'>AGRICULTURE.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>COMMERCE.</td><td align='left'>PHYSICS.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>SCIENCE.</td><td align='left'>ANATOMY.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>NAVIGATION.</td><td align='left'>BOTANY.</td></tr> +</table><br /></div> + + +<p>The proceedings of the day were opened with prayer by Rev. <span class="smcap">Geo. W. Bethune</span>, D.D., +of Brooklyn.</p> + +<p>Hon. <span class="smcap">Garrit Y. Lansing</span>, of Albany, then introduced Professor <span class="smcap">Louis Agassiz</span>, +of Cambridge, Mass., who was the first of the "seven men of science" +to entertain his audience, always with the aid of the inevitable black-board, +without which the excellent Professor would be as much at a loss as a chemist +without a laboratory. Professor <span class="smcap">Agassiz</span> spoke for an hour, giving his views of +a new theory of animal development. He began by saying:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>We are here to inaugurate the Geological Hall, which has grown out of the +geological survey of the State. To make the occasion memorable, a distinguished +statesman of your own State, and Mr. <span class="smcap">Frank C. Gray</span>, were expected to +be present and address you. The pressure of public duties has detained Mr. +<span class="smcap">Seward</span>, and severe sickness has detained Mr. <span class="smcap">Gray</span>. I deeply lament that the +occasion is lost to you to hear my friend Mr. <span class="smcap">Gray</span>, who is a devotee to science, +and as warm-hearted a friend as ever I knew. Night before last I was requested +to assist in taking their place—I, who am the most unfit of men for the post. I +never made a speech. I have addressed learned bodies, but I lack that liberty +of speech—the ability to present in finished style, and with that rich imagery +which characterize the words of the orator, the thoughts fitting to such an occasion +as this. He would limit himself, he continued, to presenting some motives +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_5" id="Pg_5" title="Pg_5">[5]</a></span>why the community should patronize science, and foster such institutions as this. +We scientific men regard this as an occasion of the highest interest, and thus do +not hesitate to give the sanction of the highest learned body of the country as +an indorsement of the liberality of this State. The geological survey of New +York has given to the world a new nomenclature. No geologist can, hereafter, +describe the several strata of the earth without referring to it. Its results, as +recorded in your published volumes, are treasured in the most valuable libraries +of the world. They have made this city famous; and now, when the scientific +geologist lands on your shore, his first question is, "Which is the way to +Albany? I want to see your fossils." But Paleontology is only one branch of +the subject, and many others your survey has equally fostered.</p> + +<p>He next proceeded to show that organized beings were organized with reference +to a plan, which the relations between different animals, and between different +plants, and between animals and plants, everywhere exhibit;—drew sections of +the body of a fish, and of the bird, and of man, and pointed out that in each +there was the same central back-bone, the cavity above and the ribbed cavity +below the flesh on each side, and the skin over all—showing that the maker of +each possessed the same thought—followed the same plan of structure. And +upon that plan He had made all the kinds of quadrupeds, 2,000 in number, all +the kinds of birds, 7,000 in number, all of the reptiles, 2,000 to 3,000 in number, +all the fish, 10,000 to 12,000 in number. All their forms may be derived as +different expressions of the same formula. There are only four of these great +types; or, said he, may I not call them the four tunes on which Divinity has +played the harmonies that have peopled, in living and beautiful reality, the +whole world?</p></div> + + +<p class="section">PROFESSOR HITCHCOCK ON REMINISCENCES.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Erastus C. Benedict</span>, Esq. of New York, introduced Prof. <span class="smcap">Hitchcock</span>, of +Amherst, as a gentleman whose name was very familiar, who had laid aside, +voluntarily, the charge of one of the largest colleges in New England, but who +could never lay aside the honors he had earned in the literature and science of +geology.</p> + +<p>After a few introductory observations, Prof. <span class="smcap">Hitchcock</span> said:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>This, I believe, is the first example in which a State Government in our +country has erected a museum for the exhibition of its natural resources, its +mineral and rock, its plants and animals, living and fossil. And this seems to +me the most appropriate spot in the country for placing the first geological hall +erected by the Government; for the County of Albany was the district where +the first geological survey was undertaken, on this side of the Atlantic, and, +perhaps, the world. This was in 1820, and ordered by that eminent philanthropist, +Stephen Van Rensselaer, who, three years later, appointed Prof. Eaton +to survey, in like manner, the whole region traversed by the Erie Canal. This +was the commencement of a work, which, during the last thirty years, has had +a wonderful expansion, reaching a large part of the States of the Union, as well +as Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and, I might add, several +European countries, where the magnificent surveys now in progress did not +commence till after the survey of Albany and Rensselaer Counties. How glad +are we, therefore, to find on this spot the first Museum of Economical Geology +on this side of the Atlantic! Nay, embracing as it does all the department of +Natural History, I see in it more than a European Museum of Economical +Geology, splendid though they are. I fancy, rather, that I see here the germ of +a Cis-Atlantic British Museum, or Garden of Plants.</p> + +<p>North Carolina was the first State that ordered a geological survey; and I +have the pleasure of seeing before me the gentleman who executed it, and in +1824-5 published a report of 140 pages. I refer to Professor Olmstead, who, +though he has since won brighter laurels in another department of science, +will always be honored as the first commissioned State geologist in our land.</p></div> + +<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_6" id="Pg_6" title="Pg_6">[6]</a></span></div> + +<p>Of the New York State Survey he said:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>This survey has developed the older fossiliferous rocks, with a fullness and +distinctness unknown elsewhere. Hence European savans study the New York +Reports with eagerness. In 1850, as I entered the Woodwardian Museum, in +the University of Cambridge, in England, I found Professor McCoy busy with a +collection of Silurian fossils before him, which he was studying with Hall's first +volume of Paleontology as his guide; and in the splendid volumes, entitled +<i>British Paleozoric Rocks and Fossils</i>, which appeared last year as the result of +those researches, I find Professor Hall denominated the great American Paleontologist. +I tell you, Sir, that this survey has given New York a reputation +throughout the learned world, of which she may well be proud. Am I told that +it will, probably, cost half a million? Very well. The larger the sum, the +higher will be the reputation of New York for liberality; and what other half +million expended in our country, has developed so many new facts or thrown so +much light upon the history of the globe, or won so world-wide and enviable a +reputation?</p></div> + +<p>And of Geological Surveys in general:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>In regard to this matter of geological surveys, I can hardly avoid making +a suggestion here. So large a portion of our country has now been examined, +more or less thoroughly, by the several State governments, that it does seem to me +the time has come when the National government should order a survey—geological, +zoological, and botanical—of the whole country, on such a liberal +and thorough plan as the surveys in Great Britain are now conducted; in the +latter country it being understood that at least thirty years will be occupied in +the work. Could not the distinguished New York statesman who was to have +addressed us to-day be induced, when the present great struggle in which he is +engaged shall have been brought to a close, by a merciful Providence, to introduce +this subject, and urge it upon Congress? And would it not be appropriate +for the American Association for the Advancement of Science to throw a petition +before the government for such an object? Or might it not, with the consent +of the eminent gentleman who has charge of the Coast Survey, be connected +therewith, as it is with the Ordnance Survey in Great Britain.</p></div> + +<p>The history of the American Association was then given:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Prof. Mather, I believe, through Prof. Emmons, first suggested to the New-York +Board of Geologists in November, 1838, in a letter proposing a number of +points for their consideration. I quote from him the following paragraph +relating to the meeting. As to the credit he has here given me of having personally +suggested the subject, I can say only that I had been in the habit for +several years of making this meeting of scientific men a sort of hobby in my +correspondence with such. Whether others did the same, I did not then, and do +not now know. Were this the proper place, I could go more into detail on this +point; but I will merely quote Prof. Mather's language to the Board:—</p> + +<p>* * * * "Would it not be well to suggest the propriety of a meeting of +Geologists and other scientific men of our country at some central point next +fall,—say at New-York or Philadelphia? There are many questions in our +Geology that will receive new light from friendly discussion and the combined +observations of various individuals who have noted them in different parts of +our country. Such a meeting has been suggested by Prof. Hitchcock; and to me +it seems desirable. It would undoubtedly be an advantage not only to science +but to the several surveys that are now in progress and that may in future be +authorized. It would tend to make known our scientific men to each other +personally, give them more confidence in each other, and cause them to concentrate +their observation on those questions that are of interest in either a scientific +or economical point of view. More questions may be satisfactorily +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_7" id="Pg_7" title="Pg_7">[7]</a></span>settled in a day by oral discussion in such a body, than a year by writing and +publication."<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> In the letter alluded to, on examination, we discover another passage bearing on the point, +which, owing to the Professor's modesty we suspect, he did not read. Prof. Mather adds. "You, +so far as I know, first suggested the matter of such an Association. I laid the matter before the +Board of Geologists of New-York, specifying some of the advantages that might be expected to +result; and Prof. Vanuxem probably made the motion before the Board in regard to it."</p></div> + +<p>Though the Board adopted the plan of a meeting, various causes delayed the +first over till April, 1840, when we assembled in Philadelphia, and spent a week +in most profitable and pleasant discussion, and the presentation of papers. Our +number that year was only 18, because confined almost exclusively to the +State geologists; but the next year, when we met again in Philadelphia, and a +more extended invitation was given, about eighty were present; and the members +have been increasing to the present time. But, in fact, those first two meetings +proved the type, in all things essential, of all that have followed. The principal +changes have been those of expansion and the consequent introduction of many +other branches of science with their eminent cultivators. In 1842, we changed +the name to that of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists; and +in 1847, to that of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. I +trust it has not yet reached its fullest development, as our country and its +scientific men multiply, and new fields of discovery open.</p></div> + +<p>Prof. H. said of this particular occasion:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>We may be quite sure that this Hall will be a center of deep interest to +coming generations. Long after we shall have passed away will the men of +New-York, as they survey these monuments, feel stimulated to engage in other +noble enterprises by this work of their progenitors, and from many a distant +part of the civilized world will men come here to solve their scientific questions, +and to bring far-off regions into comparison with this. New-York, then, by her +liberal patronage, has not only acquired an honorable name among those living +in all civilized lands, but has secured the voice of History to transmit her fame +to far-off generations.</p></div> + + +<p class="section">SIR WILLIAM LOGAN ASKS "THE WAY TO ALBANY."</p> + +<p>Sir <span class="smcap">William E. Logan</span>, of Canada, in a brief speech acknowledged the services +rendered by the New-York Survey to Canada. He should manifest ingratitude +if he declined to unite in the joyful occasion of inaugurating the Museum which +was to hold forever the evidence of the truth of its published results. The +Survey of Canada had been ordered, and the Commission of five years twice +renewed; and the last time, the provision for it was more than doubled. It +happened to him, as Mr. Agassiz had said: after crossing the ocean first, the first +thing he asked was, "Which is the way to Albany?" and when he arrived here, +he found that with the aid of Prof. Hall's discoveries, he had only to take up the +different formations as he had left them on the boundary line, and follow them +into Canada. It was both a convenience and a necessity to adopt the New-York +nomenclature, which was thus extended over an area six times as large as New-York. +In Paris he heard De Vernier using the words Trenton and Niagara, as +if they were household words. He was delighted to witness the impatience +with which Barron inquired when the remaining volumes of the Paleontology of +New-York would be published. Your Paleontological reputation, said he, has +made New-York known, even among men not scientific, all over Europe. I hope +you will not stop here, but will go on and give us in equally thorough, full, and +magnificent style, the character of the Durassic and Cretaceous formations.</p> + + +<p class="section">PROFESSOR HENRY ON DUTCHMEN.</p> + +<p>Professor <span class="smcap">Henry</span> was at a loss to know by what process they had arrived at +the conclusion that seven men of science must be substituted to fill the place of +one distinguished statesman whom they had expected to hear. He prided +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_8" id="Pg_8" title="Pg_8">[8]</a></span>himself on his Albany nativity. He was proud of the old Dutch character, that +was the substratum of the city. The Dutch are hard to be moved, but when +they do start their momentum is not as other men's in proportion to the velocity, +but as the square of the velocity. So when the Dutchman goes three times as +fast, he has nine times the force of another man. The Dutchman has an immense +potentia agency, but it wants a small spark of Yankee enterprise to touch it off. +In this strain the Professor continued, making his audience very merry, and +giving them a fine chance to express themselves with repeated explosions of +laughter.</p> + + +<p class="section">PROFESSOR DAVIES ON THE PRACTICAL NATURE OF SCIENCE.</p> + +<p>Prof. <span class="smcap">Charles Davies</span> was introduced by <span class="smcap">Ex-Governor Seymour</span>, and spoke +briefly, but humorously and very much to the point, in defense of the practical +character of scientific researches. He said that to one accustomed to speak only +on the abstract quantities of number and space, this was an unusual occasion, +and this an unusual audience; and inquired how he could discuss the +abstract forms of geometry, when he saw before him, in such profusion, +the most beautiful real forms that Providence has vouchsafed to the life +of man. He proposed to introduce and develop but a single train of thought—the +unchangeable connection between what in common language is called +the theoretical and practical, but in more technical phraseology, the ideal +and the actual. The actual, or true practical, consists in the uses of the +forces of nature, according to the laws of nature; and here we must distinguish +between it and the empirical, which uses, or attempts to use, those +forces, without a knowledge of the laws. The true practical, therefore, is the +result, or actual, of an antecedent ideal. The ideal, full and complete, must +exist in the mind before the actual can be brought forth according to the laws of +science. Who, then, are the truly practical men of our age? Are they not those +who are engaged most laboriously and successfully in investigating the great +laws? Are they not those who are pressing out the boundaries of knowledge, +and conducting the mind into new and unexplored regions, where there may yet +be discovered a California of undeveloped thought? Is not the gentleman from +Massachusetts (Professor Agassiz) the most practical man in our country in the +department of Natural History, not because he has collected the greatest number +of specimens, but because he has laid open to us all the laws of the animal kingdom? +Are the formulas written on the black-board by the gentleman from +Cambridge (Prof. Pierce) of no practical value, because they cannot be read by +the uninstructed eye? A single line may contain the elements of the motions of +all the heavenly bodies; and the eye of science, taking its stand-point at the +center of gravity of the system, will see in the equation the harmonious revolutions +of all the bodies which circle the heavens. It is such labors and such +generalizations that have rendered his name illustrious in the history of mathematical +science. Is it of no practical value that the Chief of the Coast Survey +(Prof. Bache), by a few characters written upon paper, at Washington, has determined +the exact time of high and low tide in the harbor of Boston, and can +determine, by a similar process, the exact times of high and low water at every +point on the surface of the globe? Are not these results, the highest efforts of +science, also of the greatest practical utility? And may we not, then, conclude +that <i>there is nothing truly practical which is not the consequence of an antecedent +ideal</i>?</p> + +<p>Science is to art what the great fly-wheel and governor of a steam-engine +are to the working part of the machinery—it guides, regulates, and controls the +whole. Science and art are inseparably connected; like the Siamese Twins, +they cannot be separated without producing the death of both.</p> + +<p>How, then, are we to regard the superb specimens of natural history, which +the liberality, the munificence; and the wisdom of our State have collected at +the Capitol? They are the elements from which we can here determine all that +belongs to the Natural History of our State; and may we not indulge the hope, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_9" id="Pg_9" title="Pg_9">[9]</a></span>that science and genius will come here, and, striking them with a magic wand, +cause the true practical to spring into immortal life?</p> + + +<p>Remarks were also uttered by Prof. <span class="smcap">Chester Dewey</span>, President <span class="smcap">Anderson</span>, and +Rev. Dr. <span class="smcap">Cox</span>.</p> + +<p>And thus ended the Inauguration of the State Geological Hall.</p> + +<p>We turn to the Observatory, in regular order of succession.</p> + + + +<div><a name="Pg_9a" id="Pg_9a" title="Pg_9a"></a></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>INAUGURATION OF DUDLEY OBSERVATORY.<br /><br /></h2> + + +<p>The Inauguration of the Dudley Observatory took place under the same tent +which was appropriated to the dedication of the Geological Hall, and on the +day following that event. An immense audience was assembled, drawn by the +announcement of Mr. <span class="smcap">Everett's</span> Oration.</p> + +<p>At a little past three o'clock the procession of <i>savans</i> arrived from the Assembly +Chamber, escorted by the Burgesses Corps. Directly in front of the speaker's +stand sat Mrs. <span class="smcap">Dudley</span>, the venerable lady to whose munificence the world is +indebted for this Observatory. She was dressed in an antique, olive-colored silk, +with a figure of a lighter color, a heavy, red broché shawl, and her bonnet, +cap, &c., after the strictest style of the old school. Her presence added a new +point of interest.</p> + +<p>Prayer having been uttered by Rev. Dr. <span class="smcap">Sprague</span>, of Albany, <span class="smcap">Thomas W. Olcott</span>, +Esq., introduced to the audience Ex-Governor <span class="smcap">Washington Hunt</span>, who spoke +briefly in honor of the memory of <span class="smcap">Charles E. Dudley</span>, whose widow has founded +and in part endowed this Observatory with a liberality so remarkable.</p> + +<p>Remarks were offered by Dr. <span class="initials">B. A. Gould</span> and Prof. <span class="initials">A. D. Bache</span>, and +Judge <span class="smcap">Harris</span> read the following letter from Mrs. <span class="smcap">Dudley</span>, announcing another +munificent donation in aid of the new Observatory—$50,000, in addition to the +$25,000 which had been already expended in the construction of the building. +The letter was received with shouts of applause, Prof. <span class="smcap">Agassiz</span> rising and leading +the vast assemblage in three vehement cheers in honor of Mrs. <span class="smcap">Dudley</span>!<br /><br /></p> + +<p class="textright"> +<span class="smcap">Albany</span>, Thursday, Aug. 14, 1856.<br /></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p> +<i>To the Trustees of the Dudley Observatory:</i><br /><br /> + +<span class="smcap">Gentlemen</span>,—I scarcely need refer in a letter to you to the modest beginning +and gradual growth of the institution over which you preside, and of which you +are the responsible guardians. But we have arrived at a period in its history +when its inauguration gives to it and to you some degree of prominence, and +which must stamp our past efforts with weakness and inconsideration, or exalt +those of the future to the measure of liberality necessary to certain success.</p> + +<p>You have a building erected and instruments engaged of unrivaled excellence; +and it now remains to carry out the suggestion of the Astronomer Royal of England +in giving permanency to the establishment. The very distinguished Professors +<span class="smcap">Bache</span>, <span class="smcap">Pierce</span>, and <span class="smcap">Gould</span>, state in a letter, which I have been permitted +to see, that to expand this institution to the wants of American science and the +honors of a national character, will require an investment which will yield annually +not less than $10,000; and these gentlemen say, in the letter referred to,—</p> + +<p>"If the greatness of your giving can rise to this occasion, as it has to all our +previous suggestions, with such unflinching magnanimity, we promise you our +earnest and hearty coöperation, and stake our reputation that the scientific success +shall fill up the measure of your hopes and anticipations."</p> + +<p>For the attainment of an object so rich in scientific reward and national glory, +guaranteed by men with reputations as exalted and enduring as the skies upon +which they are written, contributions should be general, and not confined to an +individual or a place.</p> + +<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_10" id="Pg_10" title="Pg_10">[10]</a></span></div> + +<p>For myself, I offer, as my part of the required endowment, the sum of $50,000 +in addition to the advances which I have already made; and, trusting that the +name which you have given to the Observatory may not be regarded as an undeserved +compliment, and that it will not diminish the public regard by giving +to the institution a seemingly individual character,</p></div> + +<p class="textright"> +I remain, Gentlemen, your obedient servant,<br /> +BLANDINA DUDLEY.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p>Judge <span class="smcap">Harris</span> then introduced the Orator of the occasion, Hon. <span class="smcap">Edward</span> +<span class="smcap">Everett</span>, whose speech is given verbatim in these pages.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE INSTRUMENTS OF THE DUDLEY OBSERVATORY.</p> + +<p>During the Sessions of the American Association, the new Astronomical +Instruments of Dudley Observatory were described in detail by Dr. <span class="initials">B. A. Gould</span>, +who is the Astronomer in charge. We condense his statements:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The Meridian Circle and Transit instrument were ordered from Pistor & +Martins, the celebrated manufacturers of Berlin, by whom the new instrument +at Ann Arbor was made. A number of improvements have been introduced in +the Albany instruments, not perhaps all absolutely new, but an eclectic combination +of late adaptations with new improvements. Dr. Gould made a distinction +of modern astronomical instruments into two classes, the English and +the German. The English is the massive type; the German, light and airy. +The English instrument is the instrument of the engineer; the German, the +instrument of the artist. In ordering the instruments for the Albany Observatory, +the Doctor preferred the German type and discarded the heavier English. He +instanced, as a specimen of the latter, the new instrument at Greenwich, recently +erected under the superintendence of the Astronomer Royal. That instrument +registers observations in single seconds; the Dudley instrument will register to +tenths of seconds. That has six or eight microscopes; this has four. That has a +gas lamp, by the light of which the graduations are read off; the Albany instrument +has no lamp, and the Doctor considered the lamp a hazardous experiment, +affecting the integrity of the experiment, not only by its radiant heat but by the +currents of heated air which it produces. The diameter of the object-glass of the +Albany instrument is 7½ French inches clear aperture, or 8 English inches, and +the length of the tube 8 feet. He would have preferred an instrument in which +the facilities of manipulation would have been greater, but was hampered by +one proviso, upon which the Trustees of the institution insisted—that this should +be the biggest instrument of its kind; and the instruction was obeyed. The +glass was made by Chance, and ground by Pistor himself. The eye-piece is fitted +with two micrometers, for vertical and horizontal observations. Another +apparatus provides for the detection and measurement of the flexure of the tube. +Much trouble was experienced in securing a good casting for the steel axis of +the instrument. Three were found imperfect under the lathe, and the fourth +was chosen; but even then the pivots were made in separate pieces, which were +set in very deeply and welded. Dr. Gould said he had been requested by the +gentlemen who had this enterprise in charge to suggest, as a mark of respect to +a gentleman of Albany who was a munificent patron of Science, that this instrument +be known as the Olcott Meridian Circle.</p></div> + + +<p class="section">WHAT THE DUDLEY OBSERVATORY IS.</p> + +<p>It stands a mile from the Capitol, in the city of Albany, upon the crest of a +hill, so difficult of approach, as to be in reality a Hill of Science. There are two +ways of getting to it. In both cases there are rail fences to be clambered over, +and long grass to wade through, settlements to explore, and a clayey road +to travel; but these are minor troubles. The elevation of the hill above tide-water +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_11" id="Pg_11" title="Pg_11">[11]</a></span>is, perhaps, 200 feet; its distance from the Capitol about a mile and a +half. The view for miles is unimpeded; and the Observatory is belted about +with woods and verdant lawns. There could not be a finer location or a purer +air. The plateau contains some fifteen acres.</p> + +<p>The Observatory is constructed in the form of a Latin cross. Its eastern arm +is an apartment 22 by 24 feet, in which the meridian circle is to be placed. The +western arm is a room of the same dimensions, intended for the transit instrument. +From the north and south faces of both rooms are semi-circular apsides, +projecting 6 feet 6 inches, containing the Collimator piers and the vertical openings +for observation. The entire length of each room is, therefore, 37 feet. In +the northern arm are placed the library, 23 feet by 27 feet; two computing +rooms, 12 feet by 23 feet each; side entrance halls, staircases, &c. The southern +arm contains the principal entrance, consisting of an arched colonnade of four +Tuscan columns, surrounded by a pediment. A broad flight of stone steps leads +to this colonnade; and through the entrance door beneath it to the main central +hall, 28 feet square, in which are placed (in niches) the very beautiful electric +clock and pendulum presented by Erastus Corning, Esq. The center of this hall +is occupied by a massive pier of stone, 10 feet square, passing from the basement +into the dome above, and intended for the support of the great heliometer. +Directly opposite the entrance door is a large niche, in which it is proposed to +place the bust of the late Mr. Dudley. Immediately above this hall is the equatorial +room, a circular apartment, 22 feet 6 inches in diameter, and 24 feet high, +covered by a low conical roof, in which and in the walls are the usual observing +slits. The drum, or cylindrical portion, of this room is divided into two parts—the +lower one fixed, the upper, revolving on cast-iron balls moving in grooved +metal plates, can command the entire horizon.</p> + +<p>The building is in two stories—the upper of brick, with freestone quoins, +impost and window and door dressings, rests upon a rusticated basement of freestone, +six feet high. The style adopted is the modern Italian, of which it is a +very excellent specimen. The building has been completed some time; but, in +consequence of the size of the instruments now procured being greater than that +originally contemplated, sundry alterations were required in the Transit and +Meridian Circle rooms. These consist of the semi-circular projections already +mentioned, and which, by varying the outlines of the building, will add greatly +to its beauty and picturesqueness.</p> + +<p>The piers for the Meridian Circle and Transit have, after careful investigation, +been procured from the Lockport quarries. The great density and uniformity +of the structure of the stone, and the facility with which such large +masses as are required for this purpose can be procured there, have induced +the selection of these quarries. The stones will weigh from six and a half to +eight tons each.</p> + +<p>The main building was erected from the drawings of Messrs. Woollett and +Ogden, Architects, Albany; the additions and the machinery have been +designed by Mr. W. Hodgins, Civil Engineer; and the latter is now being constructed +under his superintendence, in a very superior manner, at the iron works +of Messrs. Pruyn and Lansing, Albany.</p> + +<p>The entire building is a tasteful and elegant structure, much superior in +architectural character to any other in America devoted to a similar purpose.</p> + +<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_12" id="Pg_12" title="Pg_12">[12]</a></span></div> + +<div><br /> <br /></div> + +<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_13" id="Pg_13" title="Pg_13">[13]</a></span></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ORATION.<br /><br /></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap"><b>Fellow Citizens Of Albany:</b>—</span></p> + +<p>Assembled as we are, under your auspices, in this ancient and hospitable +city, for an object indicative of a highly-advanced stage of scientific culture, +it is natural, in the first place, to cast a historical glance at the past. It +seems almost to surpass belief, though an unquestioned fact, that more than +a century should have passed away, after Cabot had discovered the coast of +North America for England, before any knowledge was gained of the noble +river on which your city stands, and which was destined by Providence to +determine, in after times, the position of the commercial metropolis of the +Continent. It is true that Verazzano, a bold and sagacious Florentine navigator, +in the service of France, had entered the Narrows in 1524, which he +describes as a very large river, deep at its mouth, which forced its way +through steep hills to the sea; but though he, like all the naval adventurers +of that age, was sailing westward in search of a shorter passage to India, +he left this part of the coast without any attempt to ascend the river; nor +can it be gathered from his narrative that he believed it to penetrate far into +the interior.</p> + + +<p class="section">VOYAGE OF HENDRICK HUDSON.</p> + +<p>Near a hundred years elapsed before that great thought acquired substance +and form. In the spring of 1609, the heroic but unfortunate Hudson, +one of the brightest names in the history of English maritime adventure, +but then in the employment of the Dutch East India Company, in a vessel +of eighty tons, bearing the very astronomical name of the <i>Half Moon</i>, having +been stopped by the ice in the Polar Sea, in the attempt to reach the East +by the way of Nova Zembla, struck over to the coast of America in a high +northern latitude. He then stretched down southwardly to the entrance of +Chesapeake Bay (of which he had gained a knowledge from the charts and +descriptions of his friend, Captain Smith), thence returning to the north, +entered Delaware Bay, standing out again to sea, arrived on the second of +September in sight of the "high hills" of Neversink, pronouncing it "a +good land to fall in with, and a pleasant land to see;" and, on the following +morning, sending his boat before him to sound the way, passed Sandy Hook, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_14" id="Pg_14" title="Pg_14">[14]</a></span>and there came to anchor on the third of September, 1609; two hundred +and forty-seven years ago next Wednesday. What an event, my friends, in +the history of American population, enterprise, commerce, intelligence, and +power—the dropping of that anchor at Sandy Hook!</p> + + +<p class="section">DISCOVERY OF THE HUDSON RIVER.</p> + +<p>Here he lingered a week, in friendly intercourse with the natives of New +Jersey, while a boat's company explored the waters up to Newark Bay. +And now the great question. Shall he turn back, like Verazzano, or ascend +the stream? Hudson was of a race not prone to turn back, by sea or by +land. On the eleventh of September he raised the anchor of the <i>Half Moon</i>, +passed through the Narrows, beholding on both sides "as beautiful a land +as one can tread on;" and floated cautiously and slowly up the noble stream—the +first ship that ever rested on its bosom. He passed the Palisades, +nature's dark basaltic Malakoff, forced the iron gateway of the Highlands, +anchored, on the fourteenth, near West Point; swept onward and upward, +the following day, by grassy meadows and tangled slopes, hereafter to be +covered with smiling villages;—by elevated banks and woody heights, the +destined site of towns and cities—of Newburg, Poughkeepsie, Catskill;—on +the evening of the fifteenth arrived opposite "the mountains which lie from +the river side," where he found "a very loving people and very old men;" +and the day following sailed by the spot hereafter to be honored by his own +illustrious name. One more day wafts him up between Schodac and Castleton; +and here he landed and passed a day with the natives,—greeted with +all sorts of barbarous hospitality,—the land "the finest for cultivation he +ever set foot on," the natives so kind and gentle, that when they found he +would not remain with them over night, and feared that he left them—poor +children of nature!—because he was afraid of their weapons,—he, whose +quarter-deck was heavy with ordnance,—they "broke their arrows in pieces, +and threw them in the fire." On the following morning, with the early +flood-tide, on the 19th of September, 1609, the <i>Half Moon</i> "ran higher up, +two leagues above the Shoals," and came to anchor in deep water, near the +site of the present city of Albany. Happy if he could have closed his +gallant career on the banks of the stream which so justly bears his name, +and thus have escaped the sorrowful and mysterious catastrophe which +awaited him the next year!</p> + + +<p class="section">CHAMPLAIN'S VOYAGE AND THE GROWTH OF COLONIES.</p> + +<p>But the discovery of your great river and of the site of your ancient city, +is not the only event which renders the year 1609 memorable in the annals +of America and the world. It was one of those years in which a sort of +sympathetic movement toward great results unconsciously pervades the +races and the minds of men. While Hudson discovered this mighty river +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_15" id="Pg_15" title="Pg_15">[15]</a></span>and this vast region for the Dutch East India Company, Champlain, in the +same year, carried the lilies of France to the beautiful lake which bears his +name on your northern limits; the languishing establishments of England +in Virginia were strengthened by the second charter granted to that colony; +the little church of Robinson removed from Amsterdam to Leyden, from +which, in a few years, they went forth, to lay the foundations of New +England on Plymouth Rock; the seven United Provinces of the Netherlands, +after that terrific struggle of forty years (the commencement of which +has just been embalmed in a record worthy of the great event by an +American historian) wrested from Spain the virtual acknowledgment of their +independence, in the Twelve Years' Truce; and James the First, in the +same year, granted to the British East India Company their first permanent +charter,—corner-stone of an empire destined in two centuries to overshadow +the East.</p> + + +<p class="section">GALILEO'S DISCOVERIES</p> + +<p>One more incident is wanting to complete the list of the memorable +occurrences which signalize the year 1609, and one most worthy to be +remembered by us on this occasion. Cotemporaneously with the events +which I have enumerated—eras of history, dates of empire, the starting-point +in some of the greatest political, social, and moral revolutions in our +annals, an Italian astronomer, who had heard of the magnifying glasses +which had been made in Holland, by which distant objects could be brought +seemingly near, caught at the idea, constructed a telescope, and pointed it +to the heavens. Yes, my friends, in the same year in which Hudson discovered +your river and the site of your ancient town, in which Robinson +made his melancholy hegira from Amsterdam to Leyden, Galileo Galilei, +with a telescope, the work of his own hands, discovered the phases of Venus +and the satellites of Jupiter; and now, after the lapse of less than two centuries +and a half, on a spot then embosomed in the wilderness—the covert +of the least civilized of all the races of men—we are assembled—descendants +of the Hollanders, descendants of the Pilgrims, in this ancient and prosperous +city, to inaugurate the establishment of a first-class Astronomical +Observatory.</p> + + +<p class="section">EARLY DAYS OF ALBANY.</p> + +<p>One more glance at your early history. Three years after the landing of +the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Fort Orange was erected, in the center of what is +now the business part of the city of Albany; and, a few years later, the +little hamlet of Beverswyck began to nestle under its walls. Two centuries +ago, my Albanian friends, this very year, and I believe this very month of +August, your forefathers assembled, not to inaugurate an observatory, but +to lay the foundations of a new church, in the place of the rude cabin which +had hitherto served them in that capacity. It was built at the intersection +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_16" id="Pg_16" title="Pg_16">[16]</a></span>of Yonker's and Handelaar's, better known to you as State and Market +streets. Public and private liberality coöperated in the important work. +The authorities at the Fort gave fifteen hundred guilders; the patroon of that +early day, with the liberality coëval with the name and the race, contributed +a thousand; while the inhabitants, for whose benefit it was erected, whose +numbers were small and their resources smaller, contributed twenty beavers +"for the purchase of an oaken pulpit in Holland." Whether the largest part +of this subscription was bestowed by some liberal benefactress, tradition has +not informed us.</p> + + +<p class="section">NEW AMSTERDAM</p> + +<p>Nor is the year 1656 memorable in the annals of Albany alone. In that +same year your imperial metropolis, then numbering about three hundred +inhabitants, was first laid out as a city, by the name of New Amsterdam.<a name="FNanchor_A_2" id="FNanchor_A_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_2" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> +In eight years more, New Netherland becomes New York; Fort Orange and +its dependent hamlet assumes the name of Albany. A century of various +fortune succeeds; the scourge of French and Indian war is rarely absent +from the land; every shock of European policy vibrates with electric +rapidity across the Atlantic; but the year 1756 finds a population of +300,000 in your growing province. Albany, however, may still be regarded +almost as a frontier settlement. Of the twelve counties into which the province +was divided a hundred years ago, the county of Albany comprehended +all that lay north and west of the city; and the city itself contained but +about three hundred and fifty houses.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_2" id="Footnote_A_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_2"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> These historical notices are, for the most part, abridged from Mr. Brodhead's excellent +history of New York.</p></div> + + +<p class="section">TWO HUNDRED YEARS.</p> + +<p>One more century; another act in the great drama of empire; another +French and Indian War beneath the banners of England; a successful Revolution, +of which some of the most momentous events occurred within your +limits; a union of States; a Constitution of Federal Government; your population +carried to the St. Lawrence and the great Lakes, and their waters +poured into the Hudson; your territory covered with a net-work of canals +and railroads, filled with life and action, and power, with all the works of +peaceful art and prosperous enterprise with all the institutions which constitute +and advance the civilization of the age; its population exceeding that +of the Union at the date of the Revolution; your own numbers twice as +large as those of the largest city of that day, you have met together, my +Friends, just two hundred years since the erection of the little church of +Beverswyck, to dedicate a noble temple of science and to take a becoming +public notice of the establishment of an institution, destined, as we trust, +to exert a beneficial influence on the progress of useful knowledge at home +and abroad, and through that on the general cause of civilization.</p> + +<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_17" id="Pg_17" title="Pg_17">[17]</a></span></div> + +<p class="section">SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS.</p> + +<p>You will observe that I am careful to say the progress of science "at home +and abroad;" for the study of Astronomy in this country has long since, I +am happy to add, passed that point where it is content to repeat the observations +and verify the results of European research. It has boldly and successfully +entered the field of original investigation, discovery, and speculation; +and there is not now a single department of the science in which the names +of American observers and mathematicians are not cited by our brethren +across the water, side by side with the most eminent of their European contemporaries.</p> + +<p>This state of things is certainly recent. During the colonial period and +in the first generation after the Revolution, no department of science was, for +obvious causes, very extensively cultivated in America—astronomy perhaps +as much as the kindred branches. The improvement in the quadrant, commonly +known as Hadley's, had already been made at Philadelphia by +Godfrey, in the early part of the last century; and the beautiful invention of +the collimating telescope was made at a later period by Rittenhouse, an +astronomer of distinguished repute. The transits of Venus of 1761 and 1769 +were observed, and orreries were constructed in different parts of the country; +and some respectable scientific essays are contained and valuable observations +are recorded in the early volumes of the Transactions of the Philosophical +Society, at Philadelphia, and the American Academy of Arts and +Sciences at Boston and Cambridge. But in the absence of a numerous class +of men of science to encourage and aid each other, without observatories +and without valuable instruments, little of importance could be expected in +the higher walks of astronomical life.</p> + + +<p class="section">AMERICAN OBSERVATIONS.</p> + +<p>The greater the credit due for the achievement of an enterprise commenced +in the early part of the present century, and which would reflect honor +on the science of any country and any age; I mean the translation and commentary +on Laplace's <i>Mécanique Celeste</i>, by Bowditch; a work of whose +merit I am myself wholly unable to form an opinion, but which I suppose +places the learned translator and commentator on a level with the ablest +astronomers and geometers of the day. This work may be considered as +opening a new era in the history of American science. The country was still +almost wholly deficient in instrumental power; but the want was generally +felt by men of science, and the public mind in various parts of the country +began to be turned towards the means of supplying it. In 1825, President +John Quincy Adams brought the subject of a National Observatory before +Congress. Political considerations prevented its being favorably entertained +at that time; and it was not till 1842, and as an incident of the exploring +expedition, that an appropriation was made for a dépôt for the charts and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_18" id="Pg_18" title="Pg_18">[18]</a></span>instruments of the Navy. On this modest basis has been reared the National +Observatory at Washington; an institution which has already taken and +fully sustains an honorable position among the scientific establishments of +the age.</p> + +<p>Besides the institution at Washington, fifteen or twenty observatories have +within the last few years, been established in different parts of the country, +some of them on a modest scale, for the gratification of the scientific taste and +zeal of individuals, others on a broad foundation of expense and usefulness. +In these establishments, public and private, the means are provided for the +highest order of astronomical observation, research, and instruction. There +is already in the country an amount of instrumental power (to which addition +is constantly making), and of mathematical skill on the part of our men +of science, adequate to a manly competition with their European contemporaries. +The fruits are already before the world, in the triangulation of several +of the States, in the great work of the Coast Survey, in the numerous scientific +surveys of the interior of the Continent, in the astronomical department +of the Exploring Expedition, in the scientific expedition to Chili, in the brilliant +hydrographical labors of the Observatory at Washington, in the published +observations of Washington and Cambridge, in the Journal conducted by the +Nestor of American Science, now in its eighth lustrum; in the <i>Sidereal Messenger</i>, +the <i>Astronomical Journal</i>, and the <i>National Ephemeris</i>; in the great +chronometrical expeditions to determine the longitude of Cambridge, better +ascertained than that of Paris was till within the last year; in the prompt +rectification of the errors in the predicted elements of Neptune; in its identification +with Lalande's missing star, and in the calculation of its ephemeris; +in the discovery of the satellite of Neptune, of the eighth satellite of Saturn, +and of the innermost of its rings; in the establishment, both by observation +and theory, of the non-solid character of Saturn's rings; in the separation and +measurement of many double and triple stars, amenable only to superior +instrumental power, in the immense labor already performed in preparing +star catalogues, and in numerous accurate observations of standard stars; in +the diligent and successful observation of the meteoric showers; in an extensive +series of magnetic observations; in the discovery of an asteroid and ten +or twelve telescopic comets; in the resolution of nebulæ which had defied +every thing in Europe but Lord Rosse's great reflector; in the application +of electricity to the measurement of differences in longitude; in the ascertainment +of the velocity of the electro-magnetic fluid, and its truly wonderful +uses in recording astronomical observations. These are but a portion of the +achievements of American astronomical science within fifteen or twenty years, +and fully justify the most sanguine anticipations of its further progress.</p> + +<p>How far our astronomers may be able to pursue their researches, will +depend upon the resources of our public institutions, and the liberality of +wealthy individuals in furnishing the requisite means. With the exception +of the observatories at Washington and West Point, little can be done, or be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_19" id="Pg_19" title="Pg_19">[19]</a></span>expected to be done, by the government of the Union or the States; but +in this, as in every other department of liberal art and science, the great +dependence,—and may I not add, the safe dependence?—as it ever has been, +must continue to be upon the bounty of enlightened, liberal, and public-spirited +individuals.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE DUDLEY OBSERVATORY.</p> + +<p>It is by a signal exercise of this bounty, my Friends, that we are called +together to-day. The munificence of several citizens of this ancient city, +among whom the first place is due to the generous lady whose name has +with great propriety been given to the institution, has furnished the means +for the foundation of the Dudley Observatory at Albany. On a commanding +elevation on the northern edge of the city, liberally given for that purpose +by the head of a family in which the patronage of science is hereditary, a +building of ample dimensions has been erected, upon a plan which combines +all the requisites of solidity, convenience, and taste. A large portion of the +expense of the structure has been defrayed by Mrs. Blandina Dudley; to +whose generosity, and that of several other public-spirited individuals, the +institution is also indebted for the provision which has been made for an +adequate supply of first-class instruments, to be executed by the most eminent +makers in Europe and America; and which, it is confidently expected, +will yield to none of their class in any observatory in the world.<a name="FNanchor_A_3" id="FNanchor_A_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_3" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_3" id="Footnote_A_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_3"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Prof. Loomis, in <i>Harper's Magazine</i> for June, p. 49.</p></div> + +<p>With a liberal supply of instrumental power; established in a community +to whose intelligence and generosity its support may be safely confided, and +whose educational institutions are rapidly realizing the conception of a university; +countenanced by the gentleman who conducts the United States +Coast Survey with such scientific skill and administrative energy; committed +to the immediate supervision of an astronomer to whose distinguished talent +had been added the advantage of a thorough scientific education in the most +renowned universities of Europe, and who, as the editor of the <i>American +Astronomical Journal</i>, has shown himself to be fully qualified for the high +trust;—under these favorable circumstances, the Dudley Observatory at +Albany takes its place among the scientific foundations of the country and +the world.</p> + + +<p class="section">WONDERS OF ASTRONOMY.</p> + +<p>It is no affected modesty which leads me to express the regret that this +interesting occasion could not have taken place under somewhat different +auspices. I feel that the duty of addressing this great and enlightened assembly, +comprising so much of the intelligence of the community and of the +science of the country, ought to have been elsewhere assigned; that it should +have devolved upon some one of the eminent persons, many of whom I see +before me, to whom you have been listening the past week, who, as observers +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_20" id="Pg_20" title="Pg_20">[20]</a></span>and geometers, could have treated the subject with a master's power; astronomers, +whose telescopes have penetrated the depths of the heavens, or +mathematicians, whose analysis unthreads the maze of their wondrous +mechanism. If, instead of commanding, as you easily could have done, qualifications +of this kind, your choice has rather fallen on one making no pretensions +to the honorable name of a man of science,—but whose delight it +has always been to turn aside from the dusty paths of active life, for an interval +of recreation in the green fields of sacred nature in all her kingdoms,—it +is, I presume, because you have desired on an occasion of this kind, necessarily +of a popular character, that those views of the subject should be +presented which address themselves to the general intelligence of the community, +and not to its select scientific circles. There is, perhaps, no branch +of science which to the same extent as astronomy exhibits phenomena which, +while they task the highest powers of philosophical research, are also well +adapted to arrest the attention of minds barely tinctured with scientific culture, +and even to teach the sensibilities of the wholly uninstructed observer. +The profound investigations of the chemist into the ultimate constitution of +material nature, the minute researches of the physiologist into the secrets of +animal life, the transcendental logic of the geometer, clothed in a notation, +the very sight of which terrifies the uninitiated,—are lost on the common +understanding. But the unspeakable glories of the rising and the setting sun; +the serene majesty of the moon, as she walks in full-orbed brightness through +the heavens; the soft witchery of the morning and the evening star; the imperial +splendors of the firmament on a bright, unclouded night; the comet, +whose streaming banner floats over half the sky,—these are objects which +charm and astonish alike the philosopher and the peasant, the mathematician +who weighs the masses and defines the orbits of the heavenly bodies, and +the untutored observer who sees nothing beyond the images painted upon +the eye.</p> + +<p class="section">WHAT IS AN ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY?</p> + +<p>An astronomical observatory, in the general acceptation of the word, is a +building erected for the reception and appropriate use of astronomical +instruments, and the accommodation of the men of science employed in +making and reducing observations of the heavenly bodies. These instruments +are mainly of three classes, to which I believe all others of a strictly +astronomical character may be referred.</p> + +<p>1. The instruments by which the heavens are inspected, with a view to +discover the existence of those celestial bodies which are not visible to the +naked eye (beyond all comparison more numerous than those which are), +and the magnitude, shapes, and other sensible qualities, both of those which +are and those which are not thus visible to the unaided sight. The instruments +of this class are designated by the general name of Telescope, and are +of two kinds,—the refracting telescope, which derives its magnifying power +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_21" id="Pg_21" title="Pg_21">[21]</a></span>from a system of convex lenses; and the reflecting telescope, which receives +the image of the heavenly body upon a concave mirror.</p> + +<p>2d. The second class of instruments consists of those which are designed +principally to measure the angular distances of the heavenly bodies from +each other, and their time of passing the meridian. The transit instrument, +the meridian circle, the mural circle, the heliometer, and the sextant, belong +to this class. The brilliant discoveries of astronomy are, for the most part, +made with the first class of instruments; its practical results wrought out +by the second.</p> + +<p>3d. The third class contains the clock, with its subsidiary apparatus, for +measuring the time and making its subdivisions with the greatest possible +accuracy; indispensable auxiliary of all the instruments, by which the positions +and motions of the heavenly bodies are observed, and measured, and +recorded.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE TELESCOPE.</p> + +<p>The telescope may be likened to a wondrous cyclopean eye, endued with +superhuman power, by which the astronomer extends the reach of his vision +to the further heavens, and surveys galaxies and universes compared with +which the solar system is but an atom floating in the air. The transit may +be compared to the measuring rod which he lays from planet to planet, and +from star to star, to ascertain and mark off the heavenly spaces, and transfer +them to his note-book; the clock is that marvelous apparatus by which he +equalizes and divides into nicely measured parts a portion of that unconceived +infinity of duration, without beginning and without end, in which all +existence floats as on a shoreless and bottomless sea.</p> + +<p>In the contrivance and the execution of these instruments, the utmost +stretch of inventive skill and mechanical ingenuity has been put forth. To +such perfection have they been carried, that a single second of magnitude or +space is rendered a distinctly visible and appreciable quantity. "The arc of +a circle," says Sir J. Herschell, "subtended by one second, is less than the +200,000th part of the radius, so that on a circle of six feet in diameter, it +would occupy no greater linear extent than 1-5700 part of an inch, a quantity +requiring a powerful microscope to be discerned at all."<a name="FNanchor_A_4" id="FNanchor_A_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_4" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> The largest body +in our system, the sun, whose real diameter is 882,000 miles, subtends, at a +distance of 95,000,000 miles, but an angle of little more than 32; while so +admirably are the best instruments constructed, that both in Europe and +America a satellite of Neptune, an object of comparatively inconsiderable +diameter, has been discovered at a distance of 2,850 millions of miles.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_4" id="Footnote_A_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_4"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> <i>Outlines</i>, § 131.</p></div> + + + +<p class="section">UTILITY OF ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS.</p> + +<p>The object of an observatory, erected and supplied with instruments of +this admirable construction, and at proportionate expense, is, as I have +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_22" id="Pg_22" title="Pg_22">[22]</a></span>already intimated, to provide for an accurate and systematic survey of the +heavenly bodies, with a view to a more correct and extensive acquaintance +with those already known, and as instrumental power and skill in using it +increase, to the discovery of bodies hitherto invisible, and in both classes to +the determination of their distances, their relations to each other, and the +laws which govern their movements.</p> + +<p>Why should we wish to obtain this knowledge? What inducement is +there to expend large sums of money in the erection of observatories, and in +furnishing them with costly instruments, and in the support of the men of +science employed in making, discussing, and recording, for successive generations, +those minute observations of the heavenly bodies?</p> + +<p>In an exclusively scientific treatment of this subject, an inquiry into its +utilitarian relations would be superfluous—even wearisome. But on an +occasion like the present, you will not, perhaps, think it out of place if I +briefly answer the question, What is the use of an observatory, and what +benefit may be expected from the operations of such an establishment in a +community like ours?</p> + +<p>1. In the first place, then, we derive from the observations of the heavenly +bodies which are made at an observatory, our only adequate measures +of time, and our only means of comparing the time of one place with the +time of another. Our artificial time-keepers—clocks, watches, and +chronometers—however ingeniously contrived and admirably fabricated, are but a +transcript, so to say, of the celestial motions, and would be of no value without +the means of regulating them by observation. It is impossible for them, +under any circumstances, to escape the imperfection of all machinery the +work of human hands; and the moment we remove with our time-keeper +east or west, it fails us. It will keep home time alone, like the fond traveler +who leaves his heart behind him. The artificial instrument is of incalculable +utility, but must itself be regulated by the eternal clock-work of the +skies.</p> + + +<p class="section">RELATIONS BETWEEN NATURAL PHENOMENA AND DAILY LIFE.</p> + +<p>This single consideration is sufficient to show how completely the daily +business of life is affected and controlled by the heavenly bodies. It is they—and +not our main-springs, our expansion balances, and our compensation +pendulums—which give us our time. To reverse the line of Pope:</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem1"> +<tr><td align='left'>"'Tis with our watches as our judgments;—none</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Go just alike, but each believes his own."</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>But for all the kindreds and tribes and tongues of men—each upon their +own meridian—from the Arctic pole to the equator, from the equator to the +Antarctic pole, the eternal sun strikes twelve at noon, and the glorious constellations, +far up in the everlasting belfries of the skies, chime twelve at +midnight;—twelve for the pale student over his flickering lamp; twelve +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_23" id="Pg_23" title="Pg_23">[23]</a></span>amid the flaming glories of Orion's belt, if he crosses the meridian at that +fated hour; twelve by the weary couch of languishing humanity; twelve in +the star-paved courts of the Empyrean; twelve for the heaving tides of the +ocean; twelve for the weary arm of labor; twelve for the toiling brain; +twelve for the watching, waking, broken heart; twelve for the meteor which +blazes for a moment and expires; twelve for the comet whose period is measured +by centuries; twelve for every substantial, for every imaginary thing, +which exists in the sense, the intellect, or the fancy, and which the speech +or thought of man, at the given meridian, refers to the lapse of time.</p> + +<p>Not only do we resort to the observation of the heavenly bodies for the +means of regulating and rectifying our clocks, but the great divisions of day +and month and year are derived from the same source. By the constitution +of our nature, the elements of our existence are closely connected with celestial +times. Partly by his physical organization, partly by the experience of +the race from the dawn of creation, man as he is, and the times and seasons +of the heavenly bodies, are part and parcel of one system. The first great +division of time, the day-night (nychthemerum), for which we have no precise +synonym in our language, with its primal alternation of waking and +sleeping, of labor and rest, is a vital condition of the existence of such a +creature as man. The revolution of the year, with its various incidents of +summer and winter, and seed-time and harvest, is not less involved in our +social, material, and moral progress. It is true that at the poles, and on the +equator, the effects of these revolutions are variously modified or wholly disappear; +but as the necessary consequence, human life is extinguished at the +poles, and on the equator attains only a languid or feverish development. +Those latitudes only in which the great motions and cardinal positions of +the earth exert a mean influence, exhibit man in the harmonious expansion +of his powers. The lunar period, which lies at the foundation of the <i>month</i>, +is less vitally connected with human existence and development; but is +proved by the experience of every age and race to be eminently conducive +to the progress of civilization and culture.</p> + +<p>But indispensable as are these heavenly measures of time to our life and +progress, and obvious as are the phenomena on which they rest, yet owing +to the circumstance that, in the economy of nature, the day, the month, and +the year are not exactly commensurable, some of the most difficult questions +in practical astronomy are those by which an accurate division of time, +applicable to the various uses of life, is derived from the observation of the +heavenly bodies. I have no doubt that, to the Supreme Intelligence which +created and rules the universe, there is a harmony hidden to us in the +numerical relation to each other of days, months, and years; but in our +ignorance of that harmony, their practical adjustment to each other is a +work of difficulty. The great embarrassment which attended the reformation +of the calendar, after the error of the Julian period had, in the lapse of +centuries, reached ten (or rather twelve) days, sufficiently illustrates this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_24" id="Pg_24" title="Pg_24">[24]</a></span>remark. It is most true that scientific difficulties did not form the chief +obstacle. Having been proposed under the auspices of the Roman pontiff, +the Protestant world, for a century and more, rejected the new style. It +was in various places the subject of controversy, collision, and bloodshed.<a name="FNanchor_A_5" id="FNanchor_A_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_5" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> +It was not adopted in England till nearly two centuries after its introduction +at Rome; and in the country of Struve and the Pulkova equatorial, they +persist at the present day in adding eleven minutes and twelve seconds to +the length of the tropical year.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_5" id="Footnote_A_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_5"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Stern's "<i>Himmelskunde</i>," p. 72.</p></div> + + +<p class="section">GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE.</p> + +<p>2. The second great practical use of an Astronomical Observatory is connected +with the science of geography. The first page of the history of our +Continent declares this truth. Profound meditation on the sphericity of the +earth was one of the main reasons which led Columbus to undertake his +momentous voyage; and his thorough acquaintance with the astronomical +science of that day was, in his own judgment, what enabled him to overcome +the almost innumerable obstacles which attended its prosecution.<a name="FNanchor_A_6" id="FNanchor_A_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_6" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> In return, +I find that Copernicus in the very commencement of his immortal work <i>De Revolutionibus +Orbium Cœlestium</i>, fol. 2, appeals to the discovery of America as +completing the demonstration of the sphericity of the earth. Much of our +knowledge of the figure, size, density, and position of the earth, as a member +of the solar system, is derived from this science; and it furnishes us the +means of performing the most important operations of practical geography. +Latitude and longitude, which lie at the basis of all descriptive geography, +are determined by observation. No map deserves the name, on which the +position of important points has not been astronomically determined. Some +even of our most important political and administrative arrangements depend +upon the coöperation of this science. Among these I may mention the land +system of the United States, and the determination of the boundaries of the +country. I believe that till it was done by the Federal Government, a uniform +system of mathematical survey had never in any country been applied +to an extensive territory. Large grants and sales of public land took place +before the Revolution, and in the interval between the peace and the adoption +of the Constitution; but the limits of these grants and sales were ascertained +by sensible objects, by trees, streams, rocks, hills, and by reference to adjacent +portions of territory, previously surveyed. The uncertainty of boundaries +thus defined, was a never-failing source of litigation. Large tracts of +land in the Western country, granted by Virginia under this old system of +special and local survey, were covered with conflicting claims; and the controversies +to which they gave rise formed no small part of the business of the +Federal Court after its organization. But the adoption of the present land-system +brought order out of chaos. The entire public domain is now scientifically<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_25" id="Pg_25" title="Pg_25">[25]</a></span> +surveyed before it is offered for sale; it is laid off into ranges, townships, +sections, and smaller divisions, with unerring accuracy, resting on the +foundation of base and meridian lines; and I have been informed that under +this system, scarce a case of contested location and boundary has ever +presented itself in court. The General Land Office contains maps and plans, +in which every quarter-section of the public land is laid down with mathematical +precision. The superficies of half a continent is thus transferred in +miniature to the bureaus of Washington; while the local Land Offices contain +transcripts of these plans, copies of which are furnished to the individual +purchaser. When we consider the tide of population annually flowing into +the public domain, and the immense importance of its efficient and economical +administration, the utility of this application of Astronomy will be duly estimated.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_6" id="Footnote_A_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_6"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Humboldt, <i>Histotre de la Geographie</i>, &c., Tom. 1, page 71.</p></div> + +<p>I will here venture to repeat an anecdote, which I heard lately from a son +of the late Hon. Timothy Pickering. Mr. Octavius Pickering, on behalf of +his father, had applied to Mr. David Putnam of Marietta, to act as his legal +adviser, with respect to certain land claims in the Virginia Military district, +in the State of Ohio. Mr. Putnam declined the agency. He had had much +to do with business of that kind, and found it beset with endless litigation. +"I have never," he added, "succeeded but in a single case, and that was a +location and survey made by General Washington before the Revolution; and +I am not acquainted with any surveys, except those made by him, but what +have been litigated."</p> + +<p>At this moment, a most important survey of the coast of the United +States is in progress, an operation of the utmost consequence, in reference to +the commerce, navigation, and hydrography of the country. The entire +work, I need scarce say, is one of practical astronomy. The scientific establishment +which we this day inaugurate is looked to for important coöperation +in this great undertaking, and will no doubt contribute efficiently to its +prosecution.</p> + +<p>Astronomical observation furnishes by far the best means of defining the +boundaries of States, especially when the lines are of great length and run +through unsettled countries. Natural indications, like rivers and mountains, +however indistinct in appearance, are in practice subject to unavoidable +error. By the treaty of 1783, a boundary was established between the +United States and Great Britain, depending chiefly on the course of rivers and +highlands dividing the waters which flow into the Atlantic Ocean from those +which flow into the St. Lawrence. It took twenty years to find out which +river was the true St. Croix, that being the starting point. England then +having made the extraordinary discovery that the Bay of Fundy is not a +part of the Atlantic Ocean, forty years more were passed in the unsuccessful +attempt to re-create the highlands which this strange theory had annihilated; +and just as the two countries were on the verge of a war, the controversy +was settled by compromise. Had the boundary been accurately +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_26" id="Pg_26" title="Pg_26">[26]</a></span>described by lines of latitude and longitude, no dispute could have arisen. +No dispute arose as to the boundary between the United States and Spain, +and her successor, Mexico, where it runs through untrodden deserts and +over pathless mountains along the 42d degree of latitude. The identity of +rivers may be disputed, as in the case of the St. Croix; the course of mountain +chains is too broad for a dividing line; the division of streams, as experience +has shown, is uncertain; but a degree of latitude is written on the +heavenly sphere, and nothing but an observation is required to read the +record.</p> + + +<p class="section">QUESTIONS OF BOUNDARY.</p> + +<p>But scientific elements, like sharp instruments, must be handled with +scientific accuracy. A part of our boundary between the British Provinces +ran upon the forty-fifth degree of latitude; and about forty years ago, an +expensive fortress was commenced by the government of the United States, at +Rouse's Point, on Lake Champlain, on a spot intended to be just within +our limits. When a line came to be more carefully surveyed, the fortress +turned out to be on the wrong side of the line; we had been building an +expensive fortification for our neighbor. But in the general compromises of +the Treaty of Washington by the Webster and Ashburton Treaty in 1842, +the fortification was left within our limits.<a name="FNanchor_A_7" id="FNanchor_A_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_7" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_7" id="Footnote_A_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_7"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Webster's Works. Vol. V., 110, 115.</p></div> + +<p>Errors still more serious had nearly resulted, a few years since, in a war +with Mexico. By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in 1848, the boundary +line between the United States and that country was in part described by +reference to the town of El Paso, as laid down on a specified map of the +United States, of which a copy was appended to the treaty. This boundary +was to be surveyed and run by a joint commission of men of science. It +soon appeared that errors of two or three degrees existed in the projection of +the map. Its lines of latitude and longitude did not conform to the topography +of the region; so that it became impossible to execute the text of +the treaty. The famous Mesilla Valley was a part of the debatable ground; +and the sum of $10,000,000, paid to the Mexican Government for that and +for an additional strip of territory on the southwest, was the smart-money +which expiated the inaccuracy of the map—the necessary result, perhaps, of +the want of good materials for its construction.</p> + +<p>It became my official duty in London, a few years ago, to apply to the +British Government for an authentic statement of their claim to jurisdiction +over New Zealand. The official <i>Gazette</i> for the 2d of October, 1840, was +sent me from the Foreign Office, as affording the desired information. This +number of the <i>Gazette</i> contained the proclamations issued by the Lieutenant +Governor of New Zealand, "in pursuance of the instructions he received +from the Marquis of Normanby, one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_27" id="Pg_27" title="Pg_27">[27]</a></span>State," asserting the jurisdiction of his government over the islands of New +Zealand, and declaring them to extend "from 34° 30' North to 47° 10' South +latitude." It is scarcely necessary to say that south latitude was intended +in both instances. This error of 69° of latitude, which would have extended +the claim of British jurisdiction over the whole breadth of the Pacific, had, +apparently, escaped the notice of that government.</p> + + +<p class="section">COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION.</p> + +<p>It would be easy to multiply illustrations in proof of the great practical +importance of accurate scientific designations, drawn from astronomical +observations, in various relations connected with boundaries, surveys, and +other geographical purposes; but I must hasten to</p> + +<p>3. A third important department, in which the services rendered by +astronomy are equally conspicuous. I refer to commerce and navigation. +It is mainly owing to the results of astronomical observation, that modern +commerce has attained such a vast expansion, compared with that of the +ancient world. I have already reminded you that accurate ideas in this +respect contributed materially to the conception in the mind of Columbus of +his immortal enterprise, and to the practical success with which it was conducted. +It was mainly his skill in the use of astronomical instruments—imperfect +as they were—which enabled him, in spite of the bewildering +variation of the compass, to find his way across the ocean.</p> + +<p>With the progress of the true system of the universe toward general +adoption, the problem of finding the longitude at sea presented itself. This +was the avowed object of the foundation of the observatory at Greenwich;<a name="FNanchor_A_8" id="FNanchor_A_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_8" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> +and no one subject has received more of the attention of astronomers, than +those investigations of the lunar theory on which the requisite tables of the +navigator are founded. The pathways of the ocean are marked out in the +sky above. The eternal lights of the heavens are the only Pharos whose +beams never fail, which no tempest can shake from its foundation. Within +my recollection, it was deemed a necessary qualification for the master and +the mate of a merchant-ship, and even for a prime hand, to be able to "work +a lunar," as it was called. The improvements in the chronometer have in +practice, to a great extent, superseded this laborious operation; but observation +remains, and unquestionably will for ever remain, the only dependence +for ascertaining the ship's time and deducting the longitude from the +comparison of that time with the chronometer.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_8" id="Footnote_A_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_8"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Grant's <i>Physical Astronomy</i>, p. 460.</p></div> + +<p>It may, perhaps, be thought that astronomical science is brought already +to such a state of perfection that nothing more is to be desired, or at least +that nothing more is attainable, in reference to such practicable applications +as I have described. This, however, is an idea which generous minds will +reject, in this, as in every other department of human knowledge. In astronomy, +as in every thing else, the discoveries already made, theoretical or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_28" id="Pg_28" title="Pg_28">[28]</a></span>practical, instead of exhausting the science, or putting a limit to its advancement, +do but furnish the means and instruments of further progress. I have +no doubt we live on the verge of discoveries and inventions, in every department, +as brilliant as any that have ever been made; that there are new +truths, new facts, ready to start into recognition on every side; and it seems +to me there never was an age, since the dawn of time, when men ought to +be less disposed to rest satisfied with the progress already made, than the +age in which we live; for there never was an age more distinguished for +ingenious research, for novel result, and bold generalization.</p> + +<p>That no further improvement is desirable in the means and methods of +ascertaining the ship's place at sea, no one I think will from experience be +disposed to assert. The last time I crossed the Atlantic, I walked the +quarter-deck with the officer in charge of the noble vessel, on one occasion, +when we were driving along before a leading breeze and under a head of +steam, beneath a starless sky at midnight, at the rate certainly of ten or +eleven miles an hour. There is something sublime, but approaching the terrible, +in such a scene;—the rayless gloom, the midnight chill,—the awful +swell of the deep,—the dismal moan of the wind through the rigging, the all +but volcanic fires within the hold of the ship. I scarce know an occasion in +ordinary life in which a reflecting mind feels more keenly its hopeless dependence +on irrational forces beyond its own control. I asked my companion +how nearly he could determine his ship's place at sea under favorable circumstances. +Theoretically, he answered, I think, within a mile;—practically +and usually within three or four. My next question was, how near do you +think we may be to Cape Race;—that dangerous headland which pushes its +iron-bound unlighted bastions from the shore of Newfoundland far into the +Atlantic,—first landfall to the homeward-bound American vessel. We must, +said he, by our last observations and reckoning, be within three or four miles +of Cape Race. A comparison of these two remarks, under the circumstances +in which we were placed at the moment, brought my mind to the conclusion, +that it is greatly to be wished that the means should be discovered of finding +the ship's place more accurately, or that navigators would give Cape Race a +little wider berth. But I do not remember that one of the steam packets +between England and America was ever lost on that formidable point.</p> + +<p>It appears to me by no means unlikely that, with the improvement of instrumental +power, and of the means of ascertaining the ship's time with exactness, +as great an advance beyond the present state of art and science in +finding a ship's place at sea may take place, as was effected by the invention +of the reflecting quadrant, the calculation of lunar tables, and the improved +construction of chronometers.</p> + + +<p class="section">BABBAGE'S DIFFERENCE MACHINE.</p> + +<p>In the wonderful versatility of the human mind, the improvement, when +made, will very probably be made by paths where it is least expected. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_29" id="Pg_29" title="Pg_29">[29]</a></span>great inducement to Mr. Babbage to attempt the construction of an engine +by which astronomical tables could be calculated, and even printed, by +mechanical means and with entire accuracy, was the errors in the requisite +tables. Nineteen such errors, in point of fact, were discovered in an edition +of Taylor's Logarithms printed in 1796; some of which might have led to the +most dangerous results in calculating a ship's place. These nineteen errors, +(of which one only was an error of the press), were pointed out in the <i>Nautical +Almanac</i> for 1832. In one of these <i>errata</i> the seat of the error was +stated to be in cosine of 14° 18' 3". Subsequent examination showed that +there was an error of one second in this correction; and, accordingly, in the +<i>Nautical Almanac</i> of the next year a new correction was necessary. But in +making the new correction of one second, a new error was committed of ten +degrees. Instead of cosine 14° 18' 2" the correction was printed cosine 4° +18' 2" making it still necessary, in some future edition of the <i>Nautical +Almanac</i>, to insert an <i>erratum</i> in an <i>erratum</i> of the <i>errata</i> in Taylor's +logarithms.<a name="FNanchor_A_9" id="FNanchor_A_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_9" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_9" id="Footnote_A_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_9"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Edinburgh Review, Vol. LIX., 282.</p></div> + +<p>In the hope of obviating the possibility of such errors, Mr. Babbage projected +his calculating, or, as he prefers to call it, his difference machine. Although +this extraordinary undertaking has been arrested, in consequence of +the enormous expense attending its execution, enough has been achieved to +show the mechanical possibility of constructing an engine of this kind, and +even one of far higher powers, of which Mr. Babbage has matured the conception, +devised the notation, and executed the drawings—themselves an +imperishable monument of the genius of the author.</p> + +<p>I happened on one occasion to be in company with this highly distinguished +man of science, whose social qualities are as pleasing as his constructive +talent is marvelous, when another eminent <i>savant</i>, Count Strzelecki, +just returned from his Oriental and Australian tour, observed that he found +among the Chinese, a great desire to know something more of Mr. Babbage's +calculating machine, and especially whether, like their own <i>swampan</i>, +it could be made to go into the pocket. Mr. Babbage good-humouredly +observed that, thus far, he had been very much out of pocket with it.</p> + + +<p class="section">INCREASED COMMAND OF INSTRUMENTAL POWER.</p> + +<p>Whatever advances may be made in astronomical science, theoretical or +applied, I am strongly inclined to think that they will be made in connection +with an increased command of instrumental power. The natural order +in which the human mind proceeds in the acquisition of astronomical knowledge +is minute and accurate observation of the phenomena of the heavens, +the skillful discussion and analysis of these observations, and sound philosophy +in generalizing the results.</p> + +<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_30" id="Pg_30" title="Pg_30">[30]</a></span></div> + +<p>In pursuing this course, however, a difficulty presented itself, which for +ages proved insuperable—and which to the same extent has existed in no +other science, viz.: that all the leading phenomena are in their appearance +delusive. It is indeed true that in all sciences superficial observation can +only lead, except by chance, to superficial knowledge; but I know of no branch +in which, to the same degree as in astronomy, the great leading phenomena +are the reverse of true; while they yet appeal so strongly to the senses, that +men who could foretell eclipses, and who discovered the precession of the +equinoxes, still believed that the earth was at rest in the center of the universe, +and that all the host of heaven performed a daily revolution about it +as a center.</p> + +<p>It usually happens in scientific progress, that when a great fact is at length +discovered, it approves itself at once to all competent judges. It furnishes a +solution to so many problems, and harmonizes with so many other facts,—that +all the other <i>data</i> as it were crystallize at once about it. In modern times, +we have often witnessed such an impatience, so to say, of great truths, to be +discovered, that it has frequently happened that they have been found out +simultaneously by more than one individual; and a disputed question of priority +is an event of very common occurrence. Not so with the true theory of +the heavens. So complete is the deception practiced on the senses, that it failed +more than once to yield to the suggestion of the truth; and it was only when +the visual organs were armed with an almost preternatural instrumental +power, that the great fact found admission to the human mind.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE COPERNICAN SYSTEM.</p> + +<p>It is supposed that in the very dawn of science, Pythagoras or his disciples +explained the apparent motion of the heavenly bodies about the earth by +the diurnal revolution of the earth on its axis. But this theory, though bearing +so deeply impressed upon it the great seal of truth, <i>simplicity</i>, was in +such glaring contrast with the evidence of the senses, that it failed of acceptance +in antiquity or the middle ages. It found no favor with minds like those +of Aristotle, Archimedes, Hipparchus, Ptolemy, or any of the acute and +learned Arabian or mediæval astronomers. All their ingenuity and all their +mathematical skill were exhausted in the development of a wonderfully complicated +and ingenious, but erroneous history. The great master truth, +rejected for its simplicity, lay disregarded at their feet.</p> + +<p>At the second dawn of science, the great fact again beamed into the mind +of Copernicus. Now, at least, in that glorious age which witnessed the invention +of printing, the great mechanical engine of intellectual progress, and +the discovery of America, we may expect that this long-hidden revelation, a +second time proclaimed, will command the assent of mankind. But the sensible +phenomena were still too strong for the theory; the glorious delusion of +the rising and the setting sun could not be overcome. Tycho de Brahe furnished +his Observatory with instruments superior in number and quality to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_31" id="Pg_31" title="Pg_31">[31]</a></span>all that had been collected before; but the great instrument of discovery, +which, by augmenting the optic power of the eye, enables it to penetrate beyond +the apparent phenomena, and to discern the true constitution of the heavenly +bodies, was wanting at Uranienburg. The observations of Tycho as +discussed by Kepler, conducted that most fervid, powerful, and sagacious mind +to the discovery of some of the most important laws of the celestial motions; +but it was not till Galileo, at Florence, had pointed his telescope to the sky, +that the Copernican system could be said to be firmly established in the +scientific world.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE HOME OF GALILEO.</p> + +<p>On this great name, my Friends, assembled as we are to dedicate a temple +to instrumental Astronomy, we may well pause for a moment.</p> + +<p>There is much, in every way, in the city of Florence to excite the curiosity, +to kindle the imagination, and to gratify the taste. Sheltered on the +north by the vine-clad hills of Fiesoli, whose cyclopean walls carry back the +antiquary to ages before the Roman, before the Etruscan power, the flowery +city (Fiorenza) covers the sunny banks of the Arno with its stately palaces. +Dark and frowning piles of mediæval structure; a majestic dome, the prototype +of St. Peter's; basilicas which enshrine the ashes of some of the mightiest +of the dead; the stone where Dante stood to gaze on the Campanile; the +house of Michael Angelo, still occupied by a descendant of his lineage and +name, his hammer, his chisel, his dividers, his manuscript poems, all as if he +had left them but yesterday; airy bridges, which seem not so much to rest +on the earth as to hover over the waters they span; the loveliest creations of +ancient art, rescued from the grave of ages again to enchant the world; the +breathing marbles of Michael Angelo, the glowing canvas of Raphael and +Titian, museums filled with medals and coins of every age from Cyrus the +younger, and gems and amulets and vases from the sepulchers of Egyptian +Pharaohs coëval with Joseph, and Etruscan Lucumons that swayed Italy before +the Romans,—libraries stored with the choicest texts of ancient literature,—gardens +of rose and orange, and pomegranate, and myrtle,—the very +air you breathe languid with music and perfume;—such is Florence. But +among all its fascinations, addressed to the sense, the memory, and the heart, +there was none to which I more frequently gave a meditative hour during a +year's residence, than to the spot where Galileo Galilei sleeps beneath the +marble door of Santa Croce; no building on which I gazed with greater +reverence, than I did upon the modest mansion at Arcetri, villa at once and +prison, in which that venerable sage, by command of the Inquisition, passed +the sad closing years of his life. The beloved daughter on whom he had depended +to smooth his passage to the grave, laid there before him; the eyes +with which he had discovered worlds before unknown, quenched in blindness:</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem2"> +<tr><td align='left'>Ahime! quegli occhi si son fatti oscuri,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Che vider più di tutti i tempi antichi,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>E luce fur dei secoli futuri.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_32" id="Pg_32" title="Pg_32">[32]</a></span></div> + +<p>That was the house, "where," says Milton (another of those of whom the +world was not worthy), "I found and visited the famous Galileo, grown old—a +prisoner to the Inquisition, for thinking on astronomy otherwise than as +the Dominican and Franciscan licensers thought."<a name="FNanchor_A_10" id="FNanchor_A_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_10" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> Great Heavens! what +a tribunal, what a culprit, what a crime! Let us thank God, my Friends, +that we live in the nineteenth century. Of all the wonders of ancient and +modern art, statues and paintings, and jewels and manuscripts,—the admiration +and the delight of ages,—there was nothing which I beheld with more +affectionate awe than that poor, rough tube, a few feet in length,—the work +of his own hands,—that very "optic glass," through which the "Tuscan +Artist" viewed the moon,</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem3"> +<tr><td align='left'>"At evening, from the top of Fesolé,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rivers, or mountains, in her spotty globe."</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>that poor little spy-glass (for it is scarcely more) through which the human +eye first distinctly beheld the surface of the moon—first discovered the +phases of Venus, the satellites of Jupiter, and the seeming handles of Saturn—first +penetrated the dusky depths of the heavens—first pierced the clouds +of visual error, which, from the creation of the world, involved the system of +the Universe.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_10" id="Footnote_A_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_10"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Prose Works, vol. 1, p. 213.</p></div> + +<p>There are occasions in life in which a great mind lives years of rapt +enjoyment in a moment. I can fancy the emotions of Galileo, when, first +raising the newly-constructed telescope to the heavens, he saw fulfilled the +grand prophecy of Copernicus, and beheld the planet Venus crescent like the +moon. It was such another moment as that when the immortal printers of +Mentz and Strasburg received the first copy of the Bible into their hands, the +work of their divine art; like that when Columbus, through the gray dawn +of the 12th of October, 1492 (Copernicus, at the age of eighteen, was then a +student at Cracow), beheld the shores of San Salvador; like that when the +law of gravitation first revealed itself to the intellect of Newton; like that +when Franklin saw by the stiffening fibers of the hempen cord of his kite, +that he held the lightning in his grasp; like that when Leverrier received +back from Berlin the tidings that the predicted planet was found.</p> + +<p>Yes, noble Galileo, thou art right, <i>E pur si muove.</i> "It does move." +Bigots may make thee recant it; but it moves, nevertheless. Yes, the +earth moves, and the planets move, and the mighty waters move, and the +great sweeping tides of air move, and the empires of men move, and the +world of thought moves, ever onward and upward to higher facts and bolder +theories. The Inquisition may seal thy lips, but they can no more stop the +progress of the great truth propounded by Copernicus, and demonstrated by +thee, than they can stop the revolving earth.</p> + +<p>Close now, venerable sage, that sightless, tearful eye; it has seen what +man never before saw—it has seen enough. Hang up that poor little spy-glass—it +has done its work. Not Herschell nor Rosse have, comparatively, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_33" id="Pg_33" title="Pg_33">[33]</a></span>done more. Franciscans and Dominicans deride thy discoveries now; but +the time will come when, from two hundred observatories in Europe and +America, the glorious artillery of science shall nightly assault the skies, but +they shall gain no conquests in those glittering fields before which thine +shall be forgotten. Rest in peace, great Columbus of the heavens—like him +scorned, persecuted, broken-hearted!—in other ages, in distant hemispheres, +when the votaries of science, with solemn acts of consecration, shall dedicate +their stately edifices to the cause of knowledge and truth, thy name shall be +mentioned with honor.</p> + + +<p class="section">NEW PERIODS IN ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCE.</p> + +<p>It is not my intention, in dwelling with such emphasis upon the invention +of the telescope, to ascribe undue importance, in promoting the advancement +of science, to the increase of instrumental power. Too much, indeed, cannot +be said of the service rendered by its first application in confirming and +bringing into general repute the Copernican system; but for a considerable +time, little more was effected by the wondrous instrument than the gratification +of curiosity and taste, by the inspection of the planetary phases, and the +addition of the rings and satellites of Saturn to the solar family. Newton, +prematurely despairing of any further improvement in the refracting telescope, +applied the principle of reflection; and the nicer observations now +made, no doubt, hastened the maturity of his great discovery of the law of +gravitation; but that discovery was the work of his transcendent genius and +consummate skill.</p> + +<p>With Bradley, in 1741, a new period commenced in instrumental astronomy, +not so much of discovery as of measurement. The superior accuracy +and minuteness with which the motions and distances of the heavenly bodies +were now observed, resulted in the accumulation of a mass of new materials, +both for tabular comparison and theoretical speculation. These materials +formed the enlarged basis of astronomical science between Newton and Sir +William Herschell. His gigantic reflectors introduced the astronomer to +regions of space before unvisited—extended beyond all previous conception +the range of the observed phenomena, and with it proportionably enlarged +the range of constructive theory. The discovery of a new primary planet +and its attendant satellites was but the first step of his progress into the +labyrinth of the heavens. Cotemporaneously with his observations, the +French astronomers, and especially La Place, with a geometrical skill +scarcely, if at all, inferior to that of its great author, resumed the whole +system of Newton, and brought every phenomenon observed since his time +within his laws. Difficulties of fact, with which he struggled in vain, gave +way to more accurate observations; and problems that defied the power of +his analysis, yielded to the modern improvements of the calculus.</p> + +<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_34" id="Pg_34" title="Pg_34">[34]</a></span></div> + +<p class="section">HERSCHELL'S NEBULAR THEORY.</p> + +<p>But there is no <i>Ultima Thule</i> in the progress of science. With the recent +augmentations of telescopic power, the details of the nebular theory, proposed +by Sir W. Herschell with such courage and ingenuity, have been drawn in +question. Many—most—of those milky patches in which he beheld what he +regarded as cosmical matter, as yet in an unformed state,—the rudimental +material of worlds not yet condensed,—have been resolved into stars, as +bright and distinct as any in the firmament. I well recall the glow of satisfaction +with which, on the 22d of September, 1847, being then connected +with the University at Cambridge, I received a letter from the venerable +director of the Observatory there, beginning with these memorable words:—"You +will rejoice with me that the great nebula in Orion has yielded to the +powers of our incomparable telescope! * * * It should be borne in mind +that this nebula, and that of Andromeda [which has been also resolved at +Cambridge], are the last strongholds of the nebular theory."<a name="FNanchor_A_11" id="FNanchor_A_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_11" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_11" id="Footnote_A_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_11"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> <i>Annals of the Observatory of Harvard College</i>, p. 121.</p></div> + + +<p>But if some of the adventurous speculations built by Sir William Herschell +on the bewildering revelations of his telescope have been since questioned, +the vast progress which has been made in sidereal astronomy, to +which, as I understand, the Dudley Observatory will be particularly devoted, +the discovery of the parallax of the fixed stars, the investigation of the +interior relations of binary and triple systems of stars, the theories for the +explanation of the extraordinary, not to say fantastic, shapes discerned in +some of the nebulous systems—whirls and spirals radiating through spaces +as vast as the orbit of Neptune;<a name="FNanchor_A_12" id="FNanchor_A_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_12" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> the glimpses at systems beyond that to +which our sun belongs;—these are all splendid results, which may fairly be +attributed to the school of Herschell, and will for ever insure no secondary +place to that name in the annals of science.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_12" id="Footnote_A_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_12"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> See the remarkable memoir of Professor Alexander, "On the origin of the forms and the +present condition of some of the clusters of stars, and several of the nebulæ," (Gould's +<i>Astronomical Journal</i>, Vol. iii, p. 95.)</p></div> + + +<p class="section">RELATIONSHIP OF THE LIBERAL ARTS.</p> + +<p>In the remarks which I have hitherto made, I have had mainly in view +the direct connection of astronomical science with the uses of life and the +service of man. But a generous philosophy contemplates the subject in +higher relations. It is a remark as old, at least, as Plato, and is repeated +from him more than once by Cicero, that all the liberal arts have a common +bond and relationship.<a name="FNanchor_A_13" id="FNanchor_A_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_13" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> The different sciences contemplate as their immediate +object the different departments of animate and inanimate nature; but +this great system itself is but one, and its parts are so interwoven with each +other, that the most extraordinary relations and unexpected analogies are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_35" id="Pg_35" title="Pg_35">[35]</a></span>constantly presenting themselves; and arts and sciences seemingly the least +connected, render to each other the most effective assistance.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_13" id="Footnote_A_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_13"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Archias, i.; De Oratore, iii., 21.</p></div> + + +<p>The history of electricity, galvanism, and magnetism, furnishes the most +striking illustration of this remark. Commencing with the meteorological +phenomena of our own atmosphere, and terminating with the observation of +the remotest heavens, it may well be adduced, on an occasion like the +present. Franklin demonstrated the identity of lightning and the electric +fluid. This discovery gave a great impulse to electrical research, with little +else in view but the means of protection from the thunder-cloud. A purely +accidental circumstance led the physician Galvani, at Bologna, to trace the +mysterious element, under conditions entirely novel, both of development +and application. In this new form it became, in the hands of Davy, the +instrument of the most extraordinary chemical operations; and earths and +alkalis, touched by the creative wire, started up into metals that float on +water, and kindle in the air. At a later period, the closest affinities are observed +between electricity and magnetism, on the one hand; while, on the +other, the relations of polarity are detected between acids and alkalis. +Plating and gilding henceforth become electrical processes. In the last +applications of the same subtle medium, it has become the messenger of +intelligence across the land and beneath the sea; and is now employed by +the astronomer to ascertain the difference of longitudes, to transfer the beats +of the clock from one station to another, and to record the moment of his +observations with automatic accuracy. How large a share has been borne by +America in these magnificent discoveries and applications, among the most +brilliant achievements of modern science, will sufficiently appear from the +repetition of the names of Franklin, Henry, Morse, Walker, Mitchell, Lock, +and Bond.</p> + + +<p class="section">VERSATILITY OF GENIUS.</p> + +<p>It has sometimes happened, whether from the harmonious relations to each +other of every department of science, or from rare felicity of individual genius, +that the most extraordinary intellectual versatility has been manifested by +the same person. Although Newton's transcendent talent did not blaze out +in childhood, yet as a boy he discovered great aptitude for mechanical contrivance. +His water-clock, self-moving vehicle, and mill, were the wonder of +the village; the latter propelled by a living mouse. Sir David Brewster +represents the accounts as differing, whether the mouse was made to advance +"by a string attached to its tail," or by "its unavailing attempts to reach a +portion of corn placed above the wheel." It seems more reasonable to conclude +that the youthful discoverer of the law of gravitation intended by the +combination of these opposite attractions to produce a balanced movement. +It is consoling to the average mediocrity of the race to perceive in these sportive +assays, that the mind of Newton passed through the stage of boyhood. But +emerging from boyhood, what a bound it made, as from earth to heaven! +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_36" id="Pg_36" title="Pg_36">[36]</a></span>Hardly commencing bachelor of arts, at the age of twenty-four, he untwisted +the golden and silver threads of the solar spectrum, simultaneously or soon +after conceived the method of fluxions, and arrived at the elemental idea of +universal gravity before he had passed to his master's degree. Master of +Arts indeed! That degree, if no other, was well bestowed. Universities are +unjustly accused of fixing science in stereotype. That diploma is enough of +itself to redeem the honors of academical parchment from centuries of learned +dullness and scholastic dogmatism.</p> + +<p>But the great object of all knowledge is to enlarge and purify the soul, to +fill the mind with noble contemplations, to furnish a refined pleasure, and to +lead our feeble reason from the works of nature up to its great Author and +Sustainer. Considering this as the ultimate end of science, no branch of it +can surely claim precedence of Astronomy. No other science furnishes such +a palpable embodiment of the abstractions which lie at the foundation of our +intellectual system; the great ideas of time, and space, and extension, and +magnitude, and number, and motion, and power. How grand the conception +of the ages on ages required for several of the secular equations of the solar +system; of distances from which the light of a fixed star would not reach us +in twenty millions of years, of magnitudes compared with which the earth is +but a foot-ball; of starry hosts—suns like our own—numberless as the sands +on the shore; of worlds and systems shooting through the infinite spaces, +with a velocity compared with which the cannon-ball is a way-worn, heavy-paced +traveler!<a name="FNanchor_A_14" id="FNanchor_A_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_14" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_14" id="Footnote_A_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_14"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Nichol's <i>Architecture of the Heavens</i>, p. 160.</p></div> + + +<p class="section">THE SPECTACLE OF THE HEAVENS.</p> + +<p>Much, however, as we are indebted to our observatories for elevating our +conceptions of the heavenly bodies, they present, even to the unaided sight, +scenes of glory which words are too feeble to describe. I had occasion, a few +weeks since, to take the early train from Providence to Boston; and for this +purpose rose at 2 o'clock in the morning. Every thing around was wrapped +in darkness and hushed in silence, broken only by what seemed at that hour +the unearthly clank and rush of the train. It was a mild, serene midsummer's +night; the sky was without a cloud—the winds were whist. The moon, then +in the last quarter, had just risen, and the stars shone with a spectral luster +but little affected by her presence; Jupiter, two hours high, was the herald of +the day; the Pleiades, just above the horizon, shed their sweet influence in +the east; Lyra sparkled near the zenith; Andromeda veiled her newly +discovered glories from the naked eye in the south; the steady Pointers, far +beneath the pole, looked meekly up from the depths of the north to their +sovereign.</p> + +<p>Such was the glorious spectacle as I entered the train. As we proceeded, +the timid approach of twilight became more perceptible; the intense blue of +the sky began to soften, the smaller stars, like little children, went first to +rest; the sister-beams of the Pleiades soon melted together; but the bright +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_37" id="Pg_37" title="Pg_37">[37]</a></span>constellations of the west and north remained unchanged. Steadily the +wondrous transfiguration went on. Hands of angels hidden from mortal eyes +shifted the scenery of the heavens; the glories of night dissolved into the +glories of the dawn. The blue sky now turned more softly gray; the great +watch-stars shut up their holy eyes; the east began to kindle. Faint streaks +of purple soon blushed along the sky; the whole celestial concave was filled +with the inflowing tides of the morning light, which came pouring down from +above in one great ocean of radiance; till at length, as we reached the Blue +Hills, a flash of purple fire blazed out from above the horizon, and turned the +dewy teardrops of flower and leaf into rubies and diamonds. In a few seconds +the everlasting gates of the morning were thrown wide open, and the lord of +day, arrayed in glories too severe for the gaze of man, began his course.</p> + +<p>I do not wonder at the superstition of the ancient Magians, who in the +morning of the world went up to the hill-tops of Central Asia, and ignorant +of the true God, adored the most glorious work of his hand. But I am filled +with amazement, when I am told that in this enlightened age, and in the heart +of the Christian world, there are persons who can witness this daily manifestation +of the power and wisdom of the Creator, and yet say in their hearts, +"There is no God."</p> + + +<p class="section">UNDISCOVERED BODIES.</p> + +<p>Numerous as are the heavenly bodies visible to the naked eye, and glorious +as are their manifestations, it is probable that in our own system there are +great numbers as yet undiscovered. Just two hundred years ago this year, +Huyghens announced the discovery of one satellite of Saturn, and expressed +the opinion that the six planets and six satellites then known, and making up +the perfect number of <i>twelve</i>, composed the whole of our planetary system. In +1729 an astronomical writer expressed the opinion that there might be other +bodies in our system, but that the limit of telescopic power had been reached, +and no further discoveries were likely to be made.<a name="FNanchor_A_15" id="FNanchor_A_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_15" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> The orbit of one comet +only had been definitively calculated. Since that time the power of the telescope +has been indefinitely increased; two primary planets of the first class, +ten satellites, and forty-three small planets revolving between Mars and +Jupiter, have been discovered, the orbits of six or seven hundred comets, +some of brief period, have been ascertained;—and it has been computed, +that hundreds of thousands of these mysterious bodies wander through our +system. There is no reason to think that all the primary planets, which revolve +about the sun, have been discovered. An indefinite increase in the +number of asteroids may be anticipated; while outside of Neptune, between +our sun and the nearest fixed star, supposing the attraction of the sun to +prevail through half the distance, there is room for ten more primary +planets succeeding each other at distances increasing in a geometrical ratio. +The first of these will, unquestionably, be discovered as soon as the perturbations +of Neptune shall have been accurately observed; and with maps +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_38" id="Pg_38" title="Pg_38">[38]</a></span>of the heavens, on which the smallest telescopic stars are laid down, it may +be discovered much sooner.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_15" id="Footnote_A_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_15"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> <i>Memoirs of A.A.S.</i>, vol. iii, 275.</p></div> + + +<p class="section">THE VASTNESS OF CREATION.</p> + +<p>But it is when we turn our observation and our thoughts from our own +system, to the systems which lie beyond it in the heavenly spaces, that we +approach a more adequate conception of the vastness of creation. All analogy +teaches us that the sun which gives light to us is but one of those countless +stellar fires which deck the firmament, and that every glittering star in that +shining host is the center of a system as vast and as full of subordinate luminaries +as our own. Of these suns—centers of planetary systems—thousands +are visible to the naked eye, millions are discovered by the telescope. Sir +John Herschell, in the account of his operations at the Cape of Good Hope +(p. 381) calculates that about five and a half millions of stars are visible enough +to be <i>distinctly counted</i> in a twenty-foot reflector, in both hemispheres. He +adds, that "the actual number is much greater, there can be little doubt." +His illustrious father, estimated on one occasion that 125,000 stars passed +through the field of his forty foot reflector in a quarter of an hour. This +would give 12,000,000 for the entire circuit of the heavens, in a single telescopic +zone; and this estimate was made under the assumption that the +nebulæ were masses of luminous matter not yet condensed into suns.</p> + +<p>These stupendous calculations, however, form but the first column of the +inventory of the universe. Faint white specks are visible, even to the naked +eye of a practiced observer in different parts of the heavens. Under high +magnifying powers, several thousands of such spots are visible,—no longer +however, faint, white specks, but many of them resolved by powerful telescopes +into vast aggregations of stars, each of which may, with propriety, be compared +with the milky way. Many of these nebulæ, however, resisted the +power of Sir Wm. Herschell's great reflector, and were, accordingly, still regarded +by him as masses of unformed matter, not yet condensed into suns. +This, till a few years since, was, perhaps, the prevailing opinion; and the +nebular theory filled a large space in modern astronomical science. But with +the increase of instrumental power, especially under the mighty grasp of Lord +Rosse's gigantic reflector, and the great refractors at Pulkova and Cambridge, +the most irresolvable of these nebulæ have given way; and the better opinion +now is, that every one of them is a galaxy, like our own milky way, composed +of millions of suns. In other words, we are brought to the bewildering conclusion +that thousands of these misty specks, the greater part of them too faint +to be seen with the naked eye, are, not each a universe like our solar system, +but each a "swarm" of universes of unappreciable magnitude.<a name="FNanchor_A_16" id="FNanchor_A_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_16" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> The mind +sinks, overpowered by the contemplation. We repeat the words, but they +no longer convey distinct ideas to the understanding.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_16" id="Footnote_A_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_16"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Humboldt's <i>Cosmos</i>, iii. 41.</p></div> + +<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_39" id="Pg_39" title="Pg_39">[39]</a></span></div> + +<p class="section">CONCEPTIONS OF THE UNIVERSE.</p> + +<p>But these conclusions, however vast their comprehension, carry us but +another step forward in the realms of sidereal astronomy. A proper motion +in space of our sun, and of the fixed stars as we call them, has long been believed +to exist. Their vast distances only prevent its being more apparent. +The great improvement of instruments of measurement within the last generation +has not only established the existence of this motion, but has pointed +to the region in the starry vault around which our whole solar and stellar system, +with its myriad of attendant planetary worlds, appears to be performing +a mighty revolution. If, then, we assume that outside of the system to which +we belong and in which our sun is but a star like Aldebaran or Sirius, the +different nebulæ of which we have spoken,—thousands of which spot the +heavens—constitute a distinct family of universes, we must, following the +guide of analogy, attribute to each of them also, beyond all the revolutions of +their individual attendant planetary systems, a great revolution, comprehending +the whole; while the same course of analogical reasoning would lead us +still further onward, and in the last analysis, require us to assume a transcendental +connection between all these mighty systems—a universe of universes, +circling round in the infinity of space, and preserving its equilibrium by the +same laws of mutual attraction which bind the lower worlds together.</p> + +<p>It may be thought that conceptions like these are calculated rather to depress +than to elevate us in the scale of being; that, banished as he is by these +contemplations to a corner of creation, and there reduced to an atom, man sinks +to nothingness in this infinity of worlds. But a second thought corrects the +impression. These vast contemplations are well calculated to inspire awe, +but not abasement. Mind and matter are incommensurable. An immortal +soul, even while clothed in "this muddy vesture of decay," is in the eye of +God and reason, a purer essence than the brightest sun that lights the depths +of heaven. The organized human eye, instinct with life and soul, which, +gazing through the telescope, travels up to the cloudy speck in the handle of +Orion's sword, and bids it blaze forth into a galaxy as vast as ours, stands +higher in the order of being than all that host of luminaries. The intellect of +Newton which discovered the law that holds the revolving worlds together, +is a nobler work of God than a universe of universes of unthinking matter.</p> + +<p>If, still treading the loftiest paths of analogy, we adopt the supposition,—to +me I own the grateful supposition,—that the countless planetary worlds +which attend these countless suns, are the abodes of rational beings like man, +instead of bringing back from this exalted conception a feeling of insignificance, +as if the individuals of our race were but poor atoms in the infinity of +being, I regard it, on the contrary, as a glory of our human nature, that it +belongs to a family which no man can number of rational natures like itself. +In the order of being they may stand beneath us, or they may stand above +us; <i>he</i> may well be content with his place, who is made "a little lower than +the angels."</p> + +<div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_40" id="Pg_40" title="Pg_40">[40]</a></span></div> + +<p class="section">CONTEMPLATION OF THE HEAVENS.</p> + +<p>Finally, my Friends, I believe there is no contemplation better adapted to +awaken devout ideas than that of the heavenly bodies,—no branch of natural +science which bears clearer testimony to the power and wisdom of God than +that to which you this day consecrate a temple. The heart of the ancient +world, with all the prevailing ignorance of the true nature and motions of the +heavenly orbs, was religiously impressed by their survey. There is a passage +in one of those admirable philosophical treatises of Cicero composed +in the decline of life, as a solace under domestic bereavement and patriotic +concern at the impending convulsions of the state, in which, quoting from +some lost work of Aristotle, he treats the topic in a manner which almost +puts to shame the teachings of Christian wisdom.</p> + +<p>"Præclare ergo Aristoteles, 'Si essent,' inquit, 'qui sub terra semper habitavissent, +bonis et illustribus domiciliis quæ essent ornata signis atque picturis, +instructaque rebus iis omnibus quibus abundant ii qui beati putantur, nec +tamen exissent unquam supra terram; accepissent autem fama et auditione, esse +quoddam numen et vim Deorum,—deinde aliquo tempore patefactis terræ +faucibus ex illis abditis sedibus evadere in hæc loca quæ nos incolimus, atque +exire potuissent; cum repente terram et maria coelumque, vidissent; nubium +magnitudinem ventorumque vim, cognovissent; aspexissentque solem, ejusque +tum magnitudinem, pulchritudinemque; tum etiam efficientiam cognovissent, quod +is diem efficeret, toto cœlo luce diffusa; cum autem terras nox opacasset, tum +cœlum totum cernerent astris distinctum et ornatum, lunæque luminum varietatem +tum crescentis tum senescentis, corumque omnium ortus et occasus atque +in æternitate ratos immutabilesque cursus;—hæc cum viderent, profecto et esse +Deos, et hæc tanta opera Deorum esse, arbitrarentur."<a name="FNanchor_A_17" id="FNanchor_A_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_17" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<p>There is much by day to engage the attention of the Observatory; the +sun, his apparent motions, his dimensions, the spots on his disc (to us the +faint indications of movements of unimagined grandeur in his luminous atmosphere), +a solar eclipse, a transit of the inferior planets, the mysteries of +the spectrum;—all phenomena of vast importance and interest. But night is +the astronomer's accepted time; he goes to his delightful labors when the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Pg_41" id="Pg_41" title="Pg_41">[41]</a></span>busy world goes to its rest. A dark pall spreads over the resorts of active +life; terrestrial objects, hill and valley, and rock and stream, and the abodes +of men disappear; but the curtain is drawn up which concealed the heavenly +hosts. There they shine and there they move, as they moved and shone to +the eyes of Newton and Galileo, of Kepler and Copernicus, of Ptolemy and +Hipparchus; yes, as they moved and shone when the morning stars sang together, +and all the sons of God shouted for joy. All has changed on earth; +but the glorious heavens remain unchanged. The plow passes over the +site of mighty cities,—the homes of powerful nations are desolate, the languages +they spoke are forgotten; but the stars that shone for them are +shining for us; the same eclipses run their steady cycle; the same equinoxes +call out the flowers of spring, and send the husbandman to the harvest; +the sun pauses at either tropic as he did when his course began; and +sun and moon, and planet and satellite, and star and constellation and galaxy, +still bear witness to the power, the wisdom, and the love, which placed them +in the heavens and uphold them there.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_17" id="Footnote_A_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_17"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> "Nobly does Aristotle observe, that if there were beings who had always lived under ground, +in convenient, nay, in magnificent dwellings, adorned with statues and pictures, and every thing +which belongs to prosperous life, but who had never come above ground; who had heard, however, +by fame and report, of the being and power of the gods; if, at a certain time, the portals of +the earth being thrown open, they had been able to emerge from those hidden abodes to the +regions inhabited by us; when suddenly they had seen the earth, the sea, and the sky; had +perceived the vastness of the clouds and the force of the winds; had contemplated the sun, his +magnitude and his beauty, and still more his effectual power, that it is he who makes the day, by +the diffusion of his light through the whole sky; and, when night had darkened the earth, should +then behold the whole heavens studded and adorned with stars, and the various lights of the +waxing and waning moon, the risings and the settings of all these heavenly bodies, and the +courses fixed and immutable in all eternity; when, I say, they should see these things, truly +they would believe that there were gods, and these so great things are their works."—Cicero, +<i>De Natura Deorum</i> lib. ii., § 30.</p></div> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE USES OF ASTRONOMY ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d609de --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #16227 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16227) diff --git a/old/16227-8.txt b/old/16227-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6f4d92f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/16227-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2526 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Uses of Astronomy, by Edward Everett + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Uses of Astronomy + An Oration Delivered at Albany on the 28th of July, 1856 + + +Author: Edward Everett + + + +Release Date: July 6, 2005 [eBook #16227] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE USES OF ASTRONOMY*** + + +E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Peter Barozzi, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(https://www.pgdp.net/) from page images generously made available by the +Making of America Collection of the Digital & Multimedia Center, Michigan +State University Libraries (http://digital.lib.msu.edu/) + + + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through the + Digital & Multimedia Center, Michigan State University + Libraries. See + http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=AAN1277.0001.001 + + + + + + THE USES OF ASTRONOMY. + + + AN ORATION + + + Delivered at Albany, on the 28th of July, 1856 + + BY + + EDWARD EVERETT, + + + ON THE + + OCCASION OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE DUDLEY + ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY, + + + WITH A + + CONDENSED REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS, + + AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE + + DEDICATION OF NEW YORK STATE GEOLOGICAL HALL. + + + NEW YORK: + PUBLISHED BY ROSS & TOUSEY, + 103 NASSAU STREET. + 1856. + + + + + A NOTE EXPLANATORY. + + The undersigned ventures to put forth this report of Mr. + EVERETT'S Oration, in connection with a condensed account of the + Inauguration of the Dudley Observatory, and the Dedication of + the New State Geological Hall, at Albany,--in the hope that the + demand which has exhausted the newspaper editions, may exhaust + this as speedily as possible; not that he is particularly + tenacious of a reward for his own slight labors, but because he + believes that the extensive circulation of the record of the two + events so interesting and important to the cause of Science will + exercise a beneficial influence upon the public mind. The effort + of the distinguished Statesman who has invested Astronomy with + new beauties, is the latest and one of the most brilliant of + his compositions, and is already wholly out of print, though + scarcely a month has elapsed since the date of its delivery. + The account of the proceedings at Albany during the Ceremonies + of Inauguration is necessarily brief, but accurate, and is + respectfully submitted to the consideration of the reader. + + A. MAVERICK. + NEW YORK, _October 1, 1856._ + + + + + TWO NEW INSTITUTIONS OF SCIENCE; + + AND + + THE SCENES WHICH ATTENDED THEIR CHRISTENING. + + +In the month of August last, two events took place in the city of +Albany, which have more than an ephemeral interest. They occurred in +close connection with the proceedings of a Scientific Convention, +and the memory of them deserves to be cherished as a recollection of +the easy way in which Science may be popularized and be rendered so +generally acceptable that the people will cry, like Oliver Twist, for +more. It is the purpose of this small publication to embody, in a form +more durable than that of the daily newspaper, the record of proceedings +which have so near a relation to the progress of scientific research. A +marked feature in the ceremonies was the magnificent Oration of the Hon. +EDWARD EVERETT, inaugurating the Dudley Observatory of Albany; and it is +believed that the reissue of that speech in its present form will be +acceptable to the admirers of that distinguished gentleman, not less +than to the lovers of Science, who hung with delight upon his words. + + + THE DEDICATION OF THE GEOLOGICAL HALL. + +On Wednesday, August 27, 1856, the State Geological Hall of New York +was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. For the purpose of affording +accommodation to the immense crowds of people who, it was confidently +anticipated, would throng to this demonstration and that of the +succeeding day, at which Mr. EVERETT spoke, a capacious Tent was +arranged with care in the center of Academy Park, on Capitol Hill; +and under its shelter the ceremonies of the inauguration of both +institutions were conducted without accident or confusion; attended on +the first day by fully three thousand persons, and on the second by a +number which may be safely computed at from five to seven thousand. + +The announcement that Hon. WM. H. SEWARD would be present at the +dedication of the Geological Hall, excited great interest among the +citizens; but the hope of his appearance proved fallacious. His place +was occupied by seven picked men of the American Association for the +Advancement of Science, one of whom (Prof. HENRY) declared his inability +to compute the problem why seven men of science were to be considered +equal to one statesman. The result justified the selections of the +committee, and although the Senator was not present, the seven +Commoners of Science made the occasion a most notable one by the flow +of wit, elegance of phrase, solidity and cogency of argument, and rare +discernment of natural truths, with which their discourse was garnished. + +The members of the American Association marched in procession to the +Tent, from their place of meeting in the State Capitol. On the stage +were assembled many distinguished gentlemen, and in the audience were +hundreds of ladies. GOV. CLARK and Ex-Governors HUNT and SEYMOUR, of New +York, Sir WM. LOGAN, of Canada, Hon. GEORGE BANCROFT, and others as well +known as these, were among the number present. The tent was profusely +decorated. Small banners in tri-color were distributed over the entire +area covered by the stage, and adorned the wings. The following +inscriptions were placed over the front of the rostrum,--that in honor +of "_The Press_" occupying a central position: + + GEOLOGY. THE PRESS. + METEOROLOGY. MINERALOGY. + METALLURGY. ETHNOLOGY. + ASTRONOMY. + +The following were arranged in various positions on the right and left: + + CHEMISTRY. TELEGRAPH. + PHYSIOLOGY. LETTERS. + CONCHOLOGY. HYDROLOGY. + PALÆONTOLOGY. ZOOLOGY. + MICROSCOPY. ICHTHYOLOGY. + ART. MANUFACTURES. + STEAM. AGRICULTURE. + COMMERCE. PHYSICS. + SCIENCE. ANATOMY. + NAVIGATION. BOTANY. + +The proceedings of the day were opened with prayer by Rev. GEO. W. +BETHUNE, D.D., of Brooklyn. + +Hon. GARRIT Y. LANSING, of Albany, then introduced Professor LOUIS +AGASSIZ, of Cambridge, Mass., who was the first of the "seven men +of science" to entertain his audience, always with the aid of the +inevitable black-board, without which the excellent Professor would be +as much at a loss as a chemist without a laboratory. Professor AGASSIZ +spoke for an hour, giving his views of a new theory of animal +development. He began by saying:-- + + We are here to inaugurate the Geological Hall, which has grown + out of the geological survey of the State. To make the occasion + memorable, a distinguished statesman of your own State, and Mr. + FRANK C. GRAY, were expected to be present and address you. The + pressure of public duties has detained Mr. SEWARD, and severe + sickness has detained Mr. GRAY. I deeply lament that the occasion + is lost to you to hear my friend Mr. GRAY, who is a devotee to + science, and as warm-hearted a friend as ever I knew. Night + before last I was requested to assist in taking their place--I, + who am the most unfit of men for the post. I never made a speech. + I have addressed learned bodies, but I lack that liberty of + speech--the ability to present in finished style, and with that + rich imagery which characterize the words of the orator, the + thoughts fitting to such an occasion as this. He would limit + himself, he continued, to presenting some motives why the + community should patronize science, and foster such institutions + as this. We scientific men regard this as an occasion of the + highest interest, and thus do not hesitate to give the sanction + of the highest learned body of the country as an indorsement of + the liberality of this State. The geological survey of New York + has given to the world a new nomenclature. No geologist can, + hereafter, describe the several strata of the earth without + referring to it. Its results, as recorded in your published + volumes, are treasured in the most valuable libraries of the + world. They have made this city famous; and now, when the + scientific geologist lands on your shore, his first question is, + "Which is the way to Albany? I want to see your fossils." But + Paleontology is only one branch of the subject, and many others + your survey has equally fostered. + + He next proceeded to show that organized beings were organized + with reference to a plan, which the relations between different + animals, and between different plants, and between animals and + plants, everywhere exhibit;--drew sections of the body of a + fish, and of the bird, and of man, and pointed out that in each + there was the same central back-bone, the cavity above and + the ribbed cavity below the flesh on each side, and the skin + over all--showing that the maker of each possessed the same + thought--followed the same plan of structure. And upon that plan + He had made all the kinds of quadrupeds, 2,000 in number, all the + kinds of birds, 7,000 in number, all of the reptiles, 2,000 to + 3,000 in number, all the fish, 10,000 to 12,000 in number. All + their forms may be derived as different expressions of the same + formula. There are only four of these great types; or, said he, + may I not call them the four tunes on which Divinity has played + the harmonies that have peopled, in living and beautiful reality, + the whole world? + + + PROFESSOR HITCHCOCK ON REMINISCENCES. + +ERASTUS C. BENEDICT, Esq. of New York, introduced Prof. HITCHCOCK, of +Amherst, as a gentleman whose name was very familiar, who had laid +aside, voluntarily, the charge of one of the largest colleges in New +England, but who could never lay aside the honors he had earned in the +literature and science of geology. + +After a few introductory observations, Prof. HITCHCOCK said:-- + + This, I believe, is the first example in which a State Government + in our country has erected a museum for the exhibition of its + natural resources, its mineral and rock, its plants and animals, + living and fossil. And this seems to me the most appropriate spot + in the country for placing the first geological hall erected by + the Government; for the County of Albany was the district where + the first geological survey was undertaken, on this side of the + Atlantic, and, perhaps, the world. This was in 1820, and ordered + by that eminent philanthropist, Stephen Van Rensselaer, who, + three years later, appointed Prof. Eaton to survey, in like + manner, the whole region traversed by the Erie Canal. This was + the commencement of a work, which, during the last thirty years, + has had a wonderful expansion, reaching a large part of the + States of the Union, as well as Canada, Nova Scotia, and New + Brunswick, and, I might add, several European countries, where + the magnificent surveys now in progress did not commence till + after the survey of Albany and Rensselaer Counties. How glad + are we, therefore, to find on this spot the first Museum of + Economical Geology on this side of the Atlantic! Nay, embracing + as it does all the department of Natural History, I see in it + more than a European Museum of Economical Geology, splendid + though they are. I fancy, rather, that I see here the germ of a + Cis-Atlantic British Museum, or Garden of Plants. + + North Carolina was the first State that ordered a geological + survey; and I have the pleasure of seeing before me the gentleman + who executed it, and in 1824-5 published a report of 140 pages. + I refer to Professor Olmstead, who, though he has since won + brighter laurels in another department of science, will always be + honored as the first commissioned State geologist in our land. + +Of the New York State Survey he said:-- + + This survey has developed the older fossiliferous rocks, with a + fullness and distinctness unknown elsewhere. Hence European + savans study the New York Reports with eagerness. In 1850, as I + entered the Woodwardian Museum, in the University of Cambridge, + in England, I found Professor McCoy busy with a collection of + Silurian fossils before him, which he was studying with Hall's + first volume of Paleontology as his guide; and in the splendid + volumes, entitled _British Paleozoric Rocks and Fossils_, which + appeared last year as the result of those researches, I find + Professor Hall denominated the great American Paleontologist. I + tell you, Sir, that this survey has given New York a reputation + throughout the learned world, of which she may well be proud. Am + I told that it will, probably, cost half a million? Very well. + The larger the sum, the higher will be the reputation of New + York for liberality; and what other half million expended in our + country, has developed so many new facts or thrown so much light + upon the history of the globe, or won so world-wide and enviable + a reputation? + +And of Geological Surveys in general:-- + + In regard to this matter of geological surveys, I can hardly + avoid making a suggestion here. So large a portion of our country + has now been examined, more or less thoroughly, by the several + State governments, that it does seem to me the time has come + when the National government should order a survey--geological, + zoological, and botanical--of the whole country, on such a + liberal and thorough plan as the surveys in Great Britain are + now conducted; in the latter country it being understood that at + least thirty years will be occupied in the work. Could not the + distinguished New York statesman who was to have addressed us + to-day be induced, when the present great struggle in which he + is engaged shall have been brought to a close, by a merciful + Providence, to introduce this subject, and urge it upon Congress? + And would it not be appropriate for the American Association + for the Advancement of Science to throw a petition before the + government for such an object? Or might it not, with the consent + of the eminent gentleman who has charge of the Coast Survey, be + connected therewith, as it is with the Ordnance Survey in Great + Britain. + +The history of the American Association was then given:-- + + Prof. Mather, I believe, through Prof. Emmons, first suggested to + the New-York Board of Geologists in November, 1838, in a letter + proposing a number of points for their consideration. I quote + from him the following paragraph relating to the meeting. As to + the credit he has here given me of having personally suggested + the subject, I can say only that I had been in the habit for + several years of making this meeting of scientific men a sort + of hobby in my correspondence with such. Whether others did the + same, I did not then, and do not now know. Were this the proper + place, I could go more into detail on this point; but I will + merely quote Prof. Mather's language to the Board:-- + + * * * * "Would it not be well to suggest the propriety of a + meeting of Geologists and other scientific men of our country at + some central point next fall,--say at New-York or Philadelphia? + There are many questions in our Geology that will receive new + light from friendly discussion and the combined observations of + various individuals who have noted them in different parts of our + country. Such a meeting has been suggested by Prof. Hitchcock; + and to me it seems desirable. It would undoubtedly be an + advantage not only to science but to the several surveys that are + now in progress and that may in future be authorized. It would + tend to make known our scientific men to each other personally, + give them more confidence in each other, and cause them to + concentrate their observation on those questions that are of + interest in either a scientific or economical point of view. More + questions may be satisfactorily settled in a day by oral + discussion in such a body, than a year by writing and + publication."[A] + + [Footnote A: In the letter alluded to, on examination, we + discover another passage bearing on the point, which, owing to + the Professor's modesty we suspect, he did not read. Prof. Mather + adds. "You, so far as I know, first suggested the matter of such + an Association. I laid the matter before the Board of Geologists + of New-York, specifying some of the advantages that might be + expected to result; and Prof. Vanuxem probably made the motion + before the Board in regard to it."] + + Though the Board adopted the plan of a meeting, various causes + delayed the first over till April, 1840, when we assembled in + Philadelphia, and spent a week in most profitable and pleasant + discussion, and the presentation of papers. Our number that year + was only 18, because confined almost exclusively to the State + geologists; but the next year, when we met again in Philadelphia, + and a more extended invitation was given, about eighty were + present; and the members have been increasing to the present + time. But, in fact, those first two meetings proved the type, in + all things essential, of all that have followed. The principal + changes have been those of expansion and the consequent + introduction of many other branches of science with their eminent + cultivators. In 1842, we changed the name to that of the + Association of American Geologists and Naturalists; and in 1847, + to that of the American Association for the Advancement of + Science. I trust it has not yet reached its fullest development, + as our country and its scientific men multiply, and new fields of + discovery open. + +Prof. H. said of this particular occasion:-- + + We may be quite sure that this Hall will be a center of deep + interest to coming generations. Long after we shall have passed + away will the men of New-York, as they survey these monuments, + feel stimulated to engage in other noble enterprises by this + work of their progenitors, and from many a distant part of the + civilized world will men come here to solve their scientific + questions, and to bring far-off regions into comparison with + this. New-York, then, by her liberal patronage, has not only + acquired an honorable name among those living in all civilized + lands, but has secured the voice of History to transmit her fame + to far-off generations. + + + SIR WILLIAM LOGAN ASKS "THE WAY TO ALBANY." + +Sir WILLIAM E. LOGAN, of Canada, in a brief speech acknowledged the +services rendered by the New-York Survey to Canada. He should manifest +ingratitude if he declined to unite in the joyful occasion of +inaugurating the Museum which was to hold forever the evidence of the +truth of its published results. The Survey of Canada had been ordered, +and the Commission of five years twice renewed; and the last time, the +provision for it was more than doubled. It happened to him, as Mr. +Agassiz had said: after crossing the ocean first, the first thing he +asked was, "Which is the way to Albany?" and when he arrived here, he +found that with the aid of Prof. Hall's discoveries, he had only to take +up the different formations as he had left them on the boundary line, +and follow them into Canada. It was both a convenience and a necessity +to adopt the New-York nomenclature, which was thus extended over an area +six times as large as New-York. In Paris he heard De Vernier using the +words Trenton and Niagara, as if they were household words. He was +delighted to witness the impatience with which Barron inquired when the +remaining volumes of the Paleontology of New-York would be published. +Your Paleontological reputation, said he, has made New-York known, +even among men not scientific, all over Europe. I hope you will not +stop here, but will go on and give us in equally thorough, full, and +magnificent style, the character of the Durassic and Cretaceous +formations. + + + PROFESSOR HENRY ON DUTCHMEN. + +Professor HENRY was at a loss to know by what process they had arrived +at the conclusion that seven men of science must be substituted to fill +the place of one distinguished statesman whom they had expected to hear. +He prided himself on his Albany nativity. He was proud of the old Dutch +character, that was the substratum of the city. The Dutch are hard to be +moved, but when they do start their momentum is not as other men's in +proportion to the velocity, but as the square of the velocity. So when +the Dutchman goes three times as fast, he has nine times the force of +another man. The Dutchman has an immense potentia agency, but it wants a +small spark of Yankee enterprise to touch it off. In this strain the +Professor continued, making his audience very merry, and giving them a +fine chance to express themselves with repeated explosions of laughter. + + + PROFESSOR DAVIES ON THE PRACTICAL NATURE OF SCIENCE. + +Prof. CHARLES DAVIES was introduced by EX-GOVERNOR SEYMOUR, and spoke +briefly, but humorously and very much to the point, in defense of the +practical character of scientific researches. He said that to one +accustomed to speak only on the abstract quantities of number and space, +this was an unusual occasion, and this an unusual audience; and inquired +how he could discuss the abstract forms of geometry, when he saw before +him, in such profusion, the most beautiful real forms that Providence +has vouchsafed to the life of man. He proposed to introduce and develop +but a single train of thought--the unchangeable connection between what +in common language is called the theoretical and practical, but in more +technical phraseology, the ideal and the actual. The actual, or true +practical, consists in the uses of the forces of nature, according to +the laws of nature; and here we must distinguish between it and the +empirical, which uses, or attempts to use, those forces, without a +knowledge of the laws. The true practical, therefore, is the result, or +actual, of an antecedent ideal. The ideal, full and complete, must exist +in the mind before the actual can be brought forth according to the +laws of science. Who, then, are the truly practical men of our age? Are +they not those who are engaged most laboriously and successfully in +investigating the great laws? Are they not those who are pressing out +the boundaries of knowledge, and conducting the mind into new and +unexplored regions, where there may yet be discovered a California of +undeveloped thought? Is not the gentleman from Massachusetts (Professor +Agassiz) the most practical man in our country in the department of +Natural History, not because he has collected the greatest number of +specimens, but because he has laid open to us all the laws of the animal +kingdom? Are the formulas written on the black-board by the gentleman +from Cambridge (Prof. Pierce) of no practical value, because they cannot +be read by the uninstructed eye? A single line may contain the elements +of the motions of all the heavenly bodies; and the eye of science, +taking its stand-point at the center of gravity of the system, will +see in the equation the harmonious revolutions of all the bodies which +circle the heavens. It is such labors and such generalizations that have +rendered his name illustrious in the history of mathematical science. +Is it of no practical value that the Chief of the Coast Survey (Prof. +Bache), by a few characters written upon paper, at Washington, has +determined the exact time of high and low tide in the harbor of Boston, +and can determine, by a similar process, the exact times of high and low +water at every point on the surface of the globe? Are not these results, +the highest efforts of science, also of the greatest practical utility? +And may we not, then, conclude that _there is nothing truly practical +which is not the consequence of an antecedent ideal_? + +Science is to art what the great fly-wheel and governor of a +steam-engine are to the working part of the machinery--it guides, +regulates, and controls the whole. Science and art are inseparably +connected; like the Siamese Twins, they cannot be separated without +producing the death of both. + +How, then, are we to regard the superb specimens of natural history, +which the liberality, the munificence; and the wisdom of our State have +collected at the Capitol? They are the elements from which we can here +determine all that belongs to the Natural History of our State; and may +we not indulge the hope, that science and genius will come here, and, +striking them with a magic wand, cause the true practical to spring into +immortal life? + + +Remarks were also uttered by Prof. CHESTER DEWEY, President ANDERSON, +and Rev. Dr. COX. + +And thus ended the Inauguration of the State Geological Hall. + +We turn to the Observatory, in regular order of succession. + + + + + INAUGURATION OF DUDLEY OBSERVATORY. + + +The Inauguration of the Dudley Observatory took place under the same +tent which was appropriated to the dedication of the Geological Hall, +and on the day following that event. An immense audience was assembled, +drawn by the announcement of Mr. EVERETT'S Oration. + +At a little past three o'clock the procession of _savans_ arrived from +the Assembly Chamber, escorted by the Burgesses Corps. Directly in front +of the speaker's stand sat Mrs. DUDLEY, the venerable lady to whose +munificence the world is indebted for this Observatory. She was dressed +in an antique, olive-colored silk, with a figure of a lighter color, a +heavy, red broché shawl, and her bonnet, cap, &c., after the strictest +style of the old school. Her presence added a new point of interest. + +Prayer having been uttered by Rev. Dr. SPRAGUE, of Albany, THOMAS W. +OLCOTT, Esq., introduced to the audience Ex-Governor WASHINGTON HUNT, +who spoke briefly in honor of the memory of CHARLES E. DUDLEY, whose +widow has founded and in part endowed this Observatory with a liberality +so remarkable. + +Remarks were offered by Dr. B. A. GOULD and Prof. A. D. BACHE, and +Judge HARRIS read the following letter from Mrs. DUDLEY, announcing +another munificent donation in aid of the new Observatory--$50,000, +in addition to the $25,000 which had been already expended in the +construction of the building. The letter was received with shouts of +applause, Prof. AGASSIZ rising and leading the vast assemblage in three +vehement cheers in honor of Mrs. DUDLEY! + + ALBANY, Thursday, Aug. 14, 1856. + +_To the Trustees of the Dudley Observatory:_ + + GENTLEMEN,--I scarcely need refer in a letter to you to the + modest beginning and gradual growth of the institution over which + you preside, and of which you are the responsible guardians. But + we have arrived at a period in its history when its inauguration + gives to it and to you some degree of prominence, and which must + stamp our past efforts with weakness and inconsideration, or + exalt those of the future to the measure of liberality necessary + to certain success. + + You have a building erected and instruments engaged of unrivaled + excellence; and it now remains to carry out the suggestion of + the Astronomer Royal of England in giving permanency to the + establishment. The very distinguished Professors BACHE, PIERCE, + and GOULD, state in a letter, which I have been permitted to see, + that to expand this institution to the wants of American science + and the honors of a national character, will require an + investment which will yield annually not less than $10,000; and + these gentlemen say, in the letter referred to,-- + + "If the greatness of your giving can rise to this occasion, as + it has to all our previous suggestions, with such unflinching + magnanimity, we promise you our earnest and hearty coöperation, + and stake our reputation that the scientific success shall fill + up the measure of your hopes and anticipations." + + For the attainment of an object so rich in scientific reward and + national glory, guaranteed by men with reputations as exalted and + enduring as the skies upon which they are written, contributions + should be general, and not confined to an individual or a place. + + For myself, I offer, as my part of the required endowment, the + sum of $50,000 in addition to the advances which I have already + made; and, trusting that the name which you have given to the + Observatory may not be regarded as an undeserved compliment, and + that it will not diminish the public regard by giving to the + institution a seemingly individual character, + + I remain, Gentlemen, your obedient servant, + BLANDINA DUDLEY. + +Judge HARRIS then introduced the Orator of the occasion, Hon. EDWARD +EVERETT, whose speech is given verbatim in these pages. + + + THE INSTRUMENTS OF THE DUDLEY OBSERVATORY. + +During the Sessions of the American Association, the new Astronomical +Instruments of Dudley Observatory were described in detail by Dr. B. A. +GOULD, who is the Astronomer in charge. We condense his statements:-- + + The Meridian Circle and Transit instrument were ordered from + Pistor & Martins, the celebrated manufacturers of Berlin, by + whom the new instrument at Ann Arbor was made. A number of + improvements have been introduced in the Albany instruments, not + perhaps all absolutely new, but an eclectic combination of late + adaptations with new improvements. Dr. Gould made a distinction + of modern astronomical instruments into two classes, the English + and the German. The English is the massive type; the German, + light and airy. The English instrument is the instrument of the + engineer; the German, the instrument of the artist. In ordering + the instruments for the Albany Observatory, the Doctor preferred + the German type and discarded the heavier English. He instanced, + as a specimen of the latter, the new instrument at Greenwich, + recently erected under the superintendence of the Astronomer + Royal. That instrument registers observations in single seconds; + the Dudley instrument will register to tenths of seconds. That + has six or eight microscopes; this has four. That has a gas lamp, + by the light of which the graduations are read off; the Albany + instrument has no lamp, and the Doctor considered the lamp a + hazardous experiment, affecting the integrity of the experiment, + not only by its radiant heat but by the currents of heated air + which it produces. The diameter of the object-glass of the Albany + instrument is 7-1/2 French inches clear aperture, or 8 English + inches, and the length of the tube 8 feet. He would have + preferred an instrument in which the facilities of manipulation + would have been greater, but was hampered by one proviso, upon + which the Trustees of the institution insisted--that this should + be the biggest instrument of its kind; and the instruction was + obeyed. The glass was made by Chance, and ground by Pistor + himself. The eye-piece is fitted with two micrometers, for + vertical and horizontal observations. Another apparatus provides + for the detection and measurement of the flexure of the tube. + Much trouble was experienced in securing a good casting for the + steel axis of the instrument. Three were found imperfect under + the lathe, and the fourth was chosen; but even then the pivots + were made in separate pieces, which were set in very deeply and + welded. Dr. Gould said he had been requested by the gentlemen who + had this enterprise in charge to suggest, as a mark of respect to + a gentleman of Albany who was a munificent patron of Science, + that this instrument be known as the Olcott Meridian Circle. + + + WHAT THE DUDLEY OBSERVATORY IS. + +It stands a mile from the Capitol, in the city of Albany, upon the crest +of a hill, so difficult of approach, as to be in reality a Hill of +Science. There are two ways of getting to it. In both cases there are +rail fences to be clambered over, and long grass to wade through, +settlements to explore, and a clayey road to travel; but these are minor +troubles. The elevation of the hill above tide-water is, perhaps, 200 +feet; its distance from the Capitol about a mile and a half. The view +for miles is unimpeded; and the Observatory is belted about with woods +and verdant lawns. There could not be a finer location or a purer air. +The plateau contains some fifteen acres. + +The Observatory is constructed in the form of a Latin cross. Its eastern +arm is an apartment 22 by 24 feet, in which the meridian circle is to be +placed. The western arm is a room of the same dimensions, intended for +the transit instrument. From the north and south faces of both rooms +are semi-circular apsides, projecting 6 feet 6 inches, containing the +Collimator piers and the vertical openings for observation. The entire +length of each room is, therefore, 37 feet. In the northern arm are +placed the library, 23 feet by 27 feet; two computing rooms, 12 feet +by 23 feet each; side entrance halls, staircases, &c. The southern arm +contains the principal entrance, consisting of an arched colonnade of +four Tuscan columns, surrounded by a pediment. A broad flight of stone +steps leads to this colonnade; and through the entrance door beneath +it to the main central hall, 28 feet square, in which are placed (in +niches) the very beautiful electric clock and pendulum presented by +Erastus Corning, Esq. The center of this hall is occupied by a massive +pier of stone, 10 feet square, passing from the basement into the dome +above, and intended for the support of the great heliometer. Directly +opposite the entrance door is a large niche, in which it is proposed to +place the bust of the late Mr. Dudley. Immediately above this hall is +the equatorial room, a circular apartment, 22 feet 6 inches in diameter, +and 24 feet high, covered by a low conical roof, in which and in the +walls are the usual observing slits. The drum, or cylindrical portion, +of this room is divided into two parts--the lower one fixed, the upper, +revolving on cast-iron balls moving in grooved metal plates, can command +the entire horizon. + +The building is in two stories--the upper of brick, with freestone +quoins, impost and window and door dressings, rests upon a rusticated +basement of freestone, six feet high. The style adopted is the modern +Italian, of which it is a very excellent specimen. The building has been +completed some time; but, in consequence of the size of the instruments +now procured being greater than that originally contemplated, sundry +alterations were required in the Transit and Meridian Circle rooms. +These consist of the semi-circular projections already mentioned, and +which, by varying the outlines of the building, will add greatly to its +beauty and picturesqueness. + +The piers for the Meridian Circle and Transit have, after careful +investigation, been procured from the Lockport quarries. The great +density and uniformity of the structure of the stone, and the facility +with which such large masses as are required for this purpose can be +procured there, have induced the selection of these quarries. The stones +will weigh from six and a half to eight tons each. + +The main building was erected from the drawings of Messrs. Woollett and +Ogden, Architects, Albany; the additions and the machinery have been +designed by Mr. W. Hodgins, Civil Engineer; and the latter is now being +constructed under his superintendence, in a very superior manner, at the +iron works of Messrs. Pruyn and Lansing, Albany. + +The entire building is a tasteful and elegant structure, much superior +in architectural character to any other in America devoted to a similar +purpose. + + + + + ORATION. + + +FELLOW CITIZENS OF ALBANY:-- + +Assembled as we are, under your auspices, in this ancient and hospitable +city, for an object indicative of a highly-advanced stage of scientific +culture, it is natural, in the first place, to cast a historical glance +at the past. It seems almost to surpass belief, though an unquestioned +fact, that more than a century should have passed away, after Cabot had +discovered the coast of North America for England, before any knowledge +was gained of the noble river on which your city stands, and which was +destined by Providence to determine, in after times, the position of the +commercial metropolis of the Continent. It is true that Verazzano, a +bold and sagacious Florentine navigator, in the service of France, had +entered the Narrows in 1524, which he describes as a very large river, +deep at its mouth, which forced its way through steep hills to the sea; +but though he, like all the naval adventurers of that age, was sailing +westward in search of a shorter passage to India, he left this part +of the coast without any attempt to ascend the river; nor can it be +gathered from his narrative that he believed it to penetrate far into +the interior. + + + VOYAGE OF HENDRICK HUDSON. + +Near a hundred years elapsed before that great thought acquired +substance and form. In the spring of 1609, the heroic but unfortunate +Hudson, one of the brightest names in the history of English maritime +adventure, but then in the employment of the Dutch East India Company, +in a vessel of eighty tons, bearing the very astronomical name of the +_Half Moon_, having been stopped by the ice in the Polar Sea, in the +attempt to reach the East by the way of Nova Zembla, struck over to the +coast of America in a high northern latitude. He then stretched down +southwardly to the entrance of Chesapeake Bay (of which he had gained +a knowledge from the charts and descriptions of his friend, Captain +Smith), thence returning to the north, entered Delaware Bay, standing +out again to sea, arrived on the second of September in sight of the +"high hills" of Neversink, pronouncing it "a good land to fall in with, +and a pleasant land to see;" and, on the following morning, sending his +boat before him to sound the way, passed Sandy Hook, and there came to +anchor on the third of September, 1609; two hundred and forty-seven +years ago next Wednesday. What an event, my friends, in the history of +American population, enterprise, commerce, intelligence, and power--the +dropping of that anchor at Sandy Hook! + + + DISCOVERY OF THE HUDSON RIVER. + +Here he lingered a week, in friendly intercourse with the natives of New +Jersey, while a boat's company explored the waters up to Newark Bay. And +now the great question. Shall he turn back, like Verazzano, or ascend +the stream? Hudson was of a race not prone to turn back, by sea or by +land. On the eleventh of September he raised the anchor of the _Half +Moon_, passed through the Narrows, beholding on both sides "as beautiful +a land as one can tread on;" and floated cautiously and slowly up the +noble stream--the first ship that ever rested on its bosom. He passed +the Palisades, nature's dark basaltic Malakoff, forced the iron gateway +of the Highlands, anchored, on the fourteenth, near West Point; swept +onward and upward, the following day, by grassy meadows and tangled +slopes, hereafter to be covered with smiling villages;--by elevated +banks and woody heights, the destined site of towns and cities--of +Newburg, Poughkeepsie, Catskill;--on the evening of the fifteenth +arrived opposite "the mountains which lie from the river side," where +he found "a very loving people and very old men;" and the day following +sailed by the spot hereafter to be honored by his own illustrious name. +One more day wafts him up between Schodac and Castleton; and here he +landed and passed a day with the natives,--greeted with all sorts of +barbarous hospitality,--the land "the finest for cultivation he ever set +foot on," the natives so kind and gentle, that when they found he would +not remain with them over night, and feared that he left them--poor +children of nature!--because he was afraid of their weapons,--he, whose +quarter-deck was heavy with ordnance,--they "broke their arrows in +pieces, and threw them in the fire." On the following morning, with +the early flood-tide, on the 19th of September, 1609, the _Half Moon_ +"ran higher up, two leagues above the Shoals," and came to anchor in +deep water, near the site of the present city of Albany. Happy if he +could have closed his gallant career on the banks of the stream which +so justly bears his name, and thus have escaped the sorrowful and +mysterious catastrophe which awaited him the next year! + + + CHAMPLAIN'S VOYAGE AND THE GROWTH OF COLONIES. + +But the discovery of your great river and of the site of your ancient +city, is not the only event which renders the year 1609 memorable in the +annals of America and the world. It was one of those years in which a +sort of sympathetic movement toward great results unconsciously pervades +the races and the minds of men. While Hudson discovered this mighty +river and this vast region for the Dutch East India Company, Champlain, +in the same year, carried the lilies of France to the beautiful +lake which bears his name on your northern limits; the languishing +establishments of England in Virginia were strengthened by the second +charter granted to that colony; the little church of Robinson removed +from Amsterdam to Leyden, from which, in a few years, they went forth, +to lay the foundations of New England on Plymouth Rock; the seven United +Provinces of the Netherlands, after that terrific struggle of forty +years (the commencement of which has just been embalmed in a record +worthy of the great event by an American historian) wrested from Spain +the virtual acknowledgment of their independence, in the Twelve Years' +Truce; and James the First, in the same year, granted to the British +East India Company their first permanent charter,--corner-stone of an +empire destined in two centuries to overshadow the East. + + + GALILEO'S DISCOVERIES + +One more incident is wanting to complete the list of the memorable +occurrences which signalize the year 1609, and one most worthy to be +remembered by us on this occasion. Cotemporaneously with the events +which I have enumerated--eras of history, dates of empire, the +starting-point in some of the greatest political, social, and moral +revolutions in our annals, an Italian astronomer, who had heard of the +magnifying glasses which had been made in Holland, by which distant +objects could be brought seemingly near, caught at the idea, constructed +a telescope, and pointed it to the heavens. Yes, my friends, in the same +year in which Hudson discovered your river and the site of your ancient +town, in which Robinson made his melancholy hegira from Amsterdam to +Leyden, Galileo Galilei, with a telescope, the work of his own hands, +discovered the phases of Venus and the satellites of Jupiter; and now, +after the lapse of less than two centuries and a half, on a spot then +embosomed in the wilderness--the covert of the least civilized of all +the races of men--we are assembled--descendants of the Hollanders, +descendants of the Pilgrims, in this ancient and prosperous city, to +inaugurate the establishment of a first-class Astronomical Observatory. + + + EARLY DAYS OF ALBANY. + +One more glance at your early history. Three years after the landing of +the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Fort Orange was erected, in the center of what +is now the business part of the city of Albany; and, a few years later, +the little hamlet of Beverswyck began to nestle under its walls. Two +centuries ago, my Albanian friends, this very year, and I believe this +very month of August, your forefathers assembled, not to inaugurate an +observatory, but to lay the foundations of a new church, in the place of +the rude cabin which had hitherto served them in that capacity. It was +built at the intersection of Yonker's and Handelaar's, better known +to you as State and Market streets. Public and private liberality +coöperated in the important work. The authorities at the Fort gave +fifteen hundred guilders; the patroon of that early day, with the +liberality coëval with the name and the race, contributed a thousand; +while the inhabitants, for whose benefit it was erected, whose numbers +were small and their resources smaller, contributed twenty beavers "for +the purchase of an oaken pulpit in Holland." Whether the largest part of +this subscription was bestowed by some liberal benefactress, tradition +has not informed us. + + + NEW AMSTERDAM + +Nor is the year 1656 memorable in the annals of Albany alone. In +that same year your imperial metropolis, then numbering about three +hundred inhabitants, was first laid out as a city, by the name of New +Amsterdam.[A] In eight years more, New Netherland becomes New York; Fort +Orange and its dependent hamlet assumes the name of Albany. A century +of various fortune succeeds; the scourge of French and Indian war is +rarely absent from the land; every shock of European policy vibrates +with electric rapidity across the Atlantic; but the year 1756 finds +a population of 300,000 in your growing province. Albany, however, +may still be regarded almost as a frontier settlement. Of the twelve +counties into which the province was divided a hundred years ago, the +county of Albany comprehended all that lay north and west of the city; +and the city itself contained but about three hundred and fifty houses. + +[Footnote A: These historical notices are, for the most part, abridged +from Mr. Brodhead's excellent history of New York.] + + + TWO HUNDRED YEARS. + +One more century; another act in the great drama of empire; another +French and Indian War beneath the banners of England; a successful +Revolution, of which some of the most momentous events occurred within +your limits; a union of States; a Constitution of Federal Government; +your population carried to the St. Lawrence and the great Lakes, and +their waters poured into the Hudson; your territory covered with a +net-work of canals and railroads, filled with life and action, and +power, with all the works of peaceful art and prosperous enterprise with +all the institutions which constitute and advance the civilization of +the age; its population exceeding that of the Union at the date of the +Revolution; your own numbers twice as large as those of the largest city +of that day, you have met together, my Friends, just two hundred years +since the erection of the little church of Beverswyck, to dedicate a +noble temple of science and to take a becoming public notice of the +establishment of an institution, destined, as we trust, to exert a +beneficial influence on the progress of useful knowledge at home and +abroad, and through that on the general cause of civilization. + + + SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS. + +You will observe that I am careful to say the progress of science "at +home and abroad;" for the study of Astronomy in this country has long +since, I am happy to add, passed that point where it is content to +repeat the observations and verify the results of European research. It +has boldly and successfully entered the field of original investigation, +discovery, and speculation; and there is not now a single department of +the science in which the names of American observers and mathematicians +are not cited by our brethren across the water, side by side with the +most eminent of their European contemporaries. + +This state of things is certainly recent. During the colonial period +and in the first generation after the Revolution, no department of +science was, for obvious causes, very extensively cultivated in +America--astronomy perhaps as much as the kindred branches. The +improvement in the quadrant, commonly known as Hadley's, had already +been made at Philadelphia by Godfrey, in the early part of the last +century; and the beautiful invention of the collimating telescope was +made at a later period by Rittenhouse, an astronomer of distinguished +repute. The transits of Venus of 1761 and 1769 were observed, and +orreries were constructed in different parts of the country; and some +respectable scientific essays are contained and valuable observations +are recorded in the early volumes of the Transactions of the +Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia, and the American Academy of Arts +and Sciences at Boston and Cambridge. But in the absence of a numerous +class of men of science to encourage and aid each other, without +observatories and without valuable instruments, little of importance +could be expected in the higher walks of astronomical life. + + + AMERICAN OBSERVATIONS. + +The greater the credit due for the achievement of an enterprise +commenced in the early part of the present century, and which would +reflect honor on the science of any country and any age; I mean the +translation and commentary on Laplace's _Mécanique Celeste_, by +Bowditch; a work of whose merit I am myself wholly unable to form +an opinion, but which I suppose places the learned translator and +commentator on a level with the ablest astronomers and geometers of the +day. This work may be considered as opening a new era in the history +of American science. The country was still almost wholly deficient in +instrumental power; but the want was generally felt by men of science, +and the public mind in various parts of the country began to be turned +towards the means of supplying it. In 1825, President John Quincy Adams +brought the subject of a National Observatory before Congress. Political +considerations prevented its being favorably entertained at that +time; and it was not till 1842, and as an incident of the exploring +expedition, that an appropriation was made for a dépôt for the charts +and instruments of the Navy. On this modest basis has been reared the +National Observatory at Washington; an institution which has already +taken and fully sustains an honorable position among the scientific +establishments of the age. + +Besides the institution at Washington, fifteen or twenty observatories +have within the last few years, been established in different parts +of the country, some of them on a modest scale, for the gratification +of the scientific taste and zeal of individuals, others on a broad +foundation of expense and usefulness. In these establishments, +public and private, the means are provided for the highest order of +astronomical observation, research, and instruction. There is already +in the country an amount of instrumental power (to which addition +is constantly making), and of mathematical skill on the part of our +men of science, adequate to a manly competition with their European +contemporaries. The fruits are already before the world, in the +triangulation of several of the States, in the great work of the Coast +Survey, in the numerous scientific surveys of the interior of the +Continent, in the astronomical department of the Exploring Expedition, +in the scientific expedition to Chili, in the brilliant hydrographical +labors of the Observatory at Washington, in the published observations +of Washington and Cambridge, in the Journal conducted by the Nestor +of American Science, now in its eighth lustrum; in the _Sidereal +Messenger_, the _Astronomical Journal_, and the _National Ephemeris_; +in the great chronometrical expeditions to determine the longitude of +Cambridge, better ascertained than that of Paris was till within the +last year; in the prompt rectification of the errors in the predicted +elements of Neptune; in its identification with Lalande's missing star, +and in the calculation of its ephemeris; in the discovery of the +satellite of Neptune, of the eighth satellite of Saturn, and of the +innermost of its rings; in the establishment, both by observation and +theory, of the non-solid character of Saturn's rings; in the separation +and measurement of many double and triple stars, amenable only to +superior instrumental power, in the immense labor already performed +in preparing star catalogues, and in numerous accurate observations +of standard stars; in the diligent and successful observation of the +meteoric showers; in an extensive series of magnetic observations; in +the discovery of an asteroid and ten or twelve telescopic comets; in +the resolution of nebulæ which had defied every thing in Europe but +Lord Rosse's great reflector; in the application of electricity to the +measurement of differences in longitude; in the ascertainment of the +velocity of the electro-magnetic fluid, and its truly wonderful uses +in recording astronomical observations. These are but a portion of the +achievements of American astronomical science within fifteen or twenty +years, and fully justify the most sanguine anticipations of its further +progress. + +How far our astronomers may be able to pursue their researches, will +depend upon the resources of our public institutions, and the liberality +of wealthy individuals in furnishing the requisite means. With the +exception of the observatories at Washington and West Point, little +can be done, or be expected to be done, by the government of the Union +or the States; but in this, as in every other department of liberal +art and science, the great dependence,--and may I not add, the safe +dependence?--as it ever has been, must continue to be upon the bounty of +enlightened, liberal, and public-spirited individuals. + + + THE DUDLEY OBSERVATORY. + +It is by a signal exercise of this bounty, my Friends, that we are +called together to-day. The munificence of several citizens of this +ancient city, among whom the first place is due to the generous lady +whose name has with great propriety been given to the institution, has +furnished the means for the foundation of the Dudley Observatory at +Albany. On a commanding elevation on the northern edge of the city, +liberally given for that purpose by the head of a family in which the +patronage of science is hereditary, a building of ample dimensions has +been erected, upon a plan which combines all the requisites of solidity, +convenience, and taste. A large portion of the expense of the structure +has been defrayed by Mrs. Blandina Dudley; to whose generosity, and that +of several other public-spirited individuals, the institution is also +indebted for the provision which has been made for an adequate supply of +first-class instruments, to be executed by the most eminent makers in +Europe and America; and which, it is confidently expected, will yield to +none of their class in any observatory in the world.[A] + +[Footnote A: Prof. Loomis, in _Harper's Magazine_ for June, p. 49.] + +With a liberal supply of instrumental power; established in a community +to whose intelligence and generosity its support may be safely confided, +and whose educational institutions are rapidly realizing the conception +of a university; countenanced by the gentleman who conducts the United +States Coast Survey with such scientific skill and administrative +energy; committed to the immediate supervision of an astronomer to +whose distinguished talent had been added the advantage of a thorough +scientific education in the most renowned universities of Europe, and +who, as the editor of the _American Astronomical Journal_, has shown +himself to be fully qualified for the high trust;--under these favorable +circumstances, the Dudley Observatory at Albany takes its place among +the scientific foundations of the country and the world. + + + WONDERS OF ASTRONOMY. + +It is no affected modesty which leads me to express the regret that this +interesting occasion could not have taken place under somewhat different +auspices. I feel that the duty of addressing this great and enlightened +assembly, comprising so much of the intelligence of the community and of +the science of the country, ought to have been elsewhere assigned; that +it should have devolved upon some one of the eminent persons, many of +whom I see before me, to whom you have been listening the past week, +who, as observers and geometers, could have treated the subject with a +master's power; astronomers, whose telescopes have penetrated the depths +of the heavens, or mathematicians, whose analysis unthreads the maze +of their wondrous mechanism. If, instead of commanding, as you easily +could have done, qualifications of this kind, your choice has rather +fallen on one making no pretensions to the honorable name of a man of +science,--but whose delight it has always been to turn aside from the +dusty paths of active life, for an interval of recreation in the green +fields of sacred nature in all her kingdoms,--it is, I presume, because +you have desired on an occasion of this kind, necessarily of a popular +character, that those views of the subject should be presented which +address themselves to the general intelligence of the community, and +not to its select scientific circles. There is, perhaps, no branch of +science which to the same extent as astronomy exhibits phenomena which, +while they task the highest powers of philosophical research, are also +well adapted to arrest the attention of minds barely tinctured with +scientific culture, and even to teach the sensibilities of the wholly +uninstructed observer. The profound investigations of the chemist into +the ultimate constitution of material nature, the minute researches of +the physiologist into the secrets of animal life, the transcendental +logic of the geometer, clothed in a notation, the very sight of which +terrifies the uninitiated,--are lost on the common understanding. But +the unspeakable glories of the rising and the setting sun; the serene +majesty of the moon, as she walks in full-orbed brightness through the +heavens; the soft witchery of the morning and the evening star; the +imperial splendors of the firmament on a bright, unclouded night; the +comet, whose streaming banner floats over half the sky,--these are +objects which charm and astonish alike the philosopher and the peasant, +the mathematician who weighs the masses and defines the orbits of the +heavenly bodies, and the untutored observer who sees nothing beyond the +images painted upon the eye. + + + WHAT IS AN ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY? + +An astronomical observatory, in the general acceptation of the word, is +a building erected for the reception and appropriate use of astronomical +instruments, and the accommodation of the men of science employed +in making and reducing observations of the heavenly bodies. These +instruments are mainly of three classes, to which I believe all others +of a strictly astronomical character may be referred. + +1. The instruments by which the heavens are inspected, with a view to +discover the existence of those celestial bodies which are not visible +to the naked eye (beyond all comparison more numerous than those which +are), and the magnitude, shapes, and other sensible qualities, both of +those which are and those which are not thus visible to the unaided +sight. The instruments of this class are designated by the general name +of Telescope, and are of two kinds,--the refracting telescope, which +derives its magnifying power from a system of convex lenses; and the +reflecting telescope, which receives the image of the heavenly body upon +a concave mirror. + +2d. The second class of instruments consists of those which are designed +principally to measure the angular distances of the heavenly bodies +from each other, and their time of passing the meridian. The transit +instrument, the meridian circle, the mural circle, the heliometer, +and the sextant, belong to this class. The brilliant discoveries +of astronomy are, for the most part, made with the first class of +instruments; its practical results wrought out by the second. + +3d. The third class contains the clock, with its subsidiary apparatus, +for measuring the time and making its subdivisions with the greatest +possible accuracy; indispensable auxiliary of all the instruments, by +which the positions and motions of the heavenly bodies are observed, and +measured, and recorded. + + + THE TELESCOPE. + +The telescope may be likened to a wondrous cyclopean eye, endued with +superhuman power, by which the astronomer extends the reach of his +vision to the further heavens, and surveys galaxies and universes +compared with which the solar system is but an atom floating in the air. +The transit may be compared to the measuring rod which he lays from +planet to planet, and from star to star, to ascertain and mark off the +heavenly spaces, and transfer them to his note-book; the clock is that +marvelous apparatus by which he equalizes and divides into nicely +measured parts a portion of that unconceived infinity of duration, +without beginning and without end, in which all existence floats as on a +shoreless and bottomless sea. + +In the contrivance and the execution of these instruments, the utmost +stretch of inventive skill and mechanical ingenuity has been put forth. +To such perfection have they been carried, that a single second of +magnitude or space is rendered a distinctly visible and appreciable +quantity. "The arc of a circle," says Sir J. Herschell, "subtended by +one second, is less than the 200,000th part of the radius, so that on a +circle of six feet in diameter, it would occupy no greater linear extent +than 1-5700 part of an inch, a quantity requiring a powerful microscope +to be discerned at all."[A] The largest body in our system, the sun, +whose real diameter is 882,000 miles, subtends, at a distance of +95,000,000 miles, but an angle of little more than 32; while so +admirably are the best instruments constructed, that both in Europe +and America a satellite of Neptune, an object of comparatively +inconsiderable diameter, has been discovered at a distance of 2,850 +millions of miles. + +[Footnote A: _Outlines_, § 131.] + + + UTILITY OF ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS. + +The object of an observatory, erected and supplied with instruments of +this admirable construction, and at proportionate expense, is, as I have +already intimated, to provide for an accurate and systematic survey +of the heavenly bodies, with a view to a more correct and extensive +acquaintance with those already known, and as instrumental power +and skill in using it increase, to the discovery of bodies hitherto +invisible, and in both classes to the determination of their distances, +their relations to each other, and the laws which govern their +movements. + +Why should we wish to obtain this knowledge? What inducement is there +to expend large sums of money in the erection of observatories, and in +furnishing them with costly instruments, and in the support of the men +of science employed in making, discussing, and recording, for successive +generations, those minute observations of the heavenly bodies? + +In an exclusively scientific treatment of this subject, an inquiry +into its utilitarian relations would be superfluous--even wearisome. +But on an occasion like the present, you will not, perhaps, think it +out of place if I briefly answer the question, What is the use of an +observatory, and what benefit may be expected from the operations of +such an establishment in a community like ours? + +1. In the first place, then, we derive from the observations of the +heavenly bodies which are made at an observatory, our only adequate +measures of time, and our only means of comparing the time of one +place with the time of another. Our artificial time-keepers--clocks, +watches, and chronometers--however ingeniously contrived and admirably +fabricated, are but a transcript, so to say, of the celestial motions, +and would be of no value without the means of regulating them by +observation. It is impossible for them, under any circumstances, to +escape the imperfection of all machinery the work of human hands; and +the moment we remove with our time-keeper east or west, it fails us. It +will keep home time alone, like the fond traveler who leaves his heart +behind him. The artificial instrument is of incalculable utility, but +must itself be regulated by the eternal clock-work of the skies. + + + RELATIONS BETWEEN NATURAL PHENOMENA AND DAILY LIFE. + +This single consideration is sufficient to show how completely the daily +business of life is affected and controlled by the heavenly bodies. +It is they--and not our main-springs, our expansion balances, and our +compensation pendulums--which give us our time. To reverse the line of +Pope: + + "'Tis with our watches as our judgments;--none + Go just alike, but each believes his own." + +But for all the kindreds and tribes and tongues of men--each upon their +own meridian--from the Arctic pole to the equator, from the equator to +the Antarctic pole, the eternal sun strikes twelve at noon, and the +glorious constellations, far up in the everlasting belfries of the +skies, chime twelve at midnight;--twelve for the pale student over his +flickering lamp; twelve amid the flaming glories of Orion's belt, if he +crosses the meridian at that fated hour; twelve by the weary couch of +languishing humanity; twelve in the star-paved courts of the Empyrean; +twelve for the heaving tides of the ocean; twelve for the weary arm of +labor; twelve for the toiling brain; twelve for the watching, waking, +broken heart; twelve for the meteor which blazes for a moment and +expires; twelve for the comet whose period is measured by centuries; +twelve for every substantial, for every imaginary thing, which exists in +the sense, the intellect, or the fancy, and which the speech or thought +of man, at the given meridian, refers to the lapse of time. + +Not only do we resort to the observation of the heavenly bodies for the +means of regulating and rectifying our clocks, but the great divisions +of day and month and year are derived from the same source. By the +constitution of our nature, the elements of our existence are closely +connected with celestial times. Partly by his physical organization, +partly by the experience of the race from the dawn of creation, man as +he is, and the times and seasons of the heavenly bodies, are part and +parcel of one system. The first great division of time, the day-night +(nychthemerum), for which we have no precise synonym in our language, +with its primal alternation of waking and sleeping, of labor and rest, +is a vital condition of the existence of such a creature as man. The +revolution of the year, with its various incidents of summer and winter, +and seed-time and harvest, is not less involved in our social, material, +and moral progress. It is true that at the poles, and on the equator, +the effects of these revolutions are variously modified or wholly +disappear; but as the necessary consequence, human life is extinguished +at the poles, and on the equator attains only a languid or feverish +development. Those latitudes only in which the great motions and +cardinal positions of the earth exert a mean influence, exhibit man in +the harmonious expansion of his powers. The lunar period, which lies +at the foundation of the _month_, is less vitally connected with human +existence and development; but is proved by the experience of every age +and race to be eminently conducive to the progress of civilization and +culture. + +But indispensable as are these heavenly measures of time to our life and +progress, and obvious as are the phenomena on which they rest, yet owing +to the circumstance that, in the economy of nature, the day, the month, +and the year are not exactly commensurable, some of the most difficult +questions in practical astronomy are those by which an accurate division +of time, applicable to the various uses of life, is derived from the +observation of the heavenly bodies. I have no doubt that, to the Supreme +Intelligence which created and rules the universe, there is a harmony +hidden to us in the numerical relation to each other of days, months, +and years; but in our ignorance of that harmony, their practical +adjustment to each other is a work of difficulty. The great +embarrassment which attended the reformation of the calendar, after the +error of the Julian period had, in the lapse of centuries, reached ten +(or rather twelve) days, sufficiently illustrates this remark. It is +most true that scientific difficulties did not form the chief obstacle. +Having been proposed under the auspices of the Roman pontiff, the +Protestant world, for a century and more, rejected the new style. +It was in various places the subject of controversy, collision, and +bloodshed.[A] It was not adopted in England till nearly two centuries +after its introduction at Rome; and in the country of Struve and the +Pulkova equatorial, they persist at the present day in adding eleven +minutes and twelve seconds to the length of the tropical year. + +[Footnote A: Stern's "_Himmelskunde_," p. 72.] + + + GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. + +2. The second great practical use of an Astronomical Observatory is +connected with the science of geography. The first page of the history +of our Continent declares this truth. Profound meditation on the +sphericity of the earth was one of the main reasons which led Columbus +to undertake his momentous voyage; and his thorough acquaintance with +the astronomical science of that day was, in his own judgment, what +enabled him to overcome the almost innumerable obstacles which attended +its prosecution.[A] In return, I find that Copernicus in the very +commencement of his immortal work _De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium_, +fol. 2, appeals to the discovery of America as completing the +demonstration of the sphericity of the earth. Much of our knowledge of +the figure, size, density, and position of the earth, as a member of +the solar system, is derived from this science; and it furnishes us +the means of performing the most important operations of practical +geography. Latitude and longitude, which lie at the basis of all +descriptive geography, are determined by observation. No map deserves +the name, on which the position of important points has not been +astronomically determined. Some even of our most important political and +administrative arrangements depend upon the coöperation of this science. +Among these I may mention the land system of the United States, and the +determination of the boundaries of the country. I believe that till it +was done by the Federal Government, a uniform system of mathematical +survey had never in any country been applied to an extensive territory. +Large grants and sales of public land took place before the Revolution, +and in the interval between the peace and the adoption of the +Constitution; but the limits of these grants and sales were ascertained +by sensible objects, by trees, streams, rocks, hills, and by reference +to adjacent portions of territory, previously surveyed. The uncertainty +of boundaries thus defined, was a never-failing source of litigation. +Large tracts of land in the Western country, granted by Virginia +under this old system of special and local survey, were covered with +conflicting claims; and the controversies to which they gave rise +formed no small part of the business of the Federal Court after its +organization. But the adoption of the present land-system brought order +out of chaos. The entire public domain is now scientifically surveyed +before it is offered for sale; it is laid off into ranges, townships, +sections, and smaller divisions, with unerring accuracy, resting on the +foundation of base and meridian lines; and I have been informed that +under this system, scarce a case of contested location and boundary has +ever presented itself in court. The General Land Office contains maps +and plans, in which every quarter-section of the public land is laid +down with mathematical precision. The superficies of half a continent is +thus transferred in miniature to the bureaus of Washington; while the +local Land Offices contain transcripts of these plans, copies of which +are furnished to the individual purchaser. When we consider the tide of +population annually flowing into the public domain, and the immense +importance of its efficient and economical administration, the utility +of this application of Astronomy will be duly estimated. + +[Footnote A: Humboldt, _Histotre de la Geographie_, &c., Tom. 1, +page 71.] + +I will here venture to repeat an anecdote, which I heard lately from +a son of the late Hon. Timothy Pickering. Mr. Octavius Pickering, on +behalf of his father, had applied to Mr. David Putnam of Marietta, to +act as his legal adviser, with respect to certain land claims in the +Virginia Military district, in the State of Ohio. Mr. Putnam declined +the agency. He had had much to do with business of that kind, and found +it beset with endless litigation. "I have never," he added, "succeeded +but in a single case, and that was a location and survey made by General +Washington before the Revolution; and I am not acquainted with any +surveys, except those made by him, but what have been litigated." + +At this moment, a most important survey of the coast of the United +States is in progress, an operation of the utmost consequence, in +reference to the commerce, navigation, and hydrography of the country. +The entire work, I need scarce say, is one of practical astronomy. The +scientific establishment which we this day inaugurate is looked to for +important coöperation in this great undertaking, and will no doubt +contribute efficiently to its prosecution. + +Astronomical observation furnishes by far the best means of defining the +boundaries of States, especially when the lines are of great length and +run through unsettled countries. Natural indications, like rivers and +mountains, however indistinct in appearance, are in practice subject to +unavoidable error. By the treaty of 1783, a boundary was established +between the United States and Great Britain, depending chiefly on the +course of rivers and highlands dividing the waters which flow into the +Atlantic Ocean from those which flow into the St. Lawrence. It took +twenty years to find out which river was the true St. Croix, that being +the starting point. England then having made the extraordinary discovery +that the Bay of Fundy is not a part of the Atlantic Ocean, forty years +more were passed in the unsuccessful attempt to re-create the highlands +which this strange theory had annihilated; and just as the two countries +were on the verge of a war, the controversy was settled by compromise. +Had the boundary been accurately described by lines of latitude and +longitude, no dispute could have arisen. No dispute arose as to the +boundary between the United States and Spain, and her successor, Mexico, +where it runs through untrodden deserts and over pathless mountains +along the 42d degree of latitude. The identity of rivers may be +disputed, as in the case of the St. Croix; the course of mountain chains +is too broad for a dividing line; the division of streams, as experience +has shown, is uncertain; but a degree of latitude is written on the +heavenly sphere, and nothing but an observation is required to read the +record. + + + QUESTIONS OF BOUNDARY. + +But scientific elements, like sharp instruments, must be handled with +scientific accuracy. A part of our boundary between the British +Provinces ran upon the forty-fifth degree of latitude; and about forty +years ago, an expensive fortress was commenced by the government of the +United States, at Rouse's Point, on Lake Champlain, on a spot intended +to be just within our limits. When a line came to be more carefully +surveyed, the fortress turned out to be on the wrong side of the line; +we had been building an expensive fortification for our neighbor. But in +the general compromises of the Treaty of Washington by the Webster and +Ashburton Treaty in 1842, the fortification was left within our +limits.[A] + +[Footnote A: Webster's Works. Vol. V., 110, 115.] + +Errors still more serious had nearly resulted, a few years since, in +a war with Mexico. By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in 1848, the +boundary line between the United States and that country was in part +described by reference to the town of El Paso, as laid down on a +specified map of the United States, of which a copy was appended to the +treaty. This boundary was to be surveyed and run by a joint commission +of men of science. It soon appeared that errors of two or three degrees +existed in the projection of the map. Its lines of latitude and +longitude did not conform to the topography of the region; so that it +became impossible to execute the text of the treaty. The famous Mesilla +Valley was a part of the debatable ground; and the sum of $10,000,000, +paid to the Mexican Government for that and for an additional strip of +territory on the southwest, was the smart-money which expiated the +inaccuracy of the map--the necessary result, perhaps, of the want of +good materials for its construction. + +It became my official duty in London, a few years ago, to apply to +the British Government for an authentic statement of their claim to +jurisdiction over New Zealand. The official _Gazette_ for the 2d of +October, 1840, was sent me from the Foreign Office, as affording the +desired information. This number of the _Gazette_ contained the +proclamations issued by the Lieutenant Governor of New Zealand, "in +pursuance of the instructions he received from the Marquis of Normanby, +one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State," asserting the +jurisdiction of his government over the islands of New Zealand, and +declaring them to extend "from 34° 30' North to 47° 10' South latitude." +It is scarcely necessary to say that south latitude was intended in both +instances. This error of 69° of latitude, which would have extended the +claim of British jurisdiction over the whole breadth of the Pacific, +had, apparently, escaped the notice of that government. + + + COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION. + +It would be easy to multiply illustrations in proof of the great +practical importance of accurate scientific designations, drawn from +astronomical observations, in various relations connected with +boundaries, surveys, and other geographical purposes; but I must hasten +to + +3. A third important department, in which the services rendered by +astronomy are equally conspicuous. I refer to commerce and navigation. +It is mainly owing to the results of astronomical observation, that +modern commerce has attained such a vast expansion, compared with that +of the ancient world. I have already reminded you that accurate ideas +in this respect contributed materially to the conception in the mind +of Columbus of his immortal enterprise, and to the practical success +with which it was conducted. It was mainly his skill in the use of +astronomical instruments--imperfect as they were--which enabled him, in +spite of the bewildering variation of the compass, to find his way +across the ocean. + +With the progress of the true system of the universe toward general +adoption, the problem of finding the longitude at sea presented itself. +This was the avowed object of the foundation of the observatory at +Greenwich;[A] and no one subject has received more of the attention of +astronomers, than those investigations of the lunar theory on which +the requisite tables of the navigator are founded. The pathways of the +ocean are marked out in the sky above. The eternal lights of the heavens +are the only Pharos whose beams never fail, which no tempest can shake +from its foundation. Within my recollection, it was deemed a necessary +qualification for the master and the mate of a merchant-ship, and even +for a prime hand, to be able to "work a lunar," as it was called. The +improvements in the chronometer have in practice, to a great extent, +superseded this laborious operation; but observation remains, +and unquestionably will for ever remain, the only dependence for +ascertaining the ship's time and deducting the longitude from the +comparison of that time with the chronometer. + +[Footnote A: Grant's _Physical Astronomy_, p. 460.] + +It may, perhaps, be thought that astronomical science is brought already +to such a state of perfection that nothing more is to be desired, or at +least that nothing more is attainable, in reference to such practicable +applications as I have described. This, however, is an idea which +generous minds will reject, in this, as in every other department of +human knowledge. In astronomy, as in every thing else, the discoveries +already made, theoretical or practical, instead of exhausting the +science, or putting a limit to its advancement, do but furnish the means +and instruments of further progress. I have no doubt we live on the +verge of discoveries and inventions, in every department, as brilliant +as any that have ever been made; that there are new truths, new facts, +ready to start into recognition on every side; and it seems to me there +never was an age, since the dawn of time, when men ought to be less +disposed to rest satisfied with the progress already made, than the age +in which we live; for there never was an age more distinguished for +ingenious research, for novel result, and bold generalization. + +That no further improvement is desirable in the means and methods of +ascertaining the ship's place at sea, no one I think will from +experience be disposed to assert. The last time I crossed the Atlantic, +I walked the quarter-deck with the officer in charge of the noble +vessel, on one occasion, when we were driving along before a leading +breeze and under a head of steam, beneath a starless sky at midnight, at +the rate certainly of ten or eleven miles an hour. There is something +sublime, but approaching the terrible, in such a scene;--the rayless +gloom, the midnight chill,--the awful swell of the deep,--the dismal +moan of the wind through the rigging, the all but volcanic fires within +the hold of the ship. I scarce know an occasion in ordinary life in +which a reflecting mind feels more keenly its hopeless dependence on +irrational forces beyond its own control. I asked my companion how +nearly he could determine his ship's place at sea under favorable +circumstances. Theoretically, he answered, I think, within a +mile;--practically and usually within three or four. My next question +was, how near do you think we may be to Cape Race;--that dangerous +headland which pushes its iron-bound unlighted bastions from the +shore of Newfoundland far into the Atlantic,--first landfall to +the homeward-bound American vessel. We must, said he, by our last +observations and reckoning, be within three or four miles of Cape Race. +A comparison of these two remarks, under the circumstances in which we +were placed at the moment, brought my mind to the conclusion, that it is +greatly to be wished that the means should be discovered of finding the +ship's place more accurately, or that navigators would give Cape Race a +little wider berth. But I do not remember that one of the steam packets +between England and America was ever lost on that formidable point. + +It appears to me by no means unlikely that, with the improvement of +instrumental power, and of the means of ascertaining the ship's time +with exactness, as great an advance beyond the present state of art and +science in finding a ship's place at sea may take place, as was effected +by the invention of the reflecting quadrant, the calculation of lunar +tables, and the improved construction of chronometers. + + + BABBAGE'S DIFFERENCE MACHINE. + +In the wonderful versatility of the human mind, the improvement, when +made, will very probably be made by paths where it is least expected. +The great inducement to Mr. Babbage to attempt the construction of an +engine by which astronomical tables could be calculated, and even +printed, by mechanical means and with entire accuracy, was the errors +in the requisite tables. Nineteen such errors, in point of fact, were +discovered in an edition of Taylor's Logarithms printed in 1796; some +of which might have led to the most dangerous results in calculating a +ship's place. These nineteen errors, (of which one only was an error of +the press), were pointed out in the _Nautical Almanac_ for 1832. In one +of these _errata_ the seat of the error was stated to be in cosine of +14° 18' 3". Subsequent examination showed that there was an error of one +second in this correction; and, accordingly, in the _Nautical Almanac_ +of the next year a new correction was necessary. But in making the new +correction of one second, a new error was committed of ten degrees. +Instead of cosine 14° 18' 2" the correction was printed cosine 4° 18' 2" +making it still necessary, in some future edition of the _Nautical +Almanac_, to insert an _erratum_ in an _erratum_ of the _errata_ in +Taylor's logarithms.[A] + +[Footnote A: Edinburgh Review, Vol. LIX., 282.] + +In the hope of obviating the possibility of such errors, Mr. Babbage +projected his calculating, or, as he prefers to call it, his difference +machine. Although this extraordinary undertaking has been arrested, in +consequence of the enormous expense attending its execution, enough has +been achieved to show the mechanical possibility of constructing an +engine of this kind, and even one of far higher powers, of which Mr. +Babbage has matured the conception, devised the notation, and executed +the drawings--themselves an imperishable monument of the genius of the +author. + +I happened on one occasion to be in company with this highly +distinguished man of science, whose social qualities are as pleasing as +his constructive talent is marvelous, when another eminent _savant_, +Count Strzelecki, just returned from his Oriental and Australian tour, +observed that he found among the Chinese, a great desire to know +something more of Mr. Babbage's calculating machine, and especially +whether, like their own _swampan_, it could be made to go into the +pocket. Mr. Babbage good-humouredly observed that, thus far, he had been +very much out of pocket with it. + + + INCREASED COMMAND OF INSTRUMENTAL POWER. + +Whatever advances may be made in astronomical science, theoretical +or applied, I am strongly inclined to think that they will be made +in connection with an increased command of instrumental power. The +natural order in which the human mind proceeds in the acquisition +of astronomical knowledge is minute and accurate observation of the +phenomena of the heavens, the skillful discussion and analysis of these +observations, and sound philosophy in generalizing the results. + +In pursuing this course, however, a difficulty presented itself, which +for ages proved insuperable--and which to the same extent has existed +in no other science, viz.: that all the leading phenomena are in their +appearance delusive. It is indeed true that in all sciences superficial +observation can only lead, except by chance, to superficial knowledge; +but I know of no branch in which, to the same degree as in astronomy, +the great leading phenomena are the reverse of true; while they yet +appeal so strongly to the senses, that men who could foretell eclipses, +and who discovered the precession of the equinoxes, still believed that +the earth was at rest in the center of the universe, and that all the +host of heaven performed a daily revolution about it as a center. + +It usually happens in scientific progress, that when a great fact is at +length discovered, it approves itself at once to all competent judges. +It furnishes a solution to so many problems, and harmonizes with so many +other facts,--that all the other _data_ as it were crystallize at once +about it. In modern times, we have often witnessed such an impatience, +so to say, of great truths, to be discovered, that it has frequently +happened that they have been found out simultaneously by more than one +individual; and a disputed question of priority is an event of very +common occurrence. Not so with the true theory of the heavens. So +complete is the deception practiced on the senses, that it failed more +than once to yield to the suggestion of the truth; and it was only when +the visual organs were armed with an almost preternatural instrumental +power, that the great fact found admission to the human mind. + + + THE COPERNICAN SYSTEM. + +It is supposed that in the very dawn of science, Pythagoras or his +disciples explained the apparent motion of the heavenly bodies about +the earth by the diurnal revolution of the earth on its axis. But this +theory, though bearing so deeply impressed upon it the great seal of +truth, _simplicity_, was in such glaring contrast with the evidence of +the senses, that it failed of acceptance in antiquity or the middle +ages. It found no favor with minds like those of Aristotle, Archimedes, +Hipparchus, Ptolemy, or any of the acute and learned Arabian or mediæval +astronomers. All their ingenuity and all their mathematical skill were +exhausted in the development of a wonderfully complicated and ingenious, +but erroneous history. The great master truth, rejected for its +simplicity, lay disregarded at their feet. + +At the second dawn of science, the great fact again beamed into the mind +of Copernicus. Now, at least, in that glorious age which witnessed the +invention of printing, the great mechanical engine of intellectual +progress, and the discovery of America, we may expect that this +long-hidden revelation, a second time proclaimed, will command the +assent of mankind. But the sensible phenomena were still too strong +for the theory; the glorious delusion of the rising and the setting +sun could not be overcome. Tycho de Brahe furnished his Observatory +with instruments superior in number and quality to all that had been +collected before; but the great instrument of discovery, which, by +augmenting the optic power of the eye, enables it to penetrate beyond +the apparent phenomena, and to discern the true constitution of the +heavenly bodies, was wanting at Uranienburg. The observations of Tycho +as discussed by Kepler, conducted that most fervid, powerful, and +sagacious mind to the discovery of some of the most important laws of +the celestial motions; but it was not till Galileo, at Florence, had +pointed his telescope to the sky, that the Copernican system could be +said to be firmly established in the scientific world. + + + THE HOME OF GALILEO. + +On this great name, my Friends, assembled as we are to dedicate a temple +to instrumental Astronomy, we may well pause for a moment. + +There is much, in every way, in the city of Florence to excite the +curiosity, to kindle the imagination, and to gratify the taste. +Sheltered on the north by the vine-clad hills of Fiesoli, whose +cyclopean walls carry back the antiquary to ages before the Roman, +before the Etruscan power, the flowery city (Fiorenza) covers the sunny +banks of the Arno with its stately palaces. Dark and frowning piles +of mediæval structure; a majestic dome, the prototype of St. Peter's; +basilicas which enshrine the ashes of some of the mightiest of the dead; +the stone where Dante stood to gaze on the Campanile; the house of +Michael Angelo, still occupied by a descendant of his lineage and name, +his hammer, his chisel, his dividers, his manuscript poems, all as if +he had left them but yesterday; airy bridges, which seem not so much to +rest on the earth as to hover over the waters they span; the loveliest +creations of ancient art, rescued from the grave of ages again to +enchant the world; the breathing marbles of Michael Angelo, the glowing +canvas of Raphael and Titian, museums filled with medals and coins of +every age from Cyrus the younger, and gems and amulets and vases from +the sepulchers of Egyptian Pharaohs coëval with Joseph, and Etruscan +Lucumons that swayed Italy before the Romans,--libraries stored with the +choicest texts of ancient literature,--gardens of rose and orange, +and pomegranate, and myrtle,--the very air you breathe languid with +music and perfume;--such is Florence. But among all its fascinations, +addressed to the sense, the memory, and the heart, there was none +to which I more frequently gave a meditative hour during a year's +residence, than to the spot where Galileo Galilei sleeps beneath the +marble door of Santa Croce; no building on which I gazed with greater +reverence, than I did upon the modest mansion at Arcetri, villa at once +and prison, in which that venerable sage, by command of the Inquisition, +passed the sad closing years of his life. The beloved daughter on whom +he had depended to smooth his passage to the grave, laid there before +him; the eyes with which he had discovered worlds before unknown, +quenched in blindness: + + Ahime! quegli occhi si son fatti oscuri, + Che vider più di tutti i tempi antichi, + E luce fur dei secoli futuri. + +That was the house, "where," says Milton (another of those of whom the +world was not worthy), "I found and visited the famous Galileo, grown +old--a prisoner to the Inquisition, for thinking on astronomy otherwise +than as the Dominican and Franciscan licensers thought."[A] Great +Heavens! what a tribunal, what a culprit, what a crime! Let us thank +God, my Friends, that we live in the nineteenth century. Of all the +wonders of ancient and modern art, statues and paintings, and jewels and +manuscripts,--the admiration and the delight of ages,--there was nothing +which I beheld with more affectionate awe than that poor, rough tube, +a few feet in length,--the work of his own hands,--that very "optic +glass," through which the "Tuscan Artist" viewed the moon, + + "At evening, from the top of Fesolé, + Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands, + Rivers, or mountains, in her spotty globe." + +that poor little spy-glass (for it is scarcely more) through which +the human eye first distinctly beheld the surface of the moon--first +discovered the phases of Venus, the satellites of Jupiter, and the +seeming handles of Saturn--first penetrated the dusky depths of the +heavens--first pierced the clouds of visual error, which, from the +creation of the world, involved the system of the Universe. + +[Footnote A: Prose Works, vol. 1, p. 213.] + +There are occasions in life in which a great mind lives years of rapt +enjoyment in a moment. I can fancy the emotions of Galileo, when, first +raising the newly-constructed telescope to the heavens, he saw fulfilled +the grand prophecy of Copernicus, and beheld the planet Venus crescent +like the moon. It was such another moment as that when the immortal +printers of Mentz and Strasburg received the first copy of the Bible +into their hands, the work of their divine art; like that when Columbus, +through the gray dawn of the 12th of October, 1492 (Copernicus, at the +age of eighteen, was then a student at Cracow), beheld the shores of San +Salvador; like that when the law of gravitation first revealed itself to +the intellect of Newton; like that when Franklin saw by the stiffening +fibers of the hempen cord of his kite, that he held the lightning in his +grasp; like that when Leverrier received back from Berlin the tidings +that the predicted planet was found. + +Yes, noble Galileo, thou art right, _E pur si muove._ "It does move." +Bigots may make thee recant it; but it moves, nevertheless. Yes, the +earth moves, and the planets move, and the mighty waters move, and the +great sweeping tides of air move, and the empires of men move, and the +world of thought moves, ever onward and upward to higher facts and +bolder theories. The Inquisition may seal thy lips, but they can no more +stop the progress of the great truth propounded by Copernicus, and +demonstrated by thee, than they can stop the revolving earth. + +Close now, venerable sage, that sightless, tearful eye; it has seen +what man never before saw--it has seen enough. Hang up that poor +little spy-glass--it has done its work. Not Herschell nor Rosse have, +comparatively, done more. Franciscans and Dominicans deride thy +discoveries now; but the time will come when, from two hundred +observatories in Europe and America, the glorious artillery of science +shall nightly assault the skies, but they shall gain no conquests in +those glittering fields before which thine shall be forgotten. Rest in +peace, great Columbus of the heavens--like him scorned, persecuted, +broken-hearted!--in other ages, in distant hemispheres, when the +votaries of science, with solemn acts of consecration, shall dedicate +their stately edifices to the cause of knowledge and truth, thy name +shall be mentioned with honor. + + + NEW PERIODS IN ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCE. + +It is not my intention, in dwelling with such emphasis upon the +invention of the telescope, to ascribe undue importance, in promoting +the advancement of science, to the increase of instrumental power. +Too much, indeed, cannot be said of the service rendered by its +first application in confirming and bringing into general repute the +Copernican system; but for a considerable time, little more was effected +by the wondrous instrument than the gratification of curiosity and +taste, by the inspection of the planetary phases, and the addition +of the rings and satellites of Saturn to the solar family. Newton, +prematurely despairing of any further improvement in the refracting +telescope, applied the principle of reflection; and the nicer +observations now made, no doubt, hastened the maturity of his great +discovery of the law of gravitation; but that discovery was the work of +his transcendent genius and consummate skill. + +With Bradley, in 1741, a new period commenced in instrumental astronomy, +not so much of discovery as of measurement. The superior accuracy and +minuteness with which the motions and distances of the heavenly bodies +were now observed, resulted in the accumulation of a mass of new +materials, both for tabular comparison and theoretical speculation. +These materials formed the enlarged basis of astronomical science +between Newton and Sir William Herschell. His gigantic reflectors +introduced the astronomer to regions of space before unvisited--extended +beyond all previous conception the range of the observed phenomena, and +with it proportionably enlarged the range of constructive theory. The +discovery of a new primary planet and its attendant satellites was +but the first step of his progress into the labyrinth of the heavens. +Cotemporaneously with his observations, the French astronomers, and +especially La Place, with a geometrical skill scarcely, if at all, +inferior to that of its great author, resumed the whole system of +Newton, and brought every phenomenon observed since his time within his +laws. Difficulties of fact, with which he struggled in vain, gave way to +more accurate observations; and problems that defied the power of his +analysis, yielded to the modern improvements of the calculus. + + + HERSCHELL'S NEBULAR THEORY. + +But there is no _Ultima Thule_ in the progress of science. With the +recent augmentations of telescopic power, the details of the nebular +theory, proposed by Sir W. Herschell with such courage and ingenuity, +have been drawn in question. Many--most--of those milky patches in which +he beheld what he regarded as cosmical matter, as yet in an unformed +state,--the rudimental material of worlds not yet condensed,--have been +resolved into stars, as bright and distinct as any in the firmament. +I well recall the glow of satisfaction with which, on the 22d of +September, 1847, being then connected with the University at Cambridge, +I received a letter from the venerable director of the Observatory +there, beginning with these memorable words:--"You will rejoice with +me that the great nebula in Orion has yielded to the powers of our +incomparable telescope! * * * It should be borne in mind that this +nebula, and that of Andromeda [which has been also resolved at +Cambridge], are the last strongholds of the nebular theory."[A] + +[Footnote A: _Annals of the Observatory of Harvard College_, p. 121.] + +But if some of the adventurous speculations built by Sir William +Herschell on the bewildering revelations of his telescope have been +since questioned, the vast progress which has been made in sidereal +astronomy, to which, as I understand, the Dudley Observatory will be +particularly devoted, the discovery of the parallax of the fixed stars, +the investigation of the interior relations of binary and triple systems +of stars, the theories for the explanation of the extraordinary, not to +say fantastic, shapes discerned in some of the nebulous systems--whirls +and spirals radiating through spaces as vast as the orbit of Neptune;[A] +the glimpses at systems beyond that to which our sun belongs;--these are +all splendid results, which may fairly be attributed to the school of +Herschell, and will for ever insure no secondary place to that name in +the annals of science. + +[Footnote A: See the remarkable memoir of Professor Alexander, "On the +origin of the forms and the present condition of some of the clusters of +stars, and several of the nebulæ," (Gould's _Astronomical Journal_, Vol. +iii, p. 95.)] + + + RELATIONSHIP OF THE LIBERAL ARTS. + +In the remarks which I have hitherto made, I have had mainly in view +the direct connection of astronomical science with the uses of life and +the service of man. But a generous philosophy contemplates the subject +in higher relations. It is a remark as old, at least, as Plato, and +is repeated from him more than once by Cicero, that all the liberal +arts have a common bond and relationship.[A] The different sciences +contemplate as their immediate object the different departments of +animate and inanimate nature; but this great system itself is but +one, and its parts are so interwoven with each other, that the most +extraordinary relations and unexpected analogies are constantly +presenting themselves; and arts and sciences seemingly the least +connected, render to each other the most effective assistance. + +[Footnote A: Archias, i.; De Oratore, iii., 21.] + +The history of electricity, galvanism, and magnetism, furnishes the most +striking illustration of this remark. Commencing with the meteorological +phenomena of our own atmosphere, and terminating with the observation +of the remotest heavens, it may well be adduced, on an occasion like +the present. Franklin demonstrated the identity of lightning and the +electric fluid. This discovery gave a great impulse to electrical +research, with little else in view but the means of protection from +the thunder-cloud. A purely accidental circumstance led the physician +Galvani, at Bologna, to trace the mysterious element, under conditions +entirely novel, both of development and application. In this new form it +became, in the hands of Davy, the instrument of the most extraordinary +chemical operations; and earths and alkalis, touched by the creative +wire, started up into metals that float on water, and kindle in the +air. At a later period, the closest affinities are observed between +electricity and magnetism, on the one hand; while, on the other, the +relations of polarity are detected between acids and alkalis. Plating +and gilding henceforth become electrical processes. In the last +applications of the same subtle medium, it has become the messenger of +intelligence across the land and beneath the sea; and is now employed by +the astronomer to ascertain the difference of longitudes, to transfer +the beats of the clock from one station to another, and to record the +moment of his observations with automatic accuracy. How large a share +has been borne by America in these magnificent discoveries and +applications, among the most brilliant achievements of modern science, +will sufficiently appear from the repetition of the names of Franklin, +Henry, Morse, Walker, Mitchell, Lock, and Bond. + + + VERSATILITY OF GENIUS. + +It has sometimes happened, whether from the harmonious relations to +each other of every department of science, or from rare felicity of +individual genius, that the most extraordinary intellectual versatility +has been manifested by the same person. Although Newton's transcendent +talent did not blaze out in childhood, yet as a boy he discovered great +aptitude for mechanical contrivance. His water-clock, self-moving +vehicle, and mill, were the wonder of the village; the latter propelled +by a living mouse. Sir David Brewster represents the accounts as +differing, whether the mouse was made to advance "by a string attached +to its tail," or by "its unavailing attempts to reach a portion of corn +placed above the wheel." It seems more reasonable to conclude that +the youthful discoverer of the law of gravitation intended by the +combination of these opposite attractions to produce a balanced +movement. It is consoling to the average mediocrity of the race to +perceive in these sportive assays, that the mind of Newton passed +through the stage of boyhood. But emerging from boyhood, what a bound it +made, as from earth to heaven! Hardly commencing bachelor of arts, at +the age of twenty-four, he untwisted the golden and silver threads of +the solar spectrum, simultaneously or soon after conceived the method of +fluxions, and arrived at the elemental idea of universal gravity before +he had passed to his master's degree. Master of Arts indeed! That +degree, if no other, was well bestowed. Universities are unjustly +accused of fixing science in stereotype. That diploma is enough of +itself to redeem the honors of academical parchment from centuries of +learned dullness and scholastic dogmatism. + +But the great object of all knowledge is to enlarge and purify the soul, +to fill the mind with noble contemplations, to furnish a refined +pleasure, and to lead our feeble reason from the works of nature up to +its great Author and Sustainer. Considering this as the ultimate end of +science, no branch of it can surely claim precedence of Astronomy. No +other science furnishes such a palpable embodiment of the abstractions +which lie at the foundation of our intellectual system; the great ideas +of time, and space, and extension, and magnitude, and number, and +motion, and power. How grand the conception of the ages on ages required +for several of the secular equations of the solar system; of distances +from which the light of a fixed star would not reach us in twenty +millions of years, of magnitudes compared with which the earth is but a +foot-ball; of starry hosts--suns like our own--numberless as the sands +on the shore; of worlds and systems shooting through the infinite +spaces, with a velocity compared with which the cannon-ball is a +way-worn, heavy-paced traveler![A] + +[Footnote A: Nichol's _Architecture of the Heavens_, p. 160.] + + + THE SPECTACLE OF THE HEAVENS. + +Much, however, as we are indebted to our observatories for elevating our +conceptions of the heavenly bodies, they present, even to the unaided +sight, scenes of glory which words are too feeble to describe. I had +occasion, a few weeks since, to take the early train from Providence to +Boston; and for this purpose rose at 2 o'clock in the morning. Every +thing around was wrapped in darkness and hushed in silence, broken only +by what seemed at that hour the unearthly clank and rush of the train. +It was a mild, serene midsummer's night; the sky was without a +cloud--the winds were whist. The moon, then in the last quarter, had +just risen, and the stars shone with a spectral luster but little +affected by her presence; Jupiter, two hours high, was the herald of the +day; the Pleiades, just above the horizon, shed their sweet influence in +the east; Lyra sparkled near the zenith; Andromeda veiled her newly +discovered glories from the naked eye in the south; the steady Pointers, +far beneath the pole, looked meekly up from the depths of the north to +their sovereign. + +Such was the glorious spectacle as I entered the train. As we proceeded, +the timid approach of twilight became more perceptible; the intense blue +of the sky began to soften, the smaller stars, like little children, +went first to rest; the sister-beams of the Pleiades soon melted +together; but the bright constellations of the west and north remained +unchanged. Steadily the wondrous transfiguration went on. Hands of +angels hidden from mortal eyes shifted the scenery of the heavens; the +glories of night dissolved into the glories of the dawn. The blue sky +now turned more softly gray; the great watch-stars shut up their holy +eyes; the east began to kindle. Faint streaks of purple soon blushed +along the sky; the whole celestial concave was filled with the inflowing +tides of the morning light, which came pouring down from above in one +great ocean of radiance; till at length, as we reached the Blue Hills, a +flash of purple fire blazed out from above the horizon, and turned the +dewy teardrops of flower and leaf into rubies and diamonds. In a few +seconds the everlasting gates of the morning were thrown wide open, and +the lord of day, arrayed in glories too severe for the gaze of man, +began his course. + +I do not wonder at the superstition of the ancient Magians, who in the +morning of the world went up to the hill-tops of Central Asia, and +ignorant of the true God, adored the most glorious work of his hand. +But I am filled with amazement, when I am told that in this enlightened +age, and in the heart of the Christian world, there are persons who can +witness this daily manifestation of the power and wisdom of the Creator, +and yet say in their hearts, "There is no God." + + + UNDISCOVERED BODIES. + +Numerous as are the heavenly bodies visible to the naked eye, and +glorious as are their manifestations, it is probable that in our own +system there are great numbers as yet undiscovered. Just two hundred +years ago this year, Huyghens announced the discovery of one satellite +of Saturn, and expressed the opinion that the six planets and six +satellites then known, and making up the perfect number of _twelve_, +composed the whole of our planetary system. In 1729 an astronomical +writer expressed the opinion that there might be other bodies in our +system, but that the limit of telescopic power had been reached, and no +further discoveries were likely to be made.[A] The orbit of one comet +only had been definitively calculated. Since that time the power of the +telescope has been indefinitely increased; two primary planets of the +first class, ten satellites, and forty-three small planets revolving +between Mars and Jupiter, have been discovered, the orbits of six or +seven hundred comets, some of brief period, have been ascertained;--and +it has been computed, that hundreds of thousands of these mysterious +bodies wander through our system. There is no reason to think that all +the primary planets, which revolve about the sun, have been discovered. +An indefinite increase in the number of asteroids may be anticipated; +while outside of Neptune, between our sun and the nearest fixed star, +supposing the attraction of the sun to prevail through half the +distance, there is room for ten more primary planets succeeding each +other at distances increasing in a geometrical ratio. The first of +these will, unquestionably, be discovered as soon as the perturbations +of Neptune shall have been accurately observed; and with maps of the +heavens, on which the smallest telescopic stars are laid down, it may be +discovered much sooner. + +[Footnote A: _Memoirs of A.A.S._, vol. iii, 275.] + + + THE VASTNESS OF CREATION. + +But it is when we turn our observation and our thoughts from our own +system, to the systems which lie beyond it in the heavenly spaces, that +we approach a more adequate conception of the vastness of creation. All +analogy teaches us that the sun which gives light to us is but one of +those countless stellar fires which deck the firmament, and that every +glittering star in that shining host is the center of a system as vast +and as full of subordinate luminaries as our own. Of these suns--centers +of planetary systems--thousands are visible to the naked eye, millions +are discovered by the telescope. Sir John Herschell, in the account of +his operations at the Cape of Good Hope (p. 381) calculates that about +five and a half millions of stars are visible enough to be _distinctly +counted_ in a twenty-foot reflector, in both hemispheres. He adds, that +"the actual number is much greater, there can be little doubt." His +illustrious father, estimated on one occasion that 125,000 stars passed +through the field of his forty foot reflector in a quarter of an hour. +This would give 12,000,000 for the entire circuit of the heavens, in a +single telescopic zone; and this estimate was made under the assumption +that the nebulæ were masses of luminous matter not yet condensed into +suns. + +These stupendous calculations, however, form but the first column of the +inventory of the universe. Faint white specks are visible, even to the +naked eye of a practiced observer in different parts of the heavens. +Under high magnifying powers, several thousands of such spots are +visible,--no longer however, faint, white specks, but many of them +resolved by powerful telescopes into vast aggregations of stars, each +of which may, with propriety, be compared with the milky way. Many of +these nebulæ, however, resisted the power of Sir Wm. Herschell's great +reflector, and were, accordingly, still regarded by him as masses of +unformed matter, not yet condensed into suns. This, till a few years +since, was, perhaps, the prevailing opinion; and the nebular theory +filled a large space in modern astronomical science. But with the +increase of instrumental power, especially under the mighty grasp of +Lord Rosse's gigantic reflector, and the great refractors at Pulkova and +Cambridge, the most irresolvable of these nebulæ have given way; and the +better opinion now is, that every one of them is a galaxy, like our own +milky way, composed of millions of suns. In other words, we are brought +to the bewildering conclusion that thousands of these misty specks, the +greater part of them too faint to be seen with the naked eye, are, not +each a universe like our solar system, but each a "swarm" of universes +of unappreciable magnitude.[A] The mind sinks, overpowered by the +contemplation. We repeat the words, but they no longer convey distinct +ideas to the understanding. + +[Footnote A: Humboldt's _Cosmos_, iii. 41.] + + + CONCEPTIONS OF THE UNIVERSE. + +But these conclusions, however vast their comprehension, carry us but +another step forward in the realms of sidereal astronomy. A proper +motion in space of our sun, and of the fixed stars as we call them, +has long been believed to exist. Their vast distances only prevent its +being more apparent. The great improvement of instruments of measurement +within the last generation has not only established the existence of +this motion, but has pointed to the region in the starry vault around +which our whole solar and stellar system, with its myriad of attendant +planetary worlds, appears to be performing a mighty revolution. If, +then, we assume that outside of the system to which we belong and in +which our sun is but a star like Aldebaran or Sirius, the different +nebulæ of which we have spoken,--thousands of which spot the +heavens--constitute a distinct family of universes, we must, following +the guide of analogy, attribute to each of them also, beyond all the +revolutions of their individual attendant planetary systems, a great +revolution, comprehending the whole; while the same course of analogical +reasoning would lead us still further onward, and in the last analysis, +require us to assume a transcendental connection between all these +mighty systems--a universe of universes, circling round in the infinity +of space, and preserving its equilibrium by the same laws of mutual +attraction which bind the lower worlds together. + +It may be thought that conceptions like these are calculated rather to +depress than to elevate us in the scale of being; that, banished as he +is by these contemplations to a corner of creation, and there reduced +to an atom, man sinks to nothingness in this infinity of worlds. But a +second thought corrects the impression. These vast contemplations are +well calculated to inspire awe, but not abasement. Mind and matter are +incommensurable. An immortal soul, even while clothed in "this muddy +vesture of decay," is in the eye of God and reason, a purer essence than +the brightest sun that lights the depths of heaven. The organized human +eye, instinct with life and soul, which, gazing through the telescope, +travels up to the cloudy speck in the handle of Orion's sword, and bids +it blaze forth into a galaxy as vast as ours, stands higher in the order +of being than all that host of luminaries. The intellect of Newton which +discovered the law that holds the revolving worlds together, is a nobler +work of God than a universe of universes of unthinking matter. + +If, still treading the loftiest paths of analogy, we adopt the +supposition,--to me I own the grateful supposition,--that the countless +planetary worlds which attend these countless suns, are the abodes of +rational beings like man, instead of bringing back from this exalted +conception a feeling of insignificance, as if the individuals of our +race were but poor atoms in the infinity of being, I regard it, on the +contrary, as a glory of our human nature, that it belongs to a family +which no man can number of rational natures like itself. In the order of +being they may stand beneath us, or they may stand above us; _he_ may +well be content with his place, who is made "a little lower than the +angels." + + + CONTEMPLATION OF THE HEAVENS. + +Finally, my Friends, I believe there is no contemplation better adapted +to awaken devout ideas than that of the heavenly bodies,--no branch of +natural science which bears clearer testimony to the power and wisdom of +God than that to which you this day consecrate a temple. The heart of +the ancient world, with all the prevailing ignorance of the true nature +and motions of the heavenly orbs, was religiously impressed by their +survey. There is a passage in one of those admirable philosophical +treatises of Cicero composed in the decline of life, as a solace under +domestic bereavement and patriotic concern at the impending convulsions +of the state, in which, quoting from some lost work of Aristotle, he +treats the topic in a manner which almost puts to shame the teachings of +Christian wisdom. + +"Præclare ergo Aristoteles, 'Si essent,' inquit, 'qui sub terra semper +habitavissent, bonis et illustribus domiciliis quæ essent ornata signis +atque picturis, instructaque rebus iis omnibus quibus abundant ii qui +beati putantur, nec tamen exissent unquam supra terram; accepissent +autem fama et auditione, esse quoddam numen et vim Deorum,--deinde +aliquo tempore patefactis terræ faucibus ex illis abditis sedibus +evadere in hæc loca quæ nos incolimus, atque exire potuissent; cum +repente terram et maria coelumque, vidissent; nubium magnitudinem +ventorumque vim, cognovissent; aspexissentque solem, ejusque tum +magnitudinem, pulchritudinemque; tum etiam efficientiam cognovissent, +quod is diem efficeret, toto coelo luce diffusa; cum autem terras nox +opacasset, tum coelum totum cernerent astris distinctum et ornatum, +lunæque luminum varietatem tum crescentis tum senescentis, corumque +omnium ortus et occasus atque in æternitate ratos immutabilesque +cursus;--hæc cum viderent, profecto et esse Deos, et hæc tanta opera +Deorum esse, arbitrarentur."[A] + +There is much by day to engage the attention of the Observatory; the +sun, his apparent motions, his dimensions, the spots on his disc (to +us the faint indications of movements of unimagined grandeur in his +luminous atmosphere), a solar eclipse, a transit of the inferior +planets, the mysteries of the spectrum;--all phenomena of vast +importance and interest. But night is the astronomer's accepted time; he +goes to his delightful labors when the busy world goes to its rest. A +dark pall spreads over the resorts of active life; terrestrial objects, +hill and valley, and rock and stream, and the abodes of men disappear; +but the curtain is drawn up which concealed the heavenly hosts. There +they shine and there they move, as they moved and shone to the eyes of +Newton and Galileo, of Kepler and Copernicus, of Ptolemy and Hipparchus; +yes, as they moved and shone when the morning stars sang together, and +all the sons of God shouted for joy. All has changed on earth; but +the glorious heavens remain unchanged. The plow passes over the site +of mighty cities,--the homes of powerful nations are desolate, the +languages they spoke are forgotten; but the stars that shone for them +are shining for us; the same eclipses run their steady cycle; the same +equinoxes call out the flowers of spring, and send the husbandman +to the harvest; the sun pauses at either tropic as he did when his +course began; and sun and moon, and planet and satellite, and star and +constellation and galaxy, still bear witness to the power, the wisdom, +and the love, which placed them in the heavens and uphold them there. + +[Footnote A: "Nobly does Aristotle observe, that if there were beings +who had always lived under ground, in convenient, nay, in magnificent +dwellings, adorned with statues and pictures, and every thing which +belongs to prosperous life, but who had never come above ground; who had +heard, however, by fame and report, of the being and power of the gods; +if, at a certain time, the portals of the earth being thrown open, +they had been able to emerge from those hidden abodes to the regions +inhabited by us; when suddenly they had seen the earth, the sea, and +the sky; had perceived the vastness of the clouds and the force of the +winds; had contemplated the sun, his magnitude and his beauty, and +still more his effectual power, that it is he who makes the day, by +the diffusion of his light through the whole sky; and, when night had +darkened the earth, should then behold the whole heavens studded and +adorned with stars, and the various lights of the waxing and waning +moon, the risings and the settings of all these heavenly bodies, and the +courses fixed and immutable in all eternity; when, I say, they should +see these things, truly they would believe that there were gods, and +these so great things are their works."--Cicero, _De Natura Deorum_ lib. +ii., § 30.] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE USES OF ASTRONOMY*** + + +******* This file should be named 16227-8.txt or 16227-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/2/2/16227 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/16227-8.zip b/old/16227-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..03f790e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/16227-8.zip diff --git a/old/16227.txt b/old/16227.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ee5ebd9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/16227.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2527 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Uses of Astronomy, by Edward Everett + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Uses of Astronomy + An Oration Delivered at Albany on the 28th of July, 1856 + + +Author: Edward Everett + + + +Release Date: July 6, 2005 [eBook #16227] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE USES OF ASTRONOMY*** + + +E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Peter Barozzi, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(https://www.pgdp.net/) from page images generously made available by the +Making of America Collection of the Digital & Multimedia Center, Michigan +State University Libraries (http://digital.lib.msu.edu/) + + + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through the + Digital & Multimedia Center, Michigan State University + Libraries. See + http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=AAN1277.0001.001 + + + + + THE USES OF ASTRONOMY. + + + AN ORATION + + + Delivered at Albany, on the 28th of July, 1856 + + BY + + EDWARD EVERETT, + + + ON THE + + OCCASION OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE DUDLEY + ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY, + + + WITH A + + CONDENSED REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS, + + AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE + + DEDICATION OF NEW YORK STATE GEOLOGICAL HALL. + + + NEW YORK: + PUBLISHED BY ROSS & TOUSEY, + 103 NASSAU STREET. + 1856. + + + + + A NOTE EXPLANATORY. + + The undersigned ventures to put forth this report of Mr. + EVERETT'S Oration, in connection with a condensed account of the + Inauguration of the Dudley Observatory, and the Dedication of the + New State Geological Hall, at Albany,--in the hope that the + demand which has exhausted the newspaper editions, may exhaust + this as speedily as possible; not that he is particularly + tenacious of a reward for his own slight labors, but because he + believes that the extensive circulation of the record of the two + events so interesting and important to the cause of Science will + exercise a beneficial influence upon the public mind. The effort + of the distinguished Statesman who has invested Astronomy with + new beauties, is the latest and one of the most brilliant of his + compositions, and is already wholly out of print, though scarcely + a month has elapsed since the date of its delivery. The account + of the proceedings at Albany during the Ceremonies of + Inauguration is necessarily brief, but accurate, and is + respectfully submitted to the consideration of the reader. + + A. MAVERICK. + NEW YORK, _October 1, 1856._ + + + + + TWO NEW INSTITUTIONS OF SCIENCE; + + AND + + THE SCENES WHICH ATTENDED THEIR CHRISTENING. + + +In the month of August last, two events took place in the city of +Albany, which have more than an ephemeral interest. They occurred in +close connection with the proceedings of a Scientific Convention, and +the memory of them deserves to be cherished as a recollection of the +easy way in which Science may be popularized and be rendered so +generally acceptable that the people will cry, like Oliver Twist, for +more. It is the purpose of this small publication to embody, in a form +more durable than that of the daily newspaper, the record of proceedings +which have so near a relation to the progress of scientific research. A +marked feature in the ceremonies was the magnificent Oration of the Hon. +EDWARD EVERETT, inaugurating the Dudley Observatory of Albany; and it is +believed that the reissue of that speech in its present form will be +acceptable to the admirers of that distinguished gentleman, not less +than to the lovers of Science, who hung with delight upon his words. + + + THE DEDICATION OF THE GEOLOGICAL HALL. + +On Wednesday, August 27, 1856, the State Geological Hall of New York was +dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. For the purpose of affording +accommodation to the immense crowds of people who, it was confidently +anticipated, would throng to this demonstration and that of the +succeeding day, at which Mr. EVERETT spoke, a capacious Tent was +arranged with care in the center of Academy Park, on Capitol Hill; and +under its shelter the ceremonies of the inauguration of both +institutions were conducted without accident or confusion; attended on +the first day by fully three thousand persons, and on the second by a +number which may be safely computed at from five to seven thousand. + +The announcement that Hon. WM. H. SEWARD would be present at the +dedication of the Geological Hall, excited great interest among the +citizens; but the hope of his appearance proved fallacious. His place +was occupied by seven picked men of the American Association for the +Advancement of Science, one of whom (Prof. HENRY) declared his inability +to compute the problem why seven men of science were to be considered +equal to one statesman. The result justified the selections of the +committee, and although the Senator was not present, the seven +Commoners of Science made the occasion a most notable one by the flow of +wit, elegance of phrase, solidity and cogency of argument, and rare +discernment of natural truths, with which their discourse was garnished. + +The members of the American Association marched in procession to the +Tent, from their place of meeting in the State Capitol. On the stage +were assembled many distinguished gentlemen, and in the audience were +hundreds of ladies. GOV. CLARK and Ex-Governors HUNT and SEYMOUR, of New +York, Sir WM. LOGAN, of Canada, Hon. GEORGE BANCROFT, and others as well +known as these, were among the number present. The tent was profusely +decorated. Small banners in tri-color were distributed over the entire +area covered by the stage, and adorned the wings. The following +inscriptions were placed over the front of the rostrum,--that in honor +of "_The Press_" occupying a central position: + + GEOLOGY. THE PRESS. + METEOROLOGY. MINERALOGY. + METALLURGY. ETHNOLOGY. + ASTRONOMY. + +The following were arranged in various positions on the right and left: + + CHEMISTRY. TELEGRAPH. + PHYSIOLOGY. LETTERS. + CONCHOLOGY. HYDROLOGY. + PALAEONTOLOGY. ZOOLOGY. + MICROSCOPY. ICHTHYOLOGY. + ART. MANUFACTURES. + STEAM. AGRICULTURE. + COMMERCE. PHYSICS. + SCIENCE. ANATOMY. + NAVIGATION. BOTANY. + +The proceedings of the day were opened with prayer by Rev. GEO. W. +BETHUNE, D.D., of Brooklyn. + +Hon. GARRIT Y. LANSING, of Albany, then introduced Professor LOUIS +AGASSIZ, of Cambridge, Mass., who was the first of the "seven men of +science" to entertain his audience, always with the aid of the +inevitable black-board, without which the excellent Professor would be +as much at a loss as a chemist without a laboratory. Professor AGASSIZ +spoke for an hour, giving his views of a new theory of animal +development. He began by saying:-- + + We are here to inaugurate the Geological Hall, which has grown + out of the geological survey of the State. To make the occasion + memorable, a distinguished statesman of your own State, and Mr. + FRANK C. GRAY, were expected to be present and address you. The + pressure of public duties has detained Mr. SEWARD, and severe + sickness has detained Mr. GRAY. I deeply lament that the occasion + is lost to you to hear my friend Mr. GRAY, who is a devotee to + science, and as warm-hearted a friend as ever I knew. Night + before last I was requested to assist in taking their place--I, + who am the most unfit of men for the post. I never made a speech. + I have addressed learned bodies, but I lack that liberty of + speech--the ability to present in finished style, and with that + rich imagery which characterize the words of the orator, the + thoughts fitting to such an occasion as this. He would limit + himself, he continued, to presenting some motives why the + community should patronize science, and foster such institutions + as this. We scientific men regard this as an occasion of the + highest interest, and thus do not hesitate to give the sanction + of the highest learned body of the country as an indorsement of + the liberality of this State. The geological survey of New York + has given to the world a new nomenclature. No geologist can, + hereafter, describe the several strata of the earth without + referring to it. Its results, as recorded in your published + volumes, are treasured in the most valuable libraries of the + world. They have made this city famous; and now, when the + scientific geologist lands on your shore, his first question is, + "Which is the way to Albany? I want to see your fossils." But + Paleontology is only one branch of the subject, and many others + your survey has equally fostered. + + He next proceeded to show that organized beings were organized + with reference to a plan, which the relations between different + animals, and between different plants, and between animals and + plants, everywhere exhibit;--drew sections of the body of a fish, + and of the bird, and of man, and pointed out that in each there + was the same central back-bone, the cavity above and the ribbed + cavity below the flesh on each side, and the skin over + all--showing that the maker of each possessed the same + thought--followed the same plan of structure. And upon that plan + He had made all the kinds of quadrupeds, 2,000 in number, all the + kinds of birds, 7,000 in number, all of the reptiles, 2,000 to + 3,000 in number, all the fish, 10,000 to 12,000 in number. All + their forms may be derived as different expressions of the same + formula. There are only four of these great types; or, said he, + may I not call them the four tunes on which Divinity has played + the harmonies that have peopled, in living and beautiful reality, + the whole world? + + + PROFESSOR HITCHCOCK ON REMINISCENCES. + +ERASTUS C. BENEDICT, Esq. of New York, introduced Prof. HITCHCOCK, of +Amherst, as a gentleman whose name was very familiar, who had laid +aside, voluntarily, the charge of one of the largest colleges in New +England, but who could never lay aside the honors he had earned in the +literature and science of geology. + +After a few introductory observations, Prof. HITCHCOCK said:-- + + This, I believe, is the first example in which a State Government + in our country has erected a museum for the exhibition of its + natural resources, its mineral and rock, its plants and animals, + living and fossil. And this seems to me the most appropriate spot + in the country for placing the first geological hall erected by + the Government; for the County of Albany was the district where + the first geological survey was undertaken, on this side of the + Atlantic, and, perhaps, the world. This was in 1820, and ordered + by that eminent philanthropist, Stephen Van Rensselaer, who, + three years later, appointed Prof. Eaton to survey, in like + manner, the whole region traversed by the Erie Canal. This was + the commencement of a work, which, during the last thirty years, + has had a wonderful expansion, reaching a large part of the + States of the Union, as well as Canada, Nova Scotia, and New + Brunswick, and, I might add, several European countries, where + the magnificent surveys now in progress did not commence till + after the survey of Albany and Rensselaer Counties. How glad are + we, therefore, to find on this spot the first Museum of + Economical Geology on this side of the Atlantic! Nay, embracing + as it does all the department of Natural History, I see in it + more than a European Museum of Economical Geology, splendid + though they are. I fancy, rather, that I see here the germ of a + Cis-Atlantic British Museum, or Garden of Plants. + + North Carolina was the first State that ordered a geological + survey; and I have the pleasure of seeing before me the gentleman + who executed it, and in 1824-5 published a report of 140 pages. I + refer to Professor Olmstead, who, though he has since won + brighter laurels in another department of science, will always be + honored as the first commissioned State geologist in our land. + +Of the New York State Survey he said:-- + + This survey has developed the older fossiliferous rocks, with a + fullness and distinctness unknown elsewhere. Hence European + savans study the New York Reports with eagerness. In 1850, as I + entered the Woodwardian Museum, in the University of Cambridge, + in England, I found Professor McCoy busy with a collection of + Silurian fossils before him, which he was studying with Hall's + first volume of Paleontology as his guide; and in the splendid + volumes, entitled _British Paleozoric Rocks and Fossils_, which + appeared last year as the result of those researches, I find + Professor Hall denominated the great American Paleontologist. I + tell you, Sir, that this survey has given New York a reputation + throughout the learned world, of which she may well be proud. Am + I told that it will, probably, cost half a million? Very well. + The larger the sum, the higher will be the reputation of New York + for liberality; and what other half million expended in our + country, has developed so many new facts or thrown so much light + upon the history of the globe, or won so world-wide and enviable + a reputation? + +And of Geological Surveys in general:-- + + In regard to this matter of geological surveys, I can hardly + avoid making a suggestion here. So large a portion of our country + has now been examined, more or less thoroughly, by the several + State governments, that it does seem to me the time has come when + the National government should order a survey--geological, + zoological, and botanical--of the whole country, on such a + liberal and thorough plan as the surveys in Great Britain are now + conducted; in the latter country it being understood that at + least thirty years will be occupied in the work. Could not the + distinguished New York statesman who was to have addressed us + to-day be induced, when the present great struggle in which he is + engaged shall have been brought to a close, by a merciful + Providence, to introduce this subject, and urge it upon Congress? + And would it not be appropriate for the American Association for + the Advancement of Science to throw a petition before the + government for such an object? Or might it not, with the consent + of the eminent gentleman who has charge of the Coast Survey, be + connected therewith, as it is with the Ordnance Survey in Great + Britain. + +The history of the American Association was then given:-- + + Prof. Mather, I believe, through Prof. Emmons, first suggested to + the New-York Board of Geologists in November, 1838, in a letter + proposing a number of points for their consideration. I quote + from him the following paragraph relating to the meeting. As to + the credit he has here given me of having personally suggested + the subject, I can say only that I had been in the habit for + several years of making this meeting of scientific men a sort of + hobby in my correspondence with such. Whether others did the + same, I did not then, and do not now know. Were this the proper + place, I could go more into detail on this point; but I will + merely quote Prof. Mather's language to the Board:-- + + * * * * "Would it not be well to suggest the propriety of a + meeting of Geologists and other scientific men of our country at + some central point next fall,--say at New-York or Philadelphia? + There are many questions in our Geology that will receive new + light from friendly discussion and the combined observations of + various individuals who have noted them in different parts of our + country. Such a meeting has been suggested by Prof. Hitchcock; + and to me it seems desirable. It would undoubtedly be an + advantage not only to science but to the several surveys that are + now in progress and that may in future be authorized. It would + tend to make known our scientific men to each other personally, + give them more confidence in each other, and cause them to + concentrate their observation on those questions that are of + interest in either a scientific or economical point of view. More + questions may be satisfactorily settled in a day by oral + discussion in such a body, than a year by writing and + publication."[A] + + [Footnote A: In the letter alluded to, on examination, we + discover another passage bearing on the point, which, owing to + the Professor's modesty we suspect, he did not read. Prof. Mather + adds. "You, so far as I know, first suggested the matter of such + an Association. I laid the matter before the Board of Geologists + of New-York, specifying some of the advantages that might be + expected to result; and Prof. Vanuxem probably made the motion + before the Board in regard to it."] + + Though the Board adopted the plan of a meeting, various causes + delayed the first over till April, 1840, when we assembled in + Philadelphia, and spent a week in most profitable and pleasant + discussion, and the presentation of papers. Our number that year + was only 18, because confined almost exclusively to the State + geologists; but the next year, when we met again in Philadelphia, + and a more extended invitation was given, about eighty were + present; and the members have been increasing to the present + time. But, in fact, those first two meetings proved the type, in + all things essential, of all that have followed. The principal + changes have been those of expansion and the consequent + introduction of many other branches of science with their eminent + cultivators. In 1842, we changed the name to that of the + Association of American Geologists and Naturalists; and in 1847, + to that of the American Association for the Advancement of + Science. I trust it has not yet reached its fullest development, + as our country and its scientific men multiply, and new fields of + discovery open. + +Prof. H. said of this particular occasion:-- + + We may be quite sure that this Hall will be a center of deep + interest to coming generations. Long after we shall have passed + away will the men of New-York, as they survey these monuments, + feel stimulated to engage in other noble enterprises by this work + of their progenitors, and from many a distant part of the + civilized world will men come here to solve their scientific + questions, and to bring far-off regions into comparison with + this. New-York, then, by her liberal patronage, has not only + acquired an honorable name among those living in all civilized + lands, but has secured the voice of History to transmit her fame + to far-off generations. + + + SIR WILLIAM LOGAN ASKS "THE WAY TO ALBANY." + +Sir WILLIAM E. LOGAN, of Canada, in a brief speech acknowledged the +services rendered by the New-York Survey to Canada. He should manifest +ingratitude if he declined to unite in the joyful occasion of +inaugurating the Museum which was to hold forever the evidence of the +truth of its published results. The Survey of Canada had been ordered, +and the Commission of five years twice renewed; and the last time, the +provision for it was more than doubled. It happened to him, as Mr. +Agassiz had said: after crossing the ocean first, the first thing he +asked was, "Which is the way to Albany?" and when he arrived here, he +found that with the aid of Prof. Hall's discoveries, he had only to take +up the different formations as he had left them on the boundary line, +and follow them into Canada. It was both a convenience and a necessity +to adopt the New-York nomenclature, which was thus extended over an area +six times as large as New-York. In Paris he heard De Vernier using the +words Trenton and Niagara, as if they were household words. He was +delighted to witness the impatience with which Barron inquired when the +remaining volumes of the Paleontology of New-York would be published. +Your Paleontological reputation, said he, has made New-York known, even +among men not scientific, all over Europe. I hope you will not stop +here, but will go on and give us in equally thorough, full, and +magnificent style, the character of the Durassic and Cretaceous +formations. + + + PROFESSOR HENRY ON DUTCHMEN. + +Professor HENRY was at a loss to know by what process they had arrived +at the conclusion that seven men of science must be substituted to fill +the place of one distinguished statesman whom they had expected to hear. +He prided himself on his Albany nativity. He was proud of the old Dutch +character, that was the substratum of the city. The Dutch are hard to be +moved, but when they do start their momentum is not as other men's in +proportion to the velocity, but as the square of the velocity. So when +the Dutchman goes three times as fast, he has nine times the force of +another man. The Dutchman has an immense potentia agency, but it wants a +small spark of Yankee enterprise to touch it off. In this strain the +Professor continued, making his audience very merry, and giving them a +fine chance to express themselves with repeated explosions of laughter. + + + PROFESSOR DAVIES ON THE PRACTICAL NATURE OF SCIENCE. + +Prof. CHARLES DAVIES was introduced by EX-GOVERNOR SEYMOUR, and spoke +briefly, but humorously and very much to the point, in defense of the +practical character of scientific researches. He said that to one +accustomed to speak only on the abstract quantities of number and space, +this was an unusual occasion, and this an unusual audience; and inquired +how he could discuss the abstract forms of geometry, when he saw before +him, in such profusion, the most beautiful real forms that Providence +has vouchsafed to the life of man. He proposed to introduce and develop +but a single train of thought--the unchangeable connection between what +in common language is called the theoretical and practical, but in more +technical phraseology, the ideal and the actual. The actual, or true +practical, consists in the uses of the forces of nature, according to +the laws of nature; and here we must distinguish between it and the +empirical, which uses, or attempts to use, those forces, without a +knowledge of the laws. The true practical, therefore, is the result, or +actual, of an antecedent ideal. The ideal, full and complete, must exist +in the mind before the actual can be brought forth according to the laws +of science. Who, then, are the truly practical men of our age? Are they +not those who are engaged most laboriously and successfully in +investigating the great laws? Are they not those who are pressing out +the boundaries of knowledge, and conducting the mind into new and +unexplored regions, where there may yet be discovered a California of +undeveloped thought? Is not the gentleman from Massachusetts (Professor +Agassiz) the most practical man in our country in the department of +Natural History, not because he has collected the greatest number of +specimens, but because he has laid open to us all the laws of the animal +kingdom? Are the formulas written on the black-board by the gentleman +from Cambridge (Prof. Pierce) of no practical value, because they cannot +be read by the uninstructed eye? A single line may contain the elements +of the motions of all the heavenly bodies; and the eye of science, +taking its stand-point at the center of gravity of the system, will see +in the equation the harmonious revolutions of all the bodies which +circle the heavens. It is such labors and such generalizations that have +rendered his name illustrious in the history of mathematical science. Is +it of no practical value that the Chief of the Coast Survey (Prof. +Bache), by a few characters written upon paper, at Washington, has +determined the exact time of high and low tide in the harbor of Boston, +and can determine, by a similar process, the exact times of high and low +water at every point on the surface of the globe? Are not these results, +the highest efforts of science, also of the greatest practical utility? +And may we not, then, conclude that _there is nothing truly practical +which is not the consequence of an antecedent ideal_? + +Science is to art what the great fly-wheel and governor of a +steam-engine are to the working part of the machinery--it guides, +regulates, and controls the whole. Science and art are inseparably +connected; like the Siamese Twins, they cannot be separated without +producing the death of both. + +How, then, are we to regard the superb specimens of natural history, +which the liberality, the munificence; and the wisdom of our State have +collected at the Capitol? They are the elements from which we can here +determine all that belongs to the Natural History of our State; and may +we not indulge the hope, that science and genius will come here, and, +striking them with a magic wand, cause the true practical to spring into +immortal life? + + +Remarks were also uttered by Prof. CHESTER DEWEY, President ANDERSON, +and Rev. Dr. COX. + +And thus ended the Inauguration of the State Geological Hall. + +We turn to the Observatory, in regular order of succession. + + + + + INAUGURATION OF DUDLEY OBSERVATORY. + + +The Inauguration of the Dudley Observatory took place under the same +tent which was appropriated to the dedication of the Geological Hall, +and on the day following that event. An immense audience was assembled, +drawn by the announcement of Mr. EVERETT'S Oration. + +At a little past three o'clock the procession of _savans_ arrived from +the Assembly Chamber, escorted by the Burgesses Corps. Directly in front +of the speaker's stand sat Mrs. DUDLEY, the venerable lady to whose +munificence the world is indebted for this Observatory. She was dressed +in an antique, olive-colored silk, with a figure of a lighter color, a +heavy, red broche shawl, and her bonnet, cap, &c., after the strictest +style of the old school. Her presence added a new point of interest. + +Prayer having been uttered by Rev. Dr. SPRAGUE, of Albany, THOMAS W. +OLCOTT, Esq., introduced to the audience Ex-Governor WASHINGTON HUNT, +who spoke briefly in honor of the memory of CHARLES E. DUDLEY, whose +widow has founded and in part endowed this Observatory with a liberality +so remarkable. + +Remarks were offered by Dr. B. A. GOULD and Prof. A. D. BACHE, and +Judge HARRIS read the following letter from Mrs. DUDLEY, announcing +another munificent donation in aid of the new Observatory--$50,000, in +addition to the $25,000 which had been already expended in the +construction of the building. The letter was received with shouts of +applause, Prof. AGASSIZ rising and leading the vast assemblage in three +vehement cheers in honor of Mrs. DUDLEY! + + ALBANY, Thursday, Aug. 14, 1856. + +_To the Trustees of the Dudley Observatory:_ + + GENTLEMEN,--I scarcely need refer in a letter to you to the + modest beginning and gradual growth of the institution over which + you preside, and of which you are the responsible guardians. But + we have arrived at a period in its history when its inauguration + gives to it and to you some degree of prominence, and which must + stamp our past efforts with weakness and inconsideration, or + exalt those of the future to the measure of liberality necessary + to certain success. + + You have a building erected and instruments engaged of unrivaled + excellence; and it now remains to carry out the suggestion of the + Astronomer Royal of England in giving permanency to the + establishment. The very distinguished Professors BACHE, PIERCE, + and GOULD, state in a letter, which I have been permitted to see, + that to expand this institution to the wants of American science + and the honors of a national character, will require an + investment which will yield annually not less than $10,000; and + these gentlemen say, in the letter referred to,-- + + "If the greatness of your giving can rise to this occasion, as it + has to all our previous suggestions, with such unflinching + magnanimity, we promise you our earnest and hearty cooperation, + and stake our reputation that the scientific success shall fill + up the measure of your hopes and anticipations." + + For the attainment of an object so rich in scientific reward and + national glory, guaranteed by men with reputations as exalted and + enduring as the skies upon which they are written, contributions + should be general, and not confined to an individual or a place. + + For myself, I offer, as my part of the required endowment, the + sum of $50,000 in addition to the advances which I have already + made; and, trusting that the name which you have given to the + Observatory may not be regarded as an undeserved compliment, and + that it will not diminish the public regard by giving to the + institution a seemingly individual character, + + I remain, Gentlemen, your obedient servant, + BLANDINA DUDLEY. + +Judge HARRIS then introduced the Orator of the occasion, Hon. EDWARD +EVERETT, whose speech is given verbatim in these pages. + + + THE INSTRUMENTS OF THE DUDLEY OBSERVATORY. + +During the Sessions of the American Association, the new Astronomical +Instruments of Dudley Observatory were described in detail by Dr. B. A. +GOULD, who is the Astronomer in charge. We condense his statements:-- + + The Meridian Circle and Transit instrument were ordered from + Pistor & Martins, the celebrated manufacturers of Berlin, by whom + the new instrument at Ann Arbor was made. A number of + improvements have been introduced in the Albany instruments, not + perhaps all absolutely new, but an eclectic combination of late + adaptations with new improvements. Dr. Gould made a distinction + of modern astronomical instruments into two classes, the English + and the German. The English is the massive type; the German, + light and airy. The English instrument is the instrument of the + engineer; the German, the instrument of the artist. In ordering + the instruments for the Albany Observatory, the Doctor preferred + the German type and discarded the heavier English. He instanced, + as a specimen of the latter, the new instrument at Greenwich, + recently erected under the superintendence of the Astronomer + Royal. That instrument registers observations in single seconds; + the Dudley instrument will register to tenths of seconds. That + has six or eight microscopes; this has four. That has a gas lamp, + by the light of which the graduations are read off; the Albany + instrument has no lamp, and the Doctor considered the lamp a + hazardous experiment, affecting the integrity of the experiment, + not only by its radiant heat but by the currents of heated air + which it produces. The diameter of the object-glass of the Albany + instrument is 7-1/2 French inches clear aperture, or 8 English + inches, and the length of the tube 8 feet. He would have + preferred an instrument in which the facilities of manipulation + would have been greater, but was hampered by one proviso, upon + which the Trustees of the institution insisted--that this should + be the biggest instrument of its kind; and the instruction was + obeyed. The glass was made by Chance, and ground by Pistor + himself. The eye-piece is fitted with two micrometers, for + vertical and horizontal observations. Another apparatus provides + for the detection and measurement of the flexure of the tube. + Much trouble was experienced in securing a good casting for the + steel axis of the instrument. Three were found imperfect under + the lathe, and the fourth was chosen; but even then the pivots + were made in separate pieces, which were set in very deeply and + welded. Dr. Gould said he had been requested by the gentlemen who + had this enterprise in charge to suggest, as a mark of respect to + a gentleman of Albany who was a munificent patron of Science, + that this instrument be known as the Olcott Meridian Circle. + + + WHAT THE DUDLEY OBSERVATORY IS. + +It stands a mile from the Capitol, in the city of Albany, upon the crest +of a hill, so difficult of approach, as to be in reality a Hill of +Science. There are two ways of getting to it. In both cases there are +rail fences to be clambered over, and long grass to wade through, +settlements to explore, and a clayey road to travel; but these are minor +troubles. The elevation of the hill above tide-water is, perhaps, 200 +feet; its distance from the Capitol about a mile and a half. The view +for miles is unimpeded; and the Observatory is belted about with woods +and verdant lawns. There could not be a finer location or a purer air. +The plateau contains some fifteen acres. + +The Observatory is constructed in the form of a Latin cross. Its eastern +arm is an apartment 22 by 24 feet, in which the meridian circle is to be +placed. The western arm is a room of the same dimensions, intended for +the transit instrument. From the north and south faces of both rooms are +semi-circular apsides, projecting 6 feet 6 inches, containing the +Collimator piers and the vertical openings for observation. The entire +length of each room is, therefore, 37 feet. In the northern arm are +placed the library, 23 feet by 27 feet; two computing rooms, 12 feet by +23 feet each; side entrance halls, staircases, &c. The southern arm +contains the principal entrance, consisting of an arched colonnade of +four Tuscan columns, surrounded by a pediment. A broad flight of stone +steps leads to this colonnade; and through the entrance door beneath it +to the main central hall, 28 feet square, in which are placed (in +niches) the very beautiful electric clock and pendulum presented by +Erastus Corning, Esq. The center of this hall is occupied by a massive +pier of stone, 10 feet square, passing from the basement into the dome +above, and intended for the support of the great heliometer. Directly +opposite the entrance door is a large niche, in which it is proposed to +place the bust of the late Mr. Dudley. Immediately above this hall is +the equatorial room, a circular apartment, 22 feet 6 inches in diameter, +and 24 feet high, covered by a low conical roof, in which and in the +walls are the usual observing slits. The drum, or cylindrical portion, +of this room is divided into two parts--the lower one fixed, the upper, +revolving on cast-iron balls moving in grooved metal plates, can command +the entire horizon. + +The building is in two stories--the upper of brick, with freestone +quoins, impost and window and door dressings, rests upon a rusticated +basement of freestone, six feet high. The style adopted is the modern +Italian, of which it is a very excellent specimen. The building has been +completed some time; but, in consequence of the size of the instruments +now procured being greater than that originally contemplated, sundry +alterations were required in the Transit and Meridian Circle rooms. +These consist of the semi-circular projections already mentioned, and +which, by varying the outlines of the building, will add greatly to its +beauty and picturesqueness. + +The piers for the Meridian Circle and Transit have, after careful +investigation, been procured from the Lockport quarries. The great +density and uniformity of the structure of the stone, and the facility +with which such large masses as are required for this purpose can be +procured there, have induced the selection of these quarries. The stones +will weigh from six and a half to eight tons each. + +The main building was erected from the drawings of Messrs. Woollett and +Ogden, Architects, Albany; the additions and the machinery have been +designed by Mr. W. Hodgins, Civil Engineer; and the latter is now being +constructed under his superintendence, in a very superior manner, at the +iron works of Messrs. Pruyn and Lansing, Albany. + +The entire building is a tasteful and elegant structure, much superior +in architectural character to any other in America devoted to a similar +purpose. + + + + + ORATION. + + +FELLOW CITIZENS OF ALBANY:-- + +Assembled as we are, under your auspices, in this ancient and hospitable +city, for an object indicative of a highly-advanced stage of scientific +culture, it is natural, in the first place, to cast a historical glance +at the past. It seems almost to surpass belief, though an unquestioned +fact, that more than a century should have passed away, after Cabot had +discovered the coast of North America for England, before any knowledge +was gained of the noble river on which your city stands, and which was +destined by Providence to determine, in after times, the position of the +commercial metropolis of the Continent. It is true that Verazzano, a +bold and sagacious Florentine navigator, in the service of France, had +entered the Narrows in 1524, which he describes as a very large river, +deep at its mouth, which forced its way through steep hills to the sea; +but though he, like all the naval adventurers of that age, was sailing +westward in search of a shorter passage to India, he left this part of +the coast without any attempt to ascend the river; nor can it be +gathered from his narrative that he believed it to penetrate far into +the interior. + + + VOYAGE OF HENDRICK HUDSON. + +Near a hundred years elapsed before that great thought acquired +substance and form. In the spring of 1609, the heroic but unfortunate +Hudson, one of the brightest names in the history of English maritime +adventure, but then in the employment of the Dutch East India Company, +in a vessel of eighty tons, bearing the very astronomical name of the +_Half Moon_, having been stopped by the ice in the Polar Sea, in the +attempt to reach the East by the way of Nova Zembla, struck over to the +coast of America in a high northern latitude. He then stretched down +southwardly to the entrance of Chesapeake Bay (of which he had gained a +knowledge from the charts and descriptions of his friend, Captain +Smith), thence returning to the north, entered Delaware Bay, standing +out again to sea, arrived on the second of September in sight of the +"high hills" of Neversink, pronouncing it "a good land to fall in with, +and a pleasant land to see;" and, on the following morning, sending his +boat before him to sound the way, passed Sandy Hook, and there came to +anchor on the third of September, 1609; two hundred and forty-seven +years ago next Wednesday. What an event, my friends, in the history of +American population, enterprise, commerce, intelligence, and power--the +dropping of that anchor at Sandy Hook! + + + DISCOVERY OF THE HUDSON RIVER. + +Here he lingered a week, in friendly intercourse with the natives of New +Jersey, while a boat's company explored the waters up to Newark Bay. And +now the great question. Shall he turn back, like Verazzano, or ascend +the stream? Hudson was of a race not prone to turn back, by sea or by +land. On the eleventh of September he raised the anchor of the _Half +Moon_, passed through the Narrows, beholding on both sides "as beautiful +a land as one can tread on;" and floated cautiously and slowly up the +noble stream--the first ship that ever rested on its bosom. He passed +the Palisades, nature's dark basaltic Malakoff, forced the iron gateway +of the Highlands, anchored, on the fourteenth, near West Point; swept +onward and upward, the following day, by grassy meadows and tangled +slopes, hereafter to be covered with smiling villages;--by elevated +banks and woody heights, the destined site of towns and cities--of +Newburg, Poughkeepsie, Catskill;--on the evening of the fifteenth +arrived opposite "the mountains which lie from the river side," where he +found "a very loving people and very old men;" and the day following +sailed by the spot hereafter to be honored by his own illustrious name. +One more day wafts him up between Schodac and Castleton; and here he +landed and passed a day with the natives,--greeted with all sorts of +barbarous hospitality,--the land "the finest for cultivation he ever set +foot on," the natives so kind and gentle, that when they found he would +not remain with them over night, and feared that he left them--poor +children of nature!--because he was afraid of their weapons,--he, whose +quarter-deck was heavy with ordnance,--they "broke their arrows in +pieces, and threw them in the fire." On the following morning, with the +early flood-tide, on the 19th of September, 1609, the _Half Moon_ "ran +higher up, two leagues above the Shoals," and came to anchor in deep +water, near the site of the present city of Albany. Happy if he could +have closed his gallant career on the banks of the stream which so +justly bears his name, and thus have escaped the sorrowful and +mysterious catastrophe which awaited him the next year! + + + CHAMPLAIN'S VOYAGE AND THE GROWTH OF COLONIES. + +But the discovery of your great river and of the site of your ancient +city, is not the only event which renders the year 1609 memorable in the +annals of America and the world. It was one of those years in which a +sort of sympathetic movement toward great results unconsciously pervades +the races and the minds of men. While Hudson discovered this mighty +river and this vast region for the Dutch East India Company, Champlain, +in the same year, carried the lilies of France to the beautiful lake +which bears his name on your northern limits; the languishing +establishments of England in Virginia were strengthened by the second +charter granted to that colony; the little church of Robinson removed +from Amsterdam to Leyden, from which, in a few years, they went forth, +to lay the foundations of New England on Plymouth Rock; the seven United +Provinces of the Netherlands, after that terrific struggle of forty +years (the commencement of which has just been embalmed in a record +worthy of the great event by an American historian) wrested from Spain +the virtual acknowledgment of their independence, in the Twelve Years' +Truce; and James the First, in the same year, granted to the British +East India Company their first permanent charter,--corner-stone of an +empire destined in two centuries to overshadow the East. + + + GALILEO'S DISCOVERIES + +One more incident is wanting to complete the list of the memorable +occurrences which signalize the year 1609, and one most worthy to be +remembered by us on this occasion. Cotemporaneously with the events +which I have enumerated--eras of history, dates of empire, the +starting-point in some of the greatest political, social, and moral +revolutions in our annals, an Italian astronomer, who had heard of the +magnifying glasses which had been made in Holland, by which distant +objects could be brought seemingly near, caught at the idea, constructed +a telescope, and pointed it to the heavens. Yes, my friends, in the same +year in which Hudson discovered your river and the site of your ancient +town, in which Robinson made his melancholy hegira from Amsterdam to +Leyden, Galileo Galilei, with a telescope, the work of his own hands, +discovered the phases of Venus and the satellites of Jupiter; and now, +after the lapse of less than two centuries and a half, on a spot then +embosomed in the wilderness--the covert of the least civilized of all +the races of men--we are assembled--descendants of the Hollanders, +descendants of the Pilgrims, in this ancient and prosperous city, to +inaugurate the establishment of a first-class Astronomical Observatory. + + + EARLY DAYS OF ALBANY. + +One more glance at your early history. Three years after the landing of +the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Fort Orange was erected, in the center of what +is now the business part of the city of Albany; and, a few years later, +the little hamlet of Beverswyck began to nestle under its walls. Two +centuries ago, my Albanian friends, this very year, and I believe this +very month of August, your forefathers assembled, not to inaugurate an +observatory, but to lay the foundations of a new church, in the place of +the rude cabin which had hitherto served them in that capacity. It was +built at the intersection of Yonker's and Handelaar's, better known to +you as State and Market streets. Public and private liberality +cooperated in the important work. The authorities at the Fort gave +fifteen hundred guilders; the patroon of that early day, with the +liberality coeval with the name and the race, contributed a thousand; +while the inhabitants, for whose benefit it was erected, whose numbers +were small and their resources smaller, contributed twenty beavers "for +the purchase of an oaken pulpit in Holland." Whether the largest part of +this subscription was bestowed by some liberal benefactress, tradition +has not informed us. + + + NEW AMSTERDAM + +Nor is the year 1656 memorable in the annals of Albany alone. In that +same year your imperial metropolis, then numbering about three hundred +inhabitants, was first laid out as a city, by the name of New +Amsterdam.[A] In eight years more, New Netherland becomes New York; Fort +Orange and its dependent hamlet assumes the name of Albany. A century of +various fortune succeeds; the scourge of French and Indian war is rarely +absent from the land; every shock of European policy vibrates with +electric rapidity across the Atlantic; but the year 1756 finds a +population of 300,000 in your growing province. Albany, however, may +still be regarded almost as a frontier settlement. Of the twelve +counties into which the province was divided a hundred years ago, the +county of Albany comprehended all that lay north and west of the city; +and the city itself contained but about three hundred and fifty houses. + +[Footnote A: These historical notices are, for the most part, abridged +from Mr. Brodhead's excellent history of New York.] + + + TWO HUNDRED YEARS. + +One more century; another act in the great drama of empire; another +French and Indian War beneath the banners of England; a successful +Revolution, of which some of the most momentous events occurred within +your limits; a union of States; a Constitution of Federal Government; +your population carried to the St. Lawrence and the great Lakes, and +their waters poured into the Hudson; your territory covered with a +net-work of canals and railroads, filled with life and action, and +power, with all the works of peaceful art and prosperous enterprise with +all the institutions which constitute and advance the civilization of +the age; its population exceeding that of the Union at the date of the +Revolution; your own numbers twice as large as those of the largest city +of that day, you have met together, my Friends, just two hundred years +since the erection of the little church of Beverswyck, to dedicate a +noble temple of science and to take a becoming public notice of the +establishment of an institution, destined, as we trust, to exert a +beneficial influence on the progress of useful knowledge at home and +abroad, and through that on the general cause of civilization. + + + SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS. + +You will observe that I am careful to say the progress of science "at +home and abroad;" for the study of Astronomy in this country has long +since, I am happy to add, passed that point where it is content to +repeat the observations and verify the results of European research. It +has boldly and successfully entered the field of original investigation, +discovery, and speculation; and there is not now a single department of +the science in which the names of American observers and mathematicians +are not cited by our brethren across the water, side by side with the +most eminent of their European contemporaries. + +This state of things is certainly recent. During the colonial period and +in the first generation after the Revolution, no department of science +was, for obvious causes, very extensively cultivated in +America--astronomy perhaps as much as the kindred branches. The +improvement in the quadrant, commonly known as Hadley's, had already +been made at Philadelphia by Godfrey, in the early part of the last +century; and the beautiful invention of the collimating telescope was +made at a later period by Rittenhouse, an astronomer of distinguished +repute. The transits of Venus of 1761 and 1769 were observed, and +orreries were constructed in different parts of the country; and some +respectable scientific essays are contained and valuable observations +are recorded in the early volumes of the Transactions of the +Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia, and the American Academy of Arts +and Sciences at Boston and Cambridge. But in the absence of a numerous +class of men of science to encourage and aid each other, without +observatories and without valuable instruments, little of importance +could be expected in the higher walks of astronomical life. + + + AMERICAN OBSERVATIONS. + +The greater the credit due for the achievement of an enterprise +commenced in the early part of the present century, and which would +reflect honor on the science of any country and any age; I mean the +translation and commentary on Laplace's _Mecanique Celeste_, by +Bowditch; a work of whose merit I am myself wholly unable to form an +opinion, but which I suppose places the learned translator and +commentator on a level with the ablest astronomers and geometers of the +day. This work may be considered as opening a new era in the history of +American science. The country was still almost wholly deficient in +instrumental power; but the want was generally felt by men of science, +and the public mind in various parts of the country began to be turned +towards the means of supplying it. In 1825, President John Quincy Adams +brought the subject of a National Observatory before Congress. Political +considerations prevented its being favorably entertained at that time; +and it was not till 1842, and as an incident of the exploring +expedition, that an appropriation was made for a depot for the charts +and instruments of the Navy. On this modest basis has been reared the +National Observatory at Washington; an institution which has already +taken and fully sustains an honorable position among the scientific +establishments of the age. + +Besides the institution at Washington, fifteen or twenty observatories +have within the last few years, been established in different parts of +the country, some of them on a modest scale, for the gratification of +the scientific taste and zeal of individuals, others on a broad +foundation of expense and usefulness. In these establishments, public +and private, the means are provided for the highest order of +astronomical observation, research, and instruction. There is already in +the country an amount of instrumental power (to which addition is +constantly making), and of mathematical skill on the part of our men of +science, adequate to a manly competition with their European +contemporaries. The fruits are already before the world, in the +triangulation of several of the States, in the great work of the Coast +Survey, in the numerous scientific surveys of the interior of the +Continent, in the astronomical department of the Exploring Expedition, +in the scientific expedition to Chili, in the brilliant hydrographical +labors of the Observatory at Washington, in the published observations +of Washington and Cambridge, in the Journal conducted by the Nestor of +American Science, now in its eighth lustrum; in the _Sidereal +Messenger_, the _Astronomical Journal_, and the _National Ephemeris_; in +the great chronometrical expeditions to determine the longitude of +Cambridge, better ascertained than that of Paris was till within the +last year; in the prompt rectification of the errors in the predicted +elements of Neptune; in its identification with Lalande's missing star, +and in the calculation of its ephemeris; in the discovery of the +satellite of Neptune, of the eighth satellite of Saturn, and of the +innermost of its rings; in the establishment, both by observation and +theory, of the non-solid character of Saturn's rings; in the separation +and measurement of many double and triple stars, amenable only to +superior instrumental power, in the immense labor already performed in +preparing star catalogues, and in numerous accurate observations of +standard stars; in the diligent and successful observation of the +meteoric showers; in an extensive series of magnetic observations; in +the discovery of an asteroid and ten or twelve telescopic comets; in the +resolution of nebulae which had defied every thing in Europe but Lord +Rosse's great reflector; in the application of electricity to the +measurement of differences in longitude; in the ascertainment of the +velocity of the electro-magnetic fluid, and its truly wonderful uses in +recording astronomical observations. These are but a portion of the +achievements of American astronomical science within fifteen or twenty +years, and fully justify the most sanguine anticipations of its further +progress. + +How far our astronomers may be able to pursue their researches, will +depend upon the resources of our public institutions, and the liberality +of wealthy individuals in furnishing the requisite means. With the +exception of the observatories at Washington and West Point, little can +be done, or be expected to be done, by the government of the Union or +the States; but in this, as in every other department of liberal art and +science, the great dependence,--and may I not add, the safe +dependence?--as it ever has been, must continue to be upon the bounty of +enlightened, liberal, and public-spirited individuals. + + + THE DUDLEY OBSERVATORY. + +It is by a signal exercise of this bounty, my Friends, that we are +called together to-day. The munificence of several citizens of this +ancient city, among whom the first place is due to the generous lady +whose name has with great propriety been given to the institution, has +furnished the means for the foundation of the Dudley Observatory at +Albany. On a commanding elevation on the northern edge of the city, +liberally given for that purpose by the head of a family in which the +patronage of science is hereditary, a building of ample dimensions has +been erected, upon a plan which combines all the requisites of solidity, +convenience, and taste. A large portion of the expense of the structure +has been defrayed by Mrs. Blandina Dudley; to whose generosity, and that +of several other public-spirited individuals, the institution is also +indebted for the provision which has been made for an adequate supply of +first-class instruments, to be executed by the most eminent makers in +Europe and America; and which, it is confidently expected, will yield to +none of their class in any observatory in the world.[A] + +[Footnote A: Prof. Loomis, in _Harper's Magazine_ for June, p. 49.] + +With a liberal supply of instrumental power; established in a community +to whose intelligence and generosity its support may be safely confided, +and whose educational institutions are rapidly realizing the conception +of a university; countenanced by the gentleman who conducts the United +States Coast Survey with such scientific skill and administrative +energy; committed to the immediate supervision of an astronomer to whose +distinguished talent had been added the advantage of a thorough +scientific education in the most renowned universities of Europe, and +who, as the editor of the _American Astronomical Journal_, has shown +himself to be fully qualified for the high trust;--under these favorable +circumstances, the Dudley Observatory at Albany takes its place among +the scientific foundations of the country and the world. + + + WONDERS OF ASTRONOMY. + +It is no affected modesty which leads me to express the regret that this +interesting occasion could not have taken place under somewhat different +auspices. I feel that the duty of addressing this great and enlightened +assembly, comprising so much of the intelligence of the community and of +the science of the country, ought to have been elsewhere assigned; that +it should have devolved upon some one of the eminent persons, many of +whom I see before me, to whom you have been listening the past week, +who, as observers and geometers, could have treated the subject with a +master's power; astronomers, whose telescopes have penetrated the depths +of the heavens, or mathematicians, whose analysis unthreads the maze of +their wondrous mechanism. If, instead of commanding, as you easily could +have done, qualifications of this kind, your choice has rather fallen on +one making no pretensions to the honorable name of a man of +science,--but whose delight it has always been to turn aside from the +dusty paths of active life, for an interval of recreation in the green +fields of sacred nature in all her kingdoms,--it is, I presume, because +you have desired on an occasion of this kind, necessarily of a popular +character, that those views of the subject should be presented which +address themselves to the general intelligence of the community, and not +to its select scientific circles. There is, perhaps, no branch of +science which to the same extent as astronomy exhibits phenomena which, +while they task the highest powers of philosophical research, are also +well adapted to arrest the attention of minds barely tinctured with +scientific culture, and even to teach the sensibilities of the wholly +uninstructed observer. The profound investigations of the chemist into +the ultimate constitution of material nature, the minute researches of +the physiologist into the secrets of animal life, the transcendental +logic of the geometer, clothed in a notation, the very sight of which +terrifies the uninitiated,--are lost on the common understanding. But +the unspeakable glories of the rising and the setting sun; the serene +majesty of the moon, as she walks in full-orbed brightness through the +heavens; the soft witchery of the morning and the evening star; the +imperial splendors of the firmament on a bright, unclouded night; the +comet, whose streaming banner floats over half the sky,--these are +objects which charm and astonish alike the philosopher and the peasant, +the mathematician who weighs the masses and defines the orbits of the +heavenly bodies, and the untutored observer who sees nothing beyond the +images painted upon the eye. + + + WHAT IS AN ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY? + +An astronomical observatory, in the general acceptation of the word, is +a building erected for the reception and appropriate use of astronomical +instruments, and the accommodation of the men of science employed in +making and reducing observations of the heavenly bodies. These +instruments are mainly of three classes, to which I believe all others +of a strictly astronomical character may be referred. + +1. The instruments by which the heavens are inspected, with a view to +discover the existence of those celestial bodies which are not visible +to the naked eye (beyond all comparison more numerous than those which +are), and the magnitude, shapes, and other sensible qualities, both of +those which are and those which are not thus visible to the unaided +sight. The instruments of this class are designated by the general name +of Telescope, and are of two kinds,--the refracting telescope, which +derives its magnifying power from a system of convex lenses; and the +reflecting telescope, which receives the image of the heavenly body upon +a concave mirror. + +2d. The second class of instruments consists of those which are designed +principally to measure the angular distances of the heavenly bodies from +each other, and their time of passing the meridian. The transit +instrument, the meridian circle, the mural circle, the heliometer, and +the sextant, belong to this class. The brilliant discoveries of +astronomy are, for the most part, made with the first class of +instruments; its practical results wrought out by the second. + +3d. The third class contains the clock, with its subsidiary apparatus, +for measuring the time and making its subdivisions with the greatest +possible accuracy; indispensable auxiliary of all the instruments, by +which the positions and motions of the heavenly bodies are observed, and +measured, and recorded. + + + THE TELESCOPE. + +The telescope may be likened to a wondrous cyclopean eye, endued with +superhuman power, by which the astronomer extends the reach of his +vision to the further heavens, and surveys galaxies and universes +compared with which the solar system is but an atom floating in the air. +The transit may be compared to the measuring rod which he lays from +planet to planet, and from star to star, to ascertain and mark off the +heavenly spaces, and transfer them to his note-book; the clock is that +marvelous apparatus by which he equalizes and divides into nicely +measured parts a portion of that unconceived infinity of duration, +without beginning and without end, in which all existence floats as on a +shoreless and bottomless sea. + +In the contrivance and the execution of these instruments, the utmost +stretch of inventive skill and mechanical ingenuity has been put forth. +To such perfection have they been carried, that a single second of +magnitude or space is rendered a distinctly visible and appreciable +quantity. "The arc of a circle," says Sir J. Herschell, "subtended by +one second, is less than the 200,000th part of the radius, so that on a +circle of six feet in diameter, it would occupy no greater linear extent +than 1-5700 part of an inch, a quantity requiring a powerful microscope +to be discerned at all."[A] The largest body in our system, the sun, +whose real diameter is 882,000 miles, subtends, at a distance of +95,000,000 miles, but an angle of little more than 32; while so +admirably are the best instruments constructed, that both in Europe and +America a satellite of Neptune, an object of comparatively +inconsiderable diameter, has been discovered at a distance of 2,850 +millions of miles. + +[Footnote A: _Outlines_, section 131.] + + + UTILITY OF ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS. + +The object of an observatory, erected and supplied with instruments of +this admirable construction, and at proportionate expense, is, as I have +already intimated, to provide for an accurate and systematic survey of +the heavenly bodies, with a view to a more correct and extensive +acquaintance with those already known, and as instrumental power and +skill in using it increase, to the discovery of bodies hitherto +invisible, and in both classes to the determination of their distances, +their relations to each other, and the laws which govern their +movements. + +Why should we wish to obtain this knowledge? What inducement is there to +expend large sums of money in the erection of observatories, and in +furnishing them with costly instruments, and in the support of the men +of science employed in making, discussing, and recording, for successive +generations, those minute observations of the heavenly bodies? + +In an exclusively scientific treatment of this subject, an inquiry into +its utilitarian relations would be superfluous--even wearisome. But on +an occasion like the present, you will not, perhaps, think it out of +place if I briefly answer the question, What is the use of an +observatory, and what benefit may be expected from the operations of +such an establishment in a community like ours? + +1. In the first place, then, we derive from the observations of the +heavenly bodies which are made at an observatory, our only adequate +measures of time, and our only means of comparing the time of one place +with the time of another. Our artificial time-keepers--clocks, watches, +and chronometers--however ingeniously contrived and admirably +fabricated, are but a transcript, so to say, of the celestial motions, +and would be of no value without the means of regulating them by +observation. It is impossible for them, under any circumstances, to +escape the imperfection of all machinery the work of human hands; and +the moment we remove with our time-keeper east or west, it fails us. It +will keep home time alone, like the fond traveler who leaves his heart +behind him. The artificial instrument is of incalculable utility, but +must itself be regulated by the eternal clock-work of the skies. + + + RELATIONS BETWEEN NATURAL PHENOMENA AND DAILY LIFE. + +This single consideration is sufficient to show how completely the daily +business of life is affected and controlled by the heavenly bodies. It +is they--and not our main-springs, our expansion balances, and our +compensation pendulums--which give us our time. To reverse the line of +Pope: + + "'Tis with our watches as our judgments;--none + Go just alike, but each believes his own." + +But for all the kindreds and tribes and tongues of men--each upon their +own meridian--from the Arctic pole to the equator, from the equator to +the Antarctic pole, the eternal sun strikes twelve at noon, and the +glorious constellations, far up in the everlasting belfries of the +skies, chime twelve at midnight;--twelve for the pale student over his +flickering lamp; twelve amid the flaming glories of Orion's belt, if he +crosses the meridian at that fated hour; twelve by the weary couch of +languishing humanity; twelve in the star-paved courts of the Empyrean; +twelve for the heaving tides of the ocean; twelve for the weary arm of +labor; twelve for the toiling brain; twelve for the watching, waking, +broken heart; twelve for the meteor which blazes for a moment and +expires; twelve for the comet whose period is measured by centuries; +twelve for every substantial, for every imaginary thing, which exists in +the sense, the intellect, or the fancy, and which the speech or thought +of man, at the given meridian, refers to the lapse of time. + +Not only do we resort to the observation of the heavenly bodies for the +means of regulating and rectifying our clocks, but the great divisions +of day and month and year are derived from the same source. By the +constitution of our nature, the elements of our existence are closely +connected with celestial times. Partly by his physical organization, +partly by the experience of the race from the dawn of creation, man as +he is, and the times and seasons of the heavenly bodies, are part and +parcel of one system. The first great division of time, the day-night +(nychthemerum), for which we have no precise synonym in our language, +with its primal alternation of waking and sleeping, of labor and rest, +is a vital condition of the existence of such a creature as man. The +revolution of the year, with its various incidents of summer and winter, +and seed-time and harvest, is not less involved in our social, material, +and moral progress. It is true that at the poles, and on the equator, +the effects of these revolutions are variously modified or wholly +disappear; but as the necessary consequence, human life is extinguished +at the poles, and on the equator attains only a languid or feverish +development. Those latitudes only in which the great motions and +cardinal positions of the earth exert a mean influence, exhibit man in +the harmonious expansion of his powers. The lunar period, which lies at +the foundation of the _month_, is less vitally connected with human +existence and development; but is proved by the experience of every age +and race to be eminently conducive to the progress of civilization and +culture. + +But indispensable as are these heavenly measures of time to our life and +progress, and obvious as are the phenomena on which they rest, yet owing +to the circumstance that, in the economy of nature, the day, the month, +and the year are not exactly commensurable, some of the most difficult +questions in practical astronomy are those by which an accurate division +of time, applicable to the various uses of life, is derived from the +observation of the heavenly bodies. I have no doubt that, to the Supreme +Intelligence which created and rules the universe, there is a harmony +hidden to us in the numerical relation to each other of days, months, +and years; but in our ignorance of that harmony, their practical +adjustment to each other is a work of difficulty. The great +embarrassment which attended the reformation of the calendar, after the +error of the Julian period had, in the lapse of centuries, reached ten +(or rather twelve) days, sufficiently illustrates this remark. It is +most true that scientific difficulties did not form the chief obstacle. +Having been proposed under the auspices of the Roman pontiff, the +Protestant world, for a century and more, rejected the new style. It was +in various places the subject of controversy, collision, and +bloodshed.[A] It was not adopted in England till nearly two centuries +after its introduction at Rome; and in the country of Struve and the +Pulkova equatorial, they persist at the present day in adding eleven +minutes and twelve seconds to the length of the tropical year. + +[Footnote A: Stern's "_Himmelskunde_," p. 72.] + + + GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. + +2. The second great practical use of an Astronomical Observatory is +connected with the science of geography. The first page of the history +of our Continent declares this truth. Profound meditation on the +sphericity of the earth was one of the main reasons which led Columbus +to undertake his momentous voyage; and his thorough acquaintance with +the astronomical science of that day was, in his own judgment, what +enabled him to overcome the almost innumerable obstacles which attended +its prosecution.[A] In return, I find that Copernicus in the very +commencement of his immortal work _De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium_, +fol. 2, appeals to the discovery of America as completing the +demonstration of the sphericity of the earth. Much of our knowledge of +the figure, size, density, and position of the earth, as a member of the +solar system, is derived from this science; and it furnishes us the +means of performing the most important operations of practical +geography. Latitude and longitude, which lie at the basis of all +descriptive geography, are determined by observation. No map deserves +the name, on which the position of important points has not been +astronomically determined. Some even of our most important political and +administrative arrangements depend upon the cooperation of this science. +Among these I may mention the land system of the United States, and the +determination of the boundaries of the country. I believe that till it +was done by the Federal Government, a uniform system of mathematical +survey had never in any country been applied to an extensive territory. +Large grants and sales of public land took place before the Revolution, +and in the interval between the peace and the adoption of the +Constitution; but the limits of these grants and sales were ascertained +by sensible objects, by trees, streams, rocks, hills, and by reference +to adjacent portions of territory, previously surveyed. The uncertainty +of boundaries thus defined, was a never-failing source of litigation. +Large tracts of land in the Western country, granted by Virginia under +this old system of special and local survey, were covered with +conflicting claims; and the controversies to which they gave rise formed +no small part of the business of the Federal Court after its +organization. But the adoption of the present land-system brought order +out of chaos. The entire public domain is now scientifically surveyed +before it is offered for sale; it is laid off into ranges, townships, +sections, and smaller divisions, with unerring accuracy, resting on the +foundation of base and meridian lines; and I have been informed that +under this system, scarce a case of contested location and boundary has +ever presented itself in court. The General Land Office contains maps +and plans, in which every quarter-section of the public land is laid +down with mathematical precision. The superficies of half a continent is +thus transferred in miniature to the bureaus of Washington; while the +local Land Offices contain transcripts of these plans, copies of which +are furnished to the individual purchaser. When we consider the tide of +population annually flowing into the public domain, and the immense +importance of its efficient and economical administration, the utility +of this application of Astronomy will be duly estimated. + +[Footnote A: Humboldt, _Histotre de la Geographie_, &c., Tom. 1, +page 71.] + +I will here venture to repeat an anecdote, which I heard lately from a +son of the late Hon. Timothy Pickering. Mr. Octavius Pickering, on +behalf of his father, had applied to Mr. David Putnam of Marietta, to +act as his legal adviser, with respect to certain land claims in the +Virginia Military district, in the State of Ohio. Mr. Putnam declined +the agency. He had had much to do with business of that kind, and found +it beset with endless litigation. "I have never," he added, "succeeded +but in a single case, and that was a location and survey made by General +Washington before the Revolution; and I am not acquainted with any +surveys, except those made by him, but what have been litigated." + +At this moment, a most important survey of the coast of the United +States is in progress, an operation of the utmost consequence, in +reference to the commerce, navigation, and hydrography of the country. +The entire work, I need scarce say, is one of practical astronomy. The +scientific establishment which we this day inaugurate is looked to for +important cooperation in this great undertaking, and will no doubt +contribute efficiently to its prosecution. + +Astronomical observation furnishes by far the best means of defining the +boundaries of States, especially when the lines are of great length and +run through unsettled countries. Natural indications, like rivers and +mountains, however indistinct in appearance, are in practice subject to +unavoidable error. By the treaty of 1783, a boundary was established +between the United States and Great Britain, depending chiefly on the +course of rivers and highlands dividing the waters which flow into the +Atlantic Ocean from those which flow into the St. Lawrence. It took +twenty years to find out which river was the true St. Croix, that being +the starting point. England then having made the extraordinary discovery +that the Bay of Fundy is not a part of the Atlantic Ocean, forty years +more were passed in the unsuccessful attempt to re-create the highlands +which this strange theory had annihilated; and just as the two countries +were on the verge of a war, the controversy was settled by compromise. +Had the boundary been accurately described by lines of latitude and +longitude, no dispute could have arisen. No dispute arose as to the +boundary between the United States and Spain, and her successor, Mexico, +where it runs through untrodden deserts and over pathless mountains +along the 42d degree of latitude. The identity of rivers may be +disputed, as in the case of the St. Croix; the course of mountain chains +is too broad for a dividing line; the division of streams, as experience +has shown, is uncertain; but a degree of latitude is written on the +heavenly sphere, and nothing but an observation is required to read the +record. + + + QUESTIONS OF BOUNDARY. + +But scientific elements, like sharp instruments, must be handled with +scientific accuracy. A part of our boundary between the British +Provinces ran upon the forty-fifth degree of latitude; and about forty +years ago, an expensive fortress was commenced by the government of the +United States, at Rouse's Point, on Lake Champlain, on a spot intended +to be just within our limits. When a line came to be more carefully +surveyed, the fortress turned out to be on the wrong side of the line; +we had been building an expensive fortification for our neighbor. But in +the general compromises of the Treaty of Washington by the Webster and +Ashburton Treaty in 1842, the fortification was left within our +limits.[A] + +[Footnote A: Webster's Works. Vol. V., 110, 115.] + +Errors still more serious had nearly resulted, a few years since, in a +war with Mexico. By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in 1848, the +boundary line between the United States and that country was in part +described by reference to the town of El Paso, as laid down on a +specified map of the United States, of which a copy was appended to the +treaty. This boundary was to be surveyed and run by a joint commission +of men of science. It soon appeared that errors of two or three degrees +existed in the projection of the map. Its lines of latitude and +longitude did not conform to the topography of the region; so that it +became impossible to execute the text of the treaty. The famous Mesilla +Valley was a part of the debatable ground; and the sum of $10,000,000, +paid to the Mexican Government for that and for an additional strip of +territory on the southwest, was the smart-money which expiated the +inaccuracy of the map--the necessary result, perhaps, of the want of +good materials for its construction. + +It became my official duty in London, a few years ago, to apply to the +British Government for an authentic statement of their claim to +jurisdiction over New Zealand. The official _Gazette_ for the 2d of +October, 1840, was sent me from the Foreign Office, as affording the +desired information. This number of the _Gazette_ contained the +proclamations issued by the Lieutenant Governor of New Zealand, "in +pursuance of the instructions he received from the Marquis of Normanby, +one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State," asserting the +jurisdiction of his government over the islands of New Zealand, and +declaring them to extend "from 34 degrees 30 minutes North to 47 degrees +10 minutes South latitude." It is scarcely necessary to say that south +latitude was intended in both instances. This error of 69 degrees of +latitude, which would have extended the claim of British jurisdiction +over the whole breadth of the Pacific, had, apparently, escaped the +notice of that government. + + + COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION. + +It would be easy to multiply illustrations in proof of the great +practical importance of accurate scientific designations, drawn from +astronomical observations, in various relations connected with +boundaries, surveys, and other geographical purposes; but I must hasten +to + +3. A third important department, in which the services rendered by +astronomy are equally conspicuous. I refer to commerce and navigation. +It is mainly owing to the results of astronomical observation, that +modern commerce has attained such a vast expansion, compared with that +of the ancient world. I have already reminded you that accurate ideas in +this respect contributed materially to the conception in the mind of +Columbus of his immortal enterprise, and to the practical success with +which it was conducted. It was mainly his skill in the use of +astronomical instruments--imperfect as they were--which enabled him, in +spite of the bewildering variation of the compass, to find his way +across the ocean. + +With the progress of the true system of the universe toward general +adoption, the problem of finding the longitude at sea presented itself. +This was the avowed object of the foundation of the observatory at +Greenwich;[A] and no one subject has received more of the attention of +astronomers, than those investigations of the lunar theory on which the +requisite tables of the navigator are founded. The pathways of the ocean +are marked out in the sky above. The eternal lights of the heavens are +the only Pharos whose beams never fail, which no tempest can shake from +its foundation. Within my recollection, it was deemed a necessary +qualification for the master and the mate of a merchant-ship, and even +for a prime hand, to be able to "work a lunar," as it was called. The +improvements in the chronometer have in practice, to a great extent, +superseded this laborious operation; but observation remains, and +unquestionably will for ever remain, the only dependence for +ascertaining the ship's time and deducting the longitude from the +comparison of that time with the chronometer. + +[Footnote A: Grant's _Physical Astronomy_, p. 460.] + +It may, perhaps, be thought that astronomical science is brought already +to such a state of perfection that nothing more is to be desired, or at +least that nothing more is attainable, in reference to such practicable +applications as I have described. This, however, is an idea which +generous minds will reject, in this, as in every other department of +human knowledge. In astronomy, as in every thing else, the discoveries +already made, theoretical or practical, instead of exhausting the +science, or putting a limit to its advancement, do but furnish the means +and instruments of further progress. I have no doubt we live on the +verge of discoveries and inventions, in every department, as brilliant +as any that have ever been made; that there are new truths, new facts, +ready to start into recognition on every side; and it seems to me there +never was an age, since the dawn of time, when men ought to be less +disposed to rest satisfied with the progress already made, than the age +in which we live; for there never was an age more distinguished for +ingenious research, for novel result, and bold generalization. + +That no further improvement is desirable in the means and methods of +ascertaining the ship's place at sea, no one I think will from +experience be disposed to assert. The last time I crossed the Atlantic, +I walked the quarter-deck with the officer in charge of the noble +vessel, on one occasion, when we were driving along before a leading +breeze and under a head of steam, beneath a starless sky at midnight, at +the rate certainly of ten or eleven miles an hour. There is something +sublime, but approaching the terrible, in such a scene;--the rayless +gloom, the midnight chill,--the awful swell of the deep,--the dismal +moan of the wind through the rigging, the all but volcanic fires within +the hold of the ship. I scarce know an occasion in ordinary life in +which a reflecting mind feels more keenly its hopeless dependence on +irrational forces beyond its own control. I asked my companion how +nearly he could determine his ship's place at sea under favorable +circumstances. Theoretically, he answered, I think, within a +mile;--practically and usually within three or four. My next question +was, how near do you think we may be to Cape Race;--that dangerous +headland which pushes its iron-bound unlighted bastions from the shore +of Newfoundland far into the Atlantic,--first landfall to the +homeward-bound American vessel. We must, said he, by our last +observations and reckoning, be within three or four miles of Cape Race. +A comparison of these two remarks, under the circumstances in which we +were placed at the moment, brought my mind to the conclusion, that it is +greatly to be wished that the means should be discovered of finding the +ship's place more accurately, or that navigators would give Cape Race a +little wider berth. But I do not remember that one of the steam packets +between England and America was ever lost on that formidable point. + +It appears to me by no means unlikely that, with the improvement of +instrumental power, and of the means of ascertaining the ship's time +with exactness, as great an advance beyond the present state of art and +science in finding a ship's place at sea may take place, as was effected +by the invention of the reflecting quadrant, the calculation of lunar +tables, and the improved construction of chronometers. + + + BABBAGE'S DIFFERENCE MACHINE. + +In the wonderful versatility of the human mind, the improvement, when +made, will very probably be made by paths where it is least expected. +The great inducement to Mr. Babbage to attempt the construction of an +engine by which astronomical tables could be calculated, and even +printed, by mechanical means and with entire accuracy, was the errors in +the requisite tables. Nineteen such errors, in point of fact, were +discovered in an edition of Taylor's Logarithms printed in 1796; some of +which might have led to the most dangerous results in calculating a +ship's place. These nineteen errors, (of which one only was an error of +the press), were pointed out in the _Nautical Almanac_ for 1832. In one +of these _errata_ the seat of the error was stated to be in cosine of 14 +degrees 18 minutes 3 seconds. Subsequent examination showed that there +was an error of one second in this correction; and, accordingly, in the +_Nautical Almanac_ of the next year a new correction was necessary. But +in making the new correction of one second, a new error was committed of +ten degrees. Instead of cosine 14 degrees 18 minutes 2 seconds the +correction was printed cosine 4 degrees 18 minutes 2 seconds making it +still necessary, in some future edition of the _Nautical Almanac_, to +insert an _erratum_ in an _erratum_ of the _errata_ in Taylor's +logarithms.[A] + +[Footnote A: Edinburgh Review, Vol. LIX., 282.] + +In the hope of obviating the possibility of such errors, Mr. Babbage +projected his calculating, or, as he prefers to call it, his difference +machine. Although this extraordinary undertaking has been arrested, in +consequence of the enormous expense attending its execution, enough has +been achieved to show the mechanical possibility of constructing an +engine of this kind, and even one of far higher powers, of which Mr. +Babbage has matured the conception, devised the notation, and executed +the drawings--themselves an imperishable monument of the genius of the +author. + +I happened on one occasion to be in company with this highly +distinguished man of science, whose social qualities are as pleasing as +his constructive talent is marvelous, when another eminent _savant_, +Count Strzelecki, just returned from his Oriental and Australian tour, +observed that he found among the Chinese, a great desire to know +something more of Mr. Babbage's calculating machine, and especially +whether, like their own _swampan_, it could be made to go into the +pocket. Mr. Babbage good-humouredly observed that, thus far, he had been +very much out of pocket with it. + + + INCREASED COMMAND OF INSTRUMENTAL POWER. + +Whatever advances may be made in astronomical science, theoretical or +applied, I am strongly inclined to think that they will be made in +connection with an increased command of instrumental power. The natural +order in which the human mind proceeds in the acquisition of +astronomical knowledge is minute and accurate observation of the +phenomena of the heavens, the skillful discussion and analysis of these +observations, and sound philosophy in generalizing the results. + +In pursuing this course, however, a difficulty presented itself, which +for ages proved insuperable--and which to the same extent has existed in +no other science, viz.: that all the leading phenomena are in their +appearance delusive. It is indeed true that in all sciences superficial +observation can only lead, except by chance, to superficial knowledge; +but I know of no branch in which, to the same degree as in astronomy, +the great leading phenomena are the reverse of true; while they yet +appeal so strongly to the senses, that men who could foretell eclipses, +and who discovered the precession of the equinoxes, still believed that +the earth was at rest in the center of the universe, and that all the +host of heaven performed a daily revolution about it as a center. + +It usually happens in scientific progress, that when a great fact is at +length discovered, it approves itself at once to all competent judges. +It furnishes a solution to so many problems, and harmonizes with so many +other facts,--that all the other _data_ as it were crystallize at once +about it. In modern times, we have often witnessed such an impatience, +so to say, of great truths, to be discovered, that it has frequently +happened that they have been found out simultaneously by more than one +individual; and a disputed question of priority is an event of very +common occurrence. Not so with the true theory of the heavens. So +complete is the deception practiced on the senses, that it failed more +than once to yield to the suggestion of the truth; and it was only when +the visual organs were armed with an almost preternatural instrumental +power, that the great fact found admission to the human mind. + + + THE COPERNICAN SYSTEM. + +It is supposed that in the very dawn of science, Pythagoras or his +disciples explained the apparent motion of the heavenly bodies about the +earth by the diurnal revolution of the earth on its axis. But this +theory, though bearing so deeply impressed upon it the great seal of +truth, _simplicity_, was in such glaring contrast with the evidence of +the senses, that it failed of acceptance in antiquity or the middle +ages. It found no favor with minds like those of Aristotle, Archimedes, +Hipparchus, Ptolemy, or any of the acute and learned Arabian or mediaeval +astronomers. All their ingenuity and all their mathematical skill were +exhausted in the development of a wonderfully complicated and ingenious, +but erroneous history. The great master truth, rejected for its +simplicity, lay disregarded at their feet. + +At the second dawn of science, the great fact again beamed into the mind +of Copernicus. Now, at least, in that glorious age which witnessed the +invention of printing, the great mechanical engine of intellectual +progress, and the discovery of America, we may expect that this +long-hidden revelation, a second time proclaimed, will command the +assent of mankind. But the sensible phenomena were still too strong for +the theory; the glorious delusion of the rising and the setting sun +could not be overcome. Tycho de Brahe furnished his Observatory with +instruments superior in number and quality to all that had been +collected before; but the great instrument of discovery, which, by +augmenting the optic power of the eye, enables it to penetrate beyond +the apparent phenomena, and to discern the true constitution of the +heavenly bodies, was wanting at Uranienburg. The observations of Tycho +as discussed by Kepler, conducted that most fervid, powerful, and +sagacious mind to the discovery of some of the most important laws of +the celestial motions; but it was not till Galileo, at Florence, had +pointed his telescope to the sky, that the Copernican system could be +said to be firmly established in the scientific world. + + + THE HOME OF GALILEO. + +On this great name, my Friends, assembled as we are to dedicate a temple +to instrumental Astronomy, we may well pause for a moment. + +There is much, in every way, in the city of Florence to excite the +curiosity, to kindle the imagination, and to gratify the taste. +Sheltered on the north by the vine-clad hills of Fiesoli, whose +cyclopean walls carry back the antiquary to ages before the Roman, +before the Etruscan power, the flowery city (Fiorenza) covers the sunny +banks of the Arno with its stately palaces. Dark and frowning piles of +mediaeval structure; a majestic dome, the prototype of St. Peter's; +basilicas which enshrine the ashes of some of the mightiest of the dead; +the stone where Dante stood to gaze on the Campanile; the house of +Michael Angelo, still occupied by a descendant of his lineage and name, +his hammer, his chisel, his dividers, his manuscript poems, all as if he +had left them but yesterday; airy bridges, which seem not so much to +rest on the earth as to hover over the waters they span; the loveliest +creations of ancient art, rescued from the grave of ages again to +enchant the world; the breathing marbles of Michael Angelo, the glowing +canvas of Raphael and Titian, museums filled with medals and coins of +every age from Cyrus the younger, and gems and amulets and vases from +the sepulchers of Egyptian Pharaohs coeval with Joseph, and Etruscan +Lucumons that swayed Italy before the Romans,--libraries stored with the +choicest texts of ancient literature,--gardens of rose and orange, and +pomegranate, and myrtle,--the very air you breathe languid with music +and perfume;--such is Florence. But among all its fascinations, +addressed to the sense, the memory, and the heart, there was none to +which I more frequently gave a meditative hour during a year's +residence, than to the spot where Galileo Galilei sleeps beneath the +marble door of Santa Croce; no building on which I gazed with greater +reverence, than I did upon the modest mansion at Arcetri, villa at once +and prison, in which that venerable sage, by command of the Inquisition, +passed the sad closing years of his life. The beloved daughter on whom +he had depended to smooth his passage to the grave, laid there before +him; the eyes with which he had discovered worlds before unknown, +quenched in blindness: + + Ahime! quegli occhi si son fatti oscuri, + Che vider piu di tutti i tempi antichi, + E luce fur dei secoli futuri. + +That was the house, "where," says Milton (another of those of whom the +world was not worthy), "I found and visited the famous Galileo, grown +old--a prisoner to the Inquisition, for thinking on astronomy otherwise +than as the Dominican and Franciscan licensers thought."[A] Great +Heavens! what a tribunal, what a culprit, what a crime! Let us thank +God, my Friends, that we live in the nineteenth century. Of all the +wonders of ancient and modern art, statues and paintings, and jewels and +manuscripts,--the admiration and the delight of ages,--there was nothing +which I beheld with more affectionate awe than that poor, rough tube, a +few feet in length,--the work of his own hands,--that very "optic +glass," through which the "Tuscan Artist" viewed the moon, + + "At evening, from the top of Fesole, + Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands, + Rivers, or mountains, in her spotty globe." + +that poor little spy-glass (for it is scarcely more) through which the +human eye first distinctly beheld the surface of the moon--first +discovered the phases of Venus, the satellites of Jupiter, and the +seeming handles of Saturn--first penetrated the dusky depths of the +heavens--first pierced the clouds of visual error, which, from the +creation of the world, involved the system of the Universe. + +[Footnote A: Prose Works, vol. 1, p. 213.] + +There are occasions in life in which a great mind lives years of rapt +enjoyment in a moment. I can fancy the emotions of Galileo, when, first +raising the newly-constructed telescope to the heavens, he saw fulfilled +the grand prophecy of Copernicus, and beheld the planet Venus crescent +like the moon. It was such another moment as that when the immortal +printers of Mentz and Strasburg received the first copy of the Bible +into their hands, the work of their divine art; like that when Columbus, +through the gray dawn of the 12th of October, 1492 (Copernicus, at the +age of eighteen, was then a student at Cracow), beheld the shores of San +Salvador; like that when the law of gravitation first revealed itself to +the intellect of Newton; like that when Franklin saw by the stiffening +fibers of the hempen cord of his kite, that he held the lightning in his +grasp; like that when Leverrier received back from Berlin the tidings +that the predicted planet was found. + +Yes, noble Galileo, thou art right, _E pur si muove._ "It does move." +Bigots may make thee recant it; but it moves, nevertheless. Yes, the +earth moves, and the planets move, and the mighty waters move, and the +great sweeping tides of air move, and the empires of men move, and the +world of thought moves, ever onward and upward to higher facts and +bolder theories. The Inquisition may seal thy lips, but they can no more +stop the progress of the great truth propounded by Copernicus, and +demonstrated by thee, than they can stop the revolving earth. + +Close now, venerable sage, that sightless, tearful eye; it has seen what +man never before saw--it has seen enough. Hang up that poor little +spy-glass--it has done its work. Not Herschell nor Rosse have, +comparatively, done more. Franciscans and Dominicans deride thy +discoveries now; but the time will come when, from two hundred +observatories in Europe and America, the glorious artillery of science +shall nightly assault the skies, but they shall gain no conquests in +those glittering fields before which thine shall be forgotten. Rest in +peace, great Columbus of the heavens--like him scorned, persecuted, +broken-hearted!--in other ages, in distant hemispheres, when the +votaries of science, with solemn acts of consecration, shall dedicate +their stately edifices to the cause of knowledge and truth, thy name +shall be mentioned with honor. + + + NEW PERIODS IN ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCE. + +It is not my intention, in dwelling with such emphasis upon the +invention of the telescope, to ascribe undue importance, in promoting +the advancement of science, to the increase of instrumental power. Too +much, indeed, cannot be said of the service rendered by its first +application in confirming and bringing into general repute the +Copernican system; but for a considerable time, little more was effected +by the wondrous instrument than the gratification of curiosity and +taste, by the inspection of the planetary phases, and the addition of +the rings and satellites of Saturn to the solar family. Newton, +prematurely despairing of any further improvement in the refracting +telescope, applied the principle of reflection; and the nicer +observations now made, no doubt, hastened the maturity of his great +discovery of the law of gravitation; but that discovery was the work of +his transcendent genius and consummate skill. + +With Bradley, in 1741, a new period commenced in instrumental astronomy, +not so much of discovery as of measurement. The superior accuracy and +minuteness with which the motions and distances of the heavenly bodies +were now observed, resulted in the accumulation of a mass of new +materials, both for tabular comparison and theoretical speculation. +These materials formed the enlarged basis of astronomical science +between Newton and Sir William Herschell. His gigantic reflectors +introduced the astronomer to regions of space before unvisited--extended +beyond all previous conception the range of the observed phenomena, and +with it proportionably enlarged the range of constructive theory. The +discovery of a new primary planet and its attendant satellites was but +the first step of his progress into the labyrinth of the heavens. +Cotemporaneously with his observations, the French astronomers, and +especially La Place, with a geometrical skill scarcely, if at all, +inferior to that of its great author, resumed the whole system of +Newton, and brought every phenomenon observed since his time within his +laws. Difficulties of fact, with which he struggled in vain, gave way to +more accurate observations; and problems that defied the power of his +analysis, yielded to the modern improvements of the calculus. + + + HERSCHELL'S NEBULAR THEORY. + +But there is no _Ultima Thule_ in the progress of science. With the +recent augmentations of telescopic power, the details of the nebular +theory, proposed by Sir W. Herschell with such courage and ingenuity, +have been drawn in question. Many--most--of those milky patches in which +he beheld what he regarded as cosmical matter, as yet in an unformed +state,--the rudimental material of worlds not yet condensed,--have been +resolved into stars, as bright and distinct as any in the firmament. I +well recall the glow of satisfaction with which, on the 22d of +September, 1847, being then connected with the University at Cambridge, +I received a letter from the venerable director of the Observatory +there, beginning with these memorable words:--"You will rejoice with me +that the great nebula in Orion has yielded to the powers of our +incomparable telescope! * * * It should be borne in mind that this +nebula, and that of Andromeda [which has been also resolved at +Cambridge], are the last strongholds of the nebular theory."[A] + +[Footnote A: _Annals of the Observatory of Harvard College_, p. 121.] + +But if some of the adventurous speculations built by Sir William +Herschell on the bewildering revelations of his telescope have been +since questioned, the vast progress which has been made in sidereal +astronomy, to which, as I understand, the Dudley Observatory will be +particularly devoted, the discovery of the parallax of the fixed stars, +the investigation of the interior relations of binary and triple systems +of stars, the theories for the explanation of the extraordinary, not to +say fantastic, shapes discerned in some of the nebulous systems--whirls +and spirals radiating through spaces as vast as the orbit of Neptune;[A] +the glimpses at systems beyond that to which our sun belongs;--these are +all splendid results, which may fairly be attributed to the school of +Herschell, and will for ever insure no secondary place to that name in +the annals of science. + +[Footnote A: See the remarkable memoir of Professor Alexander, "On the +origin of the forms and the present condition of some of the clusters of +stars, and several of the nebulae," (Gould's _Astronomical Journal_, Vol. +iii, p. 95.)] + + + RELATIONSHIP OF THE LIBERAL ARTS. + +In the remarks which I have hitherto made, I have had mainly in view the +direct connection of astronomical science with the uses of life and the +service of man. But a generous philosophy contemplates the subject in +higher relations. It is a remark as old, at least, as Plato, and is +repeated from him more than once by Cicero, that all the liberal arts +have a common bond and relationship.[A] The different sciences +contemplate as their immediate object the different departments of +animate and inanimate nature; but this great system itself is but one, +and its parts are so interwoven with each other, that the most +extraordinary relations and unexpected analogies are constantly +presenting themselves; and arts and sciences seemingly the least +connected, render to each other the most effective assistance. + +[Footnote A: Archias, i.; De Oratore, iii., 21.] + +The history of electricity, galvanism, and magnetism, furnishes the most +striking illustration of this remark. Commencing with the meteorological +phenomena of our own atmosphere, and terminating with the observation of +the remotest heavens, it may well be adduced, on an occasion like the +present. Franklin demonstrated the identity of lightning and the +electric fluid. This discovery gave a great impulse to electrical +research, with little else in view but the means of protection from the +thunder-cloud. A purely accidental circumstance led the physician +Galvani, at Bologna, to trace the mysterious element, under conditions +entirely novel, both of development and application. In this new form it +became, in the hands of Davy, the instrument of the most extraordinary +chemical operations; and earths and alkalis, touched by the creative +wire, started up into metals that float on water, and kindle in the air. +At a later period, the closest affinities are observed between +electricity and magnetism, on the one hand; while, on the other, the +relations of polarity are detected between acids and alkalis. Plating +and gilding henceforth become electrical processes. In the last +applications of the same subtle medium, it has become the messenger of +intelligence across the land and beneath the sea; and is now employed by +the astronomer to ascertain the difference of longitudes, to transfer +the beats of the clock from one station to another, and to record the +moment of his observations with automatic accuracy. How large a share +has been borne by America in these magnificent discoveries and +applications, among the most brilliant achievements of modern science, +will sufficiently appear from the repetition of the names of Franklin, +Henry, Morse, Walker, Mitchell, Lock, and Bond. + + + VERSATILITY OF GENIUS. + +It has sometimes happened, whether from the harmonious relations to each +other of every department of science, or from rare felicity of +individual genius, that the most extraordinary intellectual versatility +has been manifested by the same person. Although Newton's transcendent +talent did not blaze out in childhood, yet as a boy he discovered great +aptitude for mechanical contrivance. His water-clock, self-moving +vehicle, and mill, were the wonder of the village; the latter propelled +by a living mouse. Sir David Brewster represents the accounts as +differing, whether the mouse was made to advance "by a string attached +to its tail," or by "its unavailing attempts to reach a portion of corn +placed above the wheel." It seems more reasonable to conclude that the +youthful discoverer of the law of gravitation intended by the +combination of these opposite attractions to produce a balanced +movement. It is consoling to the average mediocrity of the race to +perceive in these sportive assays, that the mind of Newton passed +through the stage of boyhood. But emerging from boyhood, what a bound it +made, as from earth to heaven! Hardly commencing bachelor of arts, at +the age of twenty-four, he untwisted the golden and silver threads of +the solar spectrum, simultaneously or soon after conceived the method of +fluxions, and arrived at the elemental idea of universal gravity before +he had passed to his master's degree. Master of Arts indeed! That +degree, if no other, was well bestowed. Universities are unjustly +accused of fixing science in stereotype. That diploma is enough of +itself to redeem the honors of academical parchment from centuries of +learned dullness and scholastic dogmatism. + +But the great object of all knowledge is to enlarge and purify the soul, +to fill the mind with noble contemplations, to furnish a refined +pleasure, and to lead our feeble reason from the works of nature up to +its great Author and Sustainer. Considering this as the ultimate end of +science, no branch of it can surely claim precedence of Astronomy. No +other science furnishes such a palpable embodiment of the abstractions +which lie at the foundation of our intellectual system; the great ideas +of time, and space, and extension, and magnitude, and number, and +motion, and power. How grand the conception of the ages on ages required +for several of the secular equations of the solar system; of distances +from which the light of a fixed star would not reach us in twenty +millions of years, of magnitudes compared with which the earth is but a +foot-ball; of starry hosts--suns like our own--numberless as the sands +on the shore; of worlds and systems shooting through the infinite +spaces, with a velocity compared with which the cannon-ball is a +way-worn, heavy-paced traveler![A] + +[Footnote A: Nichol's _Architecture of the Heavens_, p. 160.] + + + THE SPECTACLE OF THE HEAVENS. + +Much, however, as we are indebted to our observatories for elevating our +conceptions of the heavenly bodies, they present, even to the unaided +sight, scenes of glory which words are too feeble to describe. I had +occasion, a few weeks since, to take the early train from Providence to +Boston; and for this purpose rose at 2 o'clock in the morning. Every +thing around was wrapped in darkness and hushed in silence, broken only +by what seemed at that hour the unearthly clank and rush of the train. +It was a mild, serene midsummer's night; the sky was without a +cloud--the winds were whist. The moon, then in the last quarter, had +just risen, and the stars shone with a spectral luster but little +affected by her presence; Jupiter, two hours high, was the herald of the +day; the Pleiades, just above the horizon, shed their sweet influence in +the east; Lyra sparkled near the zenith; Andromeda veiled her newly +discovered glories from the naked eye in the south; the steady Pointers, +far beneath the pole, looked meekly up from the depths of the north to +their sovereign. + +Such was the glorious spectacle as I entered the train. As we proceeded, +the timid approach of twilight became more perceptible; the intense blue +of the sky began to soften, the smaller stars, like little children, +went first to rest; the sister-beams of the Pleiades soon melted +together; but the bright constellations of the west and north remained +unchanged. Steadily the wondrous transfiguration went on. Hands of +angels hidden from mortal eyes shifted the scenery of the heavens; the +glories of night dissolved into the glories of the dawn. The blue sky +now turned more softly gray; the great watch-stars shut up their holy +eyes; the east began to kindle. Faint streaks of purple soon blushed +along the sky; the whole celestial concave was filled with the inflowing +tides of the morning light, which came pouring down from above in one +great ocean of radiance; till at length, as we reached the Blue Hills, a +flash of purple fire blazed out from above the horizon, and turned the +dewy teardrops of flower and leaf into rubies and diamonds. In a few +seconds the everlasting gates of the morning were thrown wide open, and +the lord of day, arrayed in glories too severe for the gaze of man, +began his course. + +I do not wonder at the superstition of the ancient Magians, who in the +morning of the world went up to the hill-tops of Central Asia, and +ignorant of the true God, adored the most glorious work of his hand. But +I am filled with amazement, when I am told that in this enlightened age, +and in the heart of the Christian world, there are persons who can +witness this daily manifestation of the power and wisdom of the Creator, +and yet say in their hearts, "There is no God." + + + UNDISCOVERED BODIES. + +Numerous as are the heavenly bodies visible to the naked eye, and +glorious as are their manifestations, it is probable that in our own +system there are great numbers as yet undiscovered. Just two hundred +years ago this year, Huyghens announced the discovery of one satellite +of Saturn, and expressed the opinion that the six planets and six +satellites then known, and making up the perfect number of _twelve_, +composed the whole of our planetary system. In 1729 an astronomical +writer expressed the opinion that there might be other bodies in our +system, but that the limit of telescopic power had been reached, and no +further discoveries were likely to be made.[A] The orbit of one comet +only had been definitively calculated. Since that time the power of the +telescope has been indefinitely increased; two primary planets of the +first class, ten satellites, and forty-three small planets revolving +between Mars and Jupiter, have been discovered, the orbits of six or +seven hundred comets, some of brief period, have been ascertained;--and +it has been computed, that hundreds of thousands of these mysterious +bodies wander through our system. There is no reason to think that all +the primary planets, which revolve about the sun, have been discovered. +An indefinite increase in the number of asteroids may be anticipated; +while outside of Neptune, between our sun and the nearest fixed star, +supposing the attraction of the sun to prevail through half the +distance, there is room for ten more primary planets succeeding each +other at distances increasing in a geometrical ratio. The first of these +will, unquestionably, be discovered as soon as the perturbations of +Neptune shall have been accurately observed; and with maps of the +heavens, on which the smallest telescopic stars are laid down, it may be +discovered much sooner. + +[Footnote A: _Memoirs of A.A.S._, vol. iii, 275.] + + + THE VASTNESS OF CREATION. + +But it is when we turn our observation and our thoughts from our own +system, to the systems which lie beyond it in the heavenly spaces, that +we approach a more adequate conception of the vastness of creation. All +analogy teaches us that the sun which gives light to us is but one of +those countless stellar fires which deck the firmament, and that every +glittering star in that shining host is the center of a system as vast +and as full of subordinate luminaries as our own. Of these suns--centers +of planetary systems--thousands are visible to the naked eye, millions +are discovered by the telescope. Sir John Herschell, in the account of +his operations at the Cape of Good Hope (p. 381) calculates that about +five and a half millions of stars are visible enough to be _distinctly +counted_ in a twenty-foot reflector, in both hemispheres. He adds, that +"the actual number is much greater, there can be little doubt." His +illustrious father, estimated on one occasion that 125,000 stars passed +through the field of his forty foot reflector in a quarter of an hour. +This would give 12,000,000 for the entire circuit of the heavens, in a +single telescopic zone; and this estimate was made under the assumption +that the nebulae were masses of luminous matter not yet condensed into +suns. + +These stupendous calculations, however, form but the first column of the +inventory of the universe. Faint white specks are visible, even to the +naked eye of a practiced observer in different parts of the heavens. +Under high magnifying powers, several thousands of such spots are +visible,--no longer however, faint, white specks, but many of them +resolved by powerful telescopes into vast aggregations of stars, each of +which may, with propriety, be compared with the milky way. Many of these +nebulae, however, resisted the power of Sir Wm. Herschell's great +reflector, and were, accordingly, still regarded by him as masses of +unformed matter, not yet condensed into suns. This, till a few years +since, was, perhaps, the prevailing opinion; and the nebular theory +filled a large space in modern astronomical science. But with the +increase of instrumental power, especially under the mighty grasp of +Lord Rosse's gigantic reflector, and the great refractors at Pulkova and +Cambridge, the most irresolvable of these nebulae have given way; and the +better opinion now is, that every one of them is a galaxy, like our own +milky way, composed of millions of suns. In other words, we are brought +to the bewildering conclusion that thousands of these misty specks, the +greater part of them too faint to be seen with the naked eye, are, not +each a universe like our solar system, but each a "swarm" of universes +of unappreciable magnitude.[A] The mind sinks, overpowered by the +contemplation. We repeat the words, but they no longer convey distinct +ideas to the understanding. + +[Footnote A: Humboldt's _Cosmos_, iii. 41.] + + + CONCEPTIONS OF THE UNIVERSE. + +But these conclusions, however vast their comprehension, carry us but +another step forward in the realms of sidereal astronomy. A proper +motion in space of our sun, and of the fixed stars as we call them, has +long been believed to exist. Their vast distances only prevent its being +more apparent. The great improvement of instruments of measurement +within the last generation has not only established the existence of +this motion, but has pointed to the region in the starry vault around +which our whole solar and stellar system, with its myriad of attendant +planetary worlds, appears to be performing a mighty revolution. If, +then, we assume that outside of the system to which we belong and in +which our sun is but a star like Aldebaran or Sirius, the different +nebulae of which we have spoken,--thousands of which spot the +heavens--constitute a distinct family of universes, we must, following +the guide of analogy, attribute to each of them also, beyond all the +revolutions of their individual attendant planetary systems, a great +revolution, comprehending the whole; while the same course of analogical +reasoning would lead us still further onward, and in the last analysis, +require us to assume a transcendental connection between all these +mighty systems--a universe of universes, circling round in the infinity +of space, and preserving its equilibrium by the same laws of mutual +attraction which bind the lower worlds together. + +It may be thought that conceptions like these are calculated rather to +depress than to elevate us in the scale of being; that, banished as he +is by these contemplations to a corner of creation, and there reduced to +an atom, man sinks to nothingness in this infinity of worlds. But a +second thought corrects the impression. These vast contemplations are +well calculated to inspire awe, but not abasement. Mind and matter are +incommensurable. An immortal soul, even while clothed in "this muddy +vesture of decay," is in the eye of God and reason, a purer essence than +the brightest sun that lights the depths of heaven. The organized human +eye, instinct with life and soul, which, gazing through the telescope, +travels up to the cloudy speck in the handle of Orion's sword, and bids +it blaze forth into a galaxy as vast as ours, stands higher in the order +of being than all that host of luminaries. The intellect of Newton which +discovered the law that holds the revolving worlds together, is a nobler +work of God than a universe of universes of unthinking matter. + +If, still treading the loftiest paths of analogy, we adopt the +supposition,--to me I own the grateful supposition,--that the countless +planetary worlds which attend these countless suns, are the abodes of +rational beings like man, instead of bringing back from this exalted +conception a feeling of insignificance, as if the individuals of our +race were but poor atoms in the infinity of being, I regard it, on the +contrary, as a glory of our human nature, that it belongs to a family +which no man can number of rational natures like itself. In the order of +being they may stand beneath us, or they may stand above us; _he_ may +well be content with his place, who is made "a little lower than the +angels." + + + CONTEMPLATION OF THE HEAVENS. + +Finally, my Friends, I believe there is no contemplation better adapted +to awaken devout ideas than that of the heavenly bodies,--no branch of +natural science which bears clearer testimony to the power and wisdom of +God than that to which you this day consecrate a temple. The heart of +the ancient world, with all the prevailing ignorance of the true nature +and motions of the heavenly orbs, was religiously impressed by their +survey. There is a passage in one of those admirable philosophical +treatises of Cicero composed in the decline of life, as a solace under +domestic bereavement and patriotic concern at the impending convulsions +of the state, in which, quoting from some lost work of Aristotle, he +treats the topic in a manner which almost puts to shame the teachings of +Christian wisdom. + +"Praeclare ergo Aristoteles, 'Si essent,' inquit, 'qui sub terra semper +habitavissent, bonis et illustribus domiciliis quae essent ornata signis +atque picturis, instructaque rebus iis omnibus quibus abundant ii qui +beati putantur, nec tamen exissent unquam supra terram; accepissent +autem fama et auditione, esse quoddam numen et vim Deorum,--deinde +aliquo tempore patefactis terrae faucibus ex illis abditis sedibus +evadere in haec loca quae nos incolimus, atque exire potuissent; cum +repente terram et maria coelumque, vidissent; nubium magnitudinem +ventorumque vim, cognovissent; aspexissentque solem, ejusque tum +magnitudinem, pulchritudinemque; tum etiam efficientiam cognovissent, +quod is diem efficeret, toto coelo luce diffusa; cum autem terras nox +opacasset, tum coelum totum cernerent astris distinctum et ornatum, +lunaeque luminum varietatem tum crescentis tum senescentis, corumque +omnium ortus et occasus atque in aeternitate ratos immutabilesque +cursus;--haec cum viderent, profecto et esse Deos, et haec tanta opera +Deorum esse, arbitrarentur."[A] + +There is much by day to engage the attention of the Observatory; the +sun, his apparent motions, his dimensions, the spots on his disc (to us +the faint indications of movements of unimagined grandeur in his +luminous atmosphere), a solar eclipse, a transit of the inferior +planets, the mysteries of the spectrum;--all phenomena of vast +importance and interest. But night is the astronomer's accepted time; he +goes to his delightful labors when the busy world goes to its rest. A +dark pall spreads over the resorts of active life; terrestrial objects, +hill and valley, and rock and stream, and the abodes of men disappear; +but the curtain is drawn up which concealed the heavenly hosts. There +they shine and there they move, as they moved and shone to the eyes of +Newton and Galileo, of Kepler and Copernicus, of Ptolemy and Hipparchus; +yes, as they moved and shone when the morning stars sang together, and +all the sons of God shouted for joy. All has changed on earth; but the +glorious heavens remain unchanged. The plow passes over the site of +mighty cities,--the homes of powerful nations are desolate, the +languages they spoke are forgotten; but the stars that shone for them +are shining for us; the same eclipses run their steady cycle; the same +equinoxes call out the flowers of spring, and send the husbandman to the +harvest; the sun pauses at either tropic as he did when his course +began; and sun and moon, and planet and satellite, and star and +constellation and galaxy, still bear witness to the power, the wisdom, +and the love, which placed them in the heavens and uphold them there. + +[Footnote A: "Nobly does Aristotle observe, that if there were beings +who had always lived under ground, in convenient, nay, in magnificent +dwellings, adorned with statues and pictures, and every thing which +belongs to prosperous life, but who had never come above ground; who had +heard, however, by fame and report, of the being and power of the gods; +if, at a certain time, the portals of the earth being thrown open, they +had been able to emerge from those hidden abodes to the regions +inhabited by us; when suddenly they had seen the earth, the sea, and the +sky; had perceived the vastness of the clouds and the force of the +winds; had contemplated the sun, his magnitude and his beauty, and still +more his effectual power, that it is he who makes the day, by the +diffusion of his light through the whole sky; and, when night had +darkened the earth, should then behold the whole heavens studded and +adorned with stars, and the various lights of the waxing and waning +moon, the risings and the settings of all these heavenly bodies, and the +courses fixed and immutable in all eternity; when, I say, they should +see these things, truly they would believe that there were gods, and +these so great things are their works."--Cicero, _De Natura Deorum_ lib. +ii., section 30.] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE USES OF ASTRONOMY*** + + +******* This file should be named 16227.txt or 16227.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/2/2/16227 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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