The old oak table, of hue so sable, And each antique chair, stiff, high-backed and queer, I laid still as death! restrained every breath, They seemed to advance, in a weird like dance, I averted my face, from the hideous race, And shuddering with dread, enveloped my head, Soon came a faint cry, and something ran by Round and round it flew, the lamp it o'erthrew Friends found me next day, as senseless as clay At my bed-side sat, my favorite cat By her,-lay two slaughtered mice. There was then no doubt, of what caused the rout, And how she got there, was equally clear, I had quickly undrest, and retired to rest, Puss wand'ring astray, while seeking for prey, Had slyly crept in ;-then followed the din J. M. C. AN EXCELLENT SPEECH. We never read a speech of Mr. Everett without wishing to preserve it. The following effort is certainly "too good to be lost," and as it has not yet appeared in any other than newspaper form, we gladly give up to it a few pages of the Messenger. We are indebted for a copy of it, in a Boston paper, to the courtesy of the distinguished author.-Ed. Mess. REMARKS OF MR. EDWARD EVERETT, AT THE DINNER TABLE AT CAMBRIDGE, AUGUST 21, 1849. |dividuals in the vicinity who have manifested an interest in the Institution, and a desire to promote the convenience and gratification of the members, and the objects of the meeting. There still remains a debt of this kind to be acquitted; and I propose, Sir, before I take my seat, to endeavor to perform it, by moving a vote of thanks to the ladies who have honored the meetings of the Association, both here at the social table and in the Sections, with their presence and counte nance. Before I do this, I will crave leave to say a few words upon the objects of the Association and the character of its meetings the present year. This I shall do with the greatest boldness, even though I may be breaking through the regulation which was adopted, for very good reasons, that there should be no speaking at the dinner table. We have reached the last day, on which we shall meet together, and my bad example, in this respect, cannot be drawn into an inconvenient precedent for the present year. But I am desirous of availing myself of the opportunity to say, that, in my humble opinion, the transactions of the Association, at its present meeting have been highly creditable to its members and to the science of the country. I had an opportunity in 1841 of attending the annual meeting of a similar association at Florence, consisting of between nine hundred and a thousand of the men of science of Italy and the neighboring countries; and in the years 1842, 1844, and 1845, I enjoyed a similar opportunity in reference to the meetings of the British Association for the Promotion of Science. It appears to me, that, in the scientific character of its proceedings at the present meeting, the American Association will compare advantageously with those of Europe. The number of men of science in attendance is much less; but I think the volume of this year's transactions when published will show proportionably a large number of communications, on interesting and important topics, in most of the departments of science, and exhibiting as much original research and sound speculation, as the annual reports of any of the European Associations. I make this remark with the less hesitation, because I have myself borne no other part in the scientific labors of the Association than that of a gratified and instructed listener; Being the last day of the Session of the American Asso- and also because among the circumstances which ciation for the Advancement of Science. have enabled the Association to present such fair ground of comparison with its European contemporaries, no one can forget that European talent of the highest order is to be found in our I rise, Mr. President, with your permission, for the discharge of a yet unperformed duty. We have, sir, in the hall above, in the earlier part of ranks.* the day, adopted resolutions of thanks to the worthy officers of the Association; to the citizens of Cambridge, and the associations and in-Neuchatel. * Among the active members of the Association at the present meeting were Professors Agassiz and Guyot of I think no one, Sir, could have attended any immediate origin.-Or rather there is a happy considerable number of the meetings of the As- inspiration,— -an unexplained, inexplicable kinsociation, and witnessed its course of operations,dling of mind,-which no logic can teach, no disbut must have been satisfied, if he had doubts cipline certainly produce. That the globe was before, of the utility of such an institution. A spherical was not first conceived by Columbus; meeting of scientific men from every part of the how happened it that he first formed the practiUnion with the opportunity thus afforded for en- cal conception of reaching the Indies by sailing tering into friendly personal relations is itself an to the West? The perturbations of Uranus have object of no mean importance; especially in a been sustained by astronomers for a quarter of a country so large as this, and destitute of any one century;-what inspired Leverrier and Adams great metropolis. It cannot have escaped any alone, with the happy thought of deducing from one's observation that much time, labor, and skil-them the existence of an undiscovered planet? ful research must have been devoted to the pre- If we use the term "discovery," in reference paration of many of the memoirs, which it is to great general laws of nature, such as the Cohighly probable would not have been bestowed pernican System, the attraction of gravitation, upon scientific pursuits, under other circumstan- the relations of electricity and magnetism, then ces. Much is gained, at all times, by the actual the unreasonableness of objecting to scientific presence of the instructor, and the animation of Associations, that they have not produced and the living voice. An impression is made by them are not likely to produce such results, is still more which is rarely produced by the lifeless page of apparent. Discoveries of this kind, even though the printed volume. I do not of course mean apparently referable to single authors, to particuthat lecturing can ever take the place of study; lar periods of time, and to distinct courses of rebut it is an admirable assistant. Then too the search, are so only in a limited degree. They meetings of the Association possess the advan- are the product of the whole condition of science tage of affording, in the discussions to which the at the time;-they are its consummate flower; memoirs are subjected, an opportunity for the its ripened fruit. Such discoveries strike their friendly collision of intellect and the instructive roots far into the past,—they are not made; they comparison of opinions, which nothing but oral have grown. The preparation of centuries has instruction can yield. These topics might be gradually opened the way for them;-hundreds easily expanded, but I think I should undertake of minds have taken part in the discovery, huna very superfluous office should I endeavor more dreds of years before it is made. At length the in detail on the present occasion, to set forth the world of science is ripe for the grand result; usefulness of institutions of this kind. the fullness of time is come; the gifted genius I am aware that it has been objected to them destined to put the last hand to the work is at home and abroad, that they do not lead to the born, and the "discovery" is made; not seldiscovery of truth. The question is frequently dom, perhaps, in popular acceptation, with an asked, in reference to the great European Asso- exaggeration of its absolute novelty; an overciations of this kind, What discoveries have been rating of the originality of the discoverer and made by them? Well, Sir, in this demand for consequent injustice to his predecessors.-Pope Discoveries as the test of usefulness, on the part beautifully says, of associated or individual effort, there is no little “Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night;— vagueness and a good deal of injustice. It apGod said, 'Let Newton be';-and all was light.” pears to me quite unreasonable as an exclusive test of utility, to demand either of scientific bod- This certainly is very happily said, by way of ies, or of single votaries of science, that they epigrammatic eulogy;—but it would not bear scishould make discoveries. If by "discoveries" we entific examination. The illustrious philosopher mean matters of fact before unknown, such as as just and modest as he was great, did not so the discovery of the existence of the American deem of himself.-Were the laws of nature Continent, or of the planet Uranus or Neptune, wholly hidden in darkness before the time of or of the effect of vaccination, it would be shut- Newton? Had Copernicus, Tycho, Kepler, Gating up the domain of science within very nar- lileo thrown no light upon them? row limits, to exclude from it all but a very few, So, too, and perhaps this is a still more imporwho to the greatest sagacity and generally also tant reflection, after the discovery of some such the greatest diligence, have united the greatest general law is made, the work of Science is by good fortune. If we set up this standard, we no means exhausted. Even if it were true that should strike at the root not merely of this As-Scientific Associations had no tendency to prosociation, but of almost every other specific form mote discovery, in either sense of the word, it of scientific action.-Discoveries such as I men- might still be a matter of great importance, that tion are, necessarily, more or less casual in their they furnish occasions and facilities for illustra consequences of these primordial truths;-to plant and people these scientific continents (if I may be allowed to carry on Cowley's metaphor) with new experiments and observations; to build them up with harmonious systems; to civilize them into a refined adaptation to the wants and service of moral beings. ting and diffusing more widely the knowledge of seen by civilized man; Copernicus may sweep the great laws of Nature. There is a point on away the cycles and epicycles of the Ptolemaic which, if time permitted, and I were addressing theory and establish the Sun on his central an audience of young men who needed encour-throne; and Newton may demonstrate the wonagements to engage with ardor in the pursuit of drous law which binds every member of the sysScience, I would gladly enlarge. I would say to tem,-forever attracted and forever repelled,—to them, fear not that the masters who have gone that mysterious Centre. But after all these great before you, have reaped the field of Science so discoveries have been made, there is not only thoroughly, as to leave neither harvest nor glean- room, there is a crying demand, a great intellecing for their successors. True, indeed, the New - | tual necessity for further progress. Other discovtons have lived and taught ; not to supersede and erers, other philosophers must rise to unfold the render superfluous, but to prepare the way for disciples and followers, not unworthy to be called the Newtons of after ages. The discovery of a great law is an enlargement not an exhaustion of the domain of Science. Each new truth is a lever for the discovery of further truth. It may never be given again to the human intellect, (but who shall say that it never will be given,) to atThis is the work left to the mass of the scientain another generalization at once of such di- tific community, and no one can reasonably deny vine simplicity and stupendous magnitude as the that an association like ours is an approved and Law of Gravitation. But I think it may with effective part of that system of concerted action, truth be said, that The System of the Universe by which men advantageously unite themselves resting on that law has been more fully developed to accomplish desirable ends. And it is most by the successors of Newton than by himself. cheering to learn from the example of the great It was believed in 1729 that the maximum of tel- discoverers that the materials for carrying on their escopic power had been atained :—And the Solar work,-the elements of farther discovery,-surSystem as then understood comprised six primary round us on every side. There is no error more planets and ten secondaries!-There are now gross than that the knowledge of the great truths discovered nineteen planetary bodies which re- which form the glory of modern science must be volve round the Sun, and (if we allow two satel- directly sought from the depths of the heavens lites for Neptune) twenty-one secondaries! above or of the abyss below. Or if philosophiThis important truth, that a great discovery cal analysis enables us, in some degree, to penenot only leads to, but stands in need of further trate to the mysteries of the earth we inhabit or researches, is most happily expressed in a fine of the mighty universe of which it forms so small apostrophe of the poet Cowley to the philoso- a part, it is by virtue of laws and principles expher Hobbes, which attracted my notice as I emplified as clearly in the motes that cheaply happened into the bookseller's the day before people the sun-beam,—as in the mighty spheres yesterday, and seemed to me so full of wisdom that are held in their orbits by the Sun. The as to impress itself upon my memory. Cowley law of gravitation was suggested to Newton, not addresses Hobbes as "The great Columbus of by the magnificent spectacle of a comet drawn the golden lands of new philosophies." Few down to the sun from the outskirts of the solar persons, at the present day would be disposed to admit the claim of the philosopher of Malmesbury to this magnificent title. But the strain in which Cowley proceeds, however uncouth in point of versification, is singularly acute and discriminating: system, but by an apple falling from a tree to the earth. The glass which I hold in my hand, with the water it contains, is of itself a richly stored cabinet of scientific truth. By the ancients, the water, believed to be a simple substance, was no doubt regarded chiefly as the element designed to moisten and fertilize the earth, to quench the "Thou great Columbus of the golden land of new Phi- thirst of man, to separate Greece from the lands losophies! Thy task is harder much than his, For thy learned America is Not only first found out by thee, of the Barbarians. By a great progress of art, it came to serve for the construction of a clepsydra. Modern science early took note of the expansive powers of steam;-The Marquis of Worcester, Savery, and Newcomen attempted and Bolton and Watt, perfected the machinery which has made the vapor of boiling water the life-spring The verse is rude, but the lesson is significant. of modern industry, and in the hands of our own Columbus may set foot on a continent before un-Fulton converted it into the great means of com Has planted, peopled, built and civilized it." Resolved, that the thanks of the American Association for the Advancement of Science be given to the ladies who have honored the meetings of the Association with their attendance. merce and communication around the globe. [present year, will be followed at the future meetQuestioned by chemical science, the same lim-ings of the Association. When we recal the pid element is made to yield to Cavendish and names of Caroline Herschell, of Mary SomerPriestley the secret of its gaseous composition, ville, and may I not add of our own Maria and thus becomes the starting point of no incon- Mitchell, we need no arguments to shew that the siderable portion of our modern chemistry; teach- cultivation of science is by no means the excluing us at the outset the somewhat startling fact, sive mission of man. The time may come perthat aqua fortis and the common air we breathe haps when my successor in the duty I now perconsist of precisely the same ingredients, in pro- form will be called upon to return the acknowportions a little varied. Physiology here takes ledgments of the Association not only to the her turn; and my friend opposite, who favors me ladies who have honored the meetings by their with an approving smile, (Prof. Agassiz,) is ready presence, but to those who have contributed to to subject the contents of the glass to the crea- their Scientific Transactions. I beg leave, Sir, tive focus of his microscope, and to demonstrate to submit the following motion:— the organization, circulation, and whole animal economy of orders of beings, whose existence is apparent only under the higher powers. Not content with the harvest of science to be reaped from the water, our worthy President (Professor Henry) is thinking of the glass. To his eye it is a tolerable cylinder. His mind runs upon electricity, induction, and the relations of galvanism and magnetism, to the illustration of which he has himself so materially contributed. Here we reach the magnetic telegraph,-the electric clock, and their application to the measurement of differences of longitude, and the observation and record of celestial phenomena;—an apparatus so wonderful that, as we have heard in the Sections, a child of twelve years old, who sees it for the first time, can observe and record the passage of a star over the wires of the micrometer, more correctly than it could be done by the most skilful observer in the ordinary way. Thus we are carried back to a more accurate observation of the heavens, by that electric spark which Franklin first drew from the clouds. The question on this resolution was put by the President, and it was carried unanimously. EDITOR'S TABLE. CHRISTMAS. It is a privilege of which we gladly avail ourselves, to send off a "merry Christmas" to each of our subscribers in the last pages of our December number, with the certainty of its being received, through the agency of steam, in time for the annual festivity. Our readers in Paris, (and we have many in that far-distant metropolis,) will get our benison before the jeu de Noël is performBut it is time, Sir, to think of performing the ed. Those who dwell in the far west, by the waters of duty for which I originally rose to address you also be assured of our good wishes over the game-dinner the great Lakes, and in the dark forests of Minesota, will It is one of the most pleasing incidents of the of Christmas day. Certain New England friends who present meeting of the Association that they have stoutly maintain the orthodoxy of the blessed season in been attended by so many ladies. Many of the the face of Thanksgiving frolics, and hold to the doctrine members of the Association from a distance have of mince-pies as opposed to pumpkins, will accept and been accompanied with their wives and daugh- of the holiday period. And upon some good people on return, we trust, our cordial gratulations on the approach ters who, together with the ladies of Cambridge, the borders of our sister Republic, who have helped to have not only from day to day honored our so-extend the Messenger among their fellow-citizens of Texas cial table with their company, but have given we shall come down, (without a failure of the mail,) with their diligent attention in the Sections. The our "merry Christmas" on the eve of the "witching and hallowed time." Gentle readers, to one and all we say Association has, I understand, been favored in Benedicite! this way for the first time at the present meeting. I am sure I speak for all those who have taken part in the scientific transactions, that they have been animated and encouraged by this unusual presence; and the preserving attendance of our fair friends to the close of the session authorizes the hope that they have been gratified listeners. How much our social meetings in this hall have been enlivened by their presence I need not say. I trust the example which they have set, the THE YEAR BOOKS. It was Leigh Hunt, we believe, who said in December" How pleasant it is to have fires again!" This exclamation of the jolly old cockney-poet is suggestive of in-door comfort in every shape, not only of ruddy hearthstones, but of small, well-furnished parlors, of great armsight of a centre-table covered with these resplendent volchairs, and of the companionship of the annuals. The umes, arrayed in the leather of Morocco and gleaming with the purple of Tyre, goes far to reconcile us to the harness, surrounded by a large multitude, assembled to do notion that we live in a highly enlightened age of the him honor in the city of his early manhood, the metropoworld. What would our respected progenitors of the last lis of his native State. Those who were present will not century say, could they behold the dazzling books with readily forget it. Conspicuous on that occasion was a which we now adorn our sitting-rooms! Indeed, what young soldier, distinguished by gallant service and a sewould the old Athenians, who walked among architectu- vere wound in the war with Mexico, whom Gen. Scott had ral triumphs that mankind has ever since vainly endeav- honored with the confidential relation of aid-de-camp. In ored to imitate, say of these intellectual toys, could they a late number of the Literary World we find a poem inrise from their graves and visit the book-shops of Broad-scribed to this gentleman, which will be read with interest way! Did Pericles have it in his power to make Aspasia by those who know him. such a present as the Drawing Room Scrap Book? Were there any Books of Beauty to preserve in line-engraving the features of Cleopatra? We are seriously of opinion that if we were called upon to say in what respect the nineteenth century most excels the age of Grecian supremacy, we should pass by the telegraph and the rail-car, and mention the exceeding perfection to which the art of bookmaking has been brought. In saying this we allude more especially to the English publications, for in all the essentials of excellence in this department, John Bull is very far before us. We should advise our friends, therefore, who design making the customary interchange of tokens of affection, at the end of this year of grace, to get the London annuals, as "books which are books." Among the vast multitude of glittering quartos and folios from the American press with which the tables of the booksellers are loaded, for 1850, we have seen few that deserve special commendation and these few are not, strictly speaking, of the class of annuals. We mention such as we think meritorious. A beautiful volume is the new edition of the Poems of Amelia, from the press of Appleton & Co. The golden cadences of Mrs. Welby's song are too familiar to the ears of our readers to demand our praise, so that we need only say that the present edition is a most worthy and acceptable one. A few very choice engravings, from designs by Weir, set off the sweet numbers of our favorite poetess. The same publishers present a sumptuous volume in the "Women of the Old and New Testament," richly bound in styles from the antique. The engravings are very well executed, but we should have preferred, in the treatment of the subjects, a closer imitation of the Italian masters, as in the Madonna of Raphael in the Frontispiece. We most cordially commend the volume to the prettybook-purchasing community. TO BREVET CAPTAIN SCHUYLER HAMILTON. "Mira il favorecido del Dios."* It was not superstition's breath THEKLA. One of the most touching of the compositions Putnam, never backward in his branch of the arts, gives of poor Poe, is the Sonnet to his mother-in-law. It bears us a large batch of elegantly illustrated gift-books,—The the impress of sincere feeling and seems to have been writTales of a Traveller, Knickerbocker's History of New ten in his better moments, when his spirit returning from York, Irving's Life of Goldsmith, and Mrs. Ellet's "Family"the misty mid-region of Weir" and the companionship of Pictures from the Bible," with designs by Darley, Maclise the Ghouls, betrayed that touch of nature which makes and other eminent artists. The Illustrated Sketch-Book, the whole world kin. Here is the Sonnetpublished last year, met with so large a sale, that Mr. Putnam brings out a new edition of it to accompany those above mentioned. We must notice also a really superb book published by Putnam, the "Lays of the Western World," which is highly creditable to the country, and is, perhaps, the very best of the flowering chrysanthemums of literature. SONNET TO MY MOTHER. Devoutly singing unto one another, None so devotional as that of "mother," Filling my heart of hearts, where God installed you, Every now and then we have a gala-day of of pomp and parade, in our quiet little city of Richmond, which affords the daily press a capital opportunity for a good local paragraph. One such has recently occurred. That great chieftain, General Winfield Scott, was received by the military and citizens of Richmond, on Tuesday * When severely wounded, Capt. Hamilton was taken 13th November. The reception took place in the south- to a hamlet near Monterey, where the Alcalde, observing ern portico of the capitol, where an address of welcome was made by Wm. H. Macfarland, Esq., to which Gen. Scott responded in becoming terms. It was a brave sight, an autumnal sun shining down on that old warrior in his the impress of a bullet on the button of his coat, assembling the children of the village around him, exclaimed"Mira el favorecido del Dios!"-Behold one favored of God. |