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.