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.