OiV THE CULTIVATION OF SCIENCE. 643 



no indications of emerging, and cannot probably do so except by- 

 influences from without. 



Whatever opinion may be adopted as to the origin of man, it can- 

 not be denied that we have descended from a race of ancestors but 

 little elevated above the brute from naked savages, the denizens 

 of caves, feeding upon wild fruits, devouring shell-fish, or struggling 

 for mere existence with the larger quadrupeds of the times, gradually 

 emerging from this state by the invention of weapons of flint and bone, 

 through long geological periods, into a pastoral condition ; thence, 

 again, into a higher state of mental development, which culminated in 

 the civilization of Greece and Rome, in which the true in sentiment, 

 and the beautiful in art, were developed in an astonishing degree. 

 This progress was mainly due to the migratory character of the races 

 which contributed to the condition we have mentioned. Tribes which 

 remain entirely isolated may utilize the suggestions and facilities of 

 life which are afforded them by their localities, and when these are 

 exhausted become permanently stationary, but tribes impelled by want 

 of subsistence, or the desire of conquest to migrate to other localities, 

 as is stated to have been the case with the Aryan race in their migra- 

 tion from the East to the West, gather up the separate civilizations 

 as they advance, and hence, by accretion or intercourse with others, 

 rise to a higher plane. But this mode of advance is limited, and 

 could make no further progress than that exhibited in the brilliant 

 though unsymmetrical civilization of Greece and of Rome. This 

 civilization, though it challenges our admiration and marks an im- 

 portant era in the history of the human race, was deficient in two of 

 the essential elements of further progress, namely first, in the pre- 

 vailing influence of the higher and holier morality of Christianity; 

 and, secondly, in that scientific knowledge of the laws of Nature 

 which enables man to control its operations and to employ its ener- 

 gies to effect his purposes in ameliorating the condition of the earth. 

 Without these elements of progress the Romans could not advance 

 beyond a limited degree, and finally fell a prey to their barbarian 

 conquerors. 



Being confined in my remarks on this occasion to the discussion of 

 the influence of physical science, I can only advert to the ameliorating 

 effect produced by Christianity in its restraining influence on the semi- 

 barbarism which followed the fall of the Roman Empire,- and its aid 

 in preserving the learning of the past through the darkness of the 

 middle ages, and must leave to our theological brethren the full dis- 

 cussion of this part of our theme. 



It is a fundamental principle of political economy that the physi- 

 cal state of man can only be ameliorated by means of labor, or, in 

 other words, by the transformation of matter from a crude to an arti- 

 ficial condition. But this cannot be effected, except by expending 

 what is called poioer or energy. In ancient times, almost the ex- 



