TH^^DEAVOUB. 



We are of God^S "workmansliip, created in 

 his image, an^:^ft©a with, powers to perceive 

 and appreciate the wonders of his skill in the 

 creation whiclj* exists around and above us. 

 It is our priyiege that we find delight in the 

 investigati6n of causes and the detection of 

 analogieSj^s well as in observing the distinc- 

 tive featurejf'of objects in the great system of 

 harmonies which we designate as Nature. 

 "When thtf visual organs have reached the 

 limit of -dieir ability, the eyes of the mind 

 penetrate beneath the surface in the dis- 

 covery of laws, and the imagination and the 

 fancy blend with physical facts the graces of 

 poetry, and so heighten and intensify enjoy- 

 ments which had their beginning in the 

 merest exercise of the senses. Science de- 

 fines and classifies the results of research, 

 brings together related facts, deduces from 

 them general conclusions, and so lays the 

 bases of systems of knowledge which are the 

 pride and glory of our civilization. This is 

 an age of invention and discovery, and the 

 meanest affairs of life, equally with the 

 noblest works of utility and elegance, are in- 

 debted to science, either for their origin, or 

 at least, for the fundamental principles out 

 of which they spring. "VVe banish darkness 

 from our streets by the help of the chemist ; 

 we know the day and hour at which an 

 Vol. 1.— iTo. 1. 



eclipse or occultation will occur by the pre- 

 dictions of the astronomer; the sun paints 

 pictures for us on media prepared by the 

 photographer ; and places separated by dis- 

 tancchold converse by the instantaneous com- 

 munications of the electric wire. To speak 

 lighi^ly of scientific studies is to ignore the 

 entjre fabric of our social life, with all its 

 amelioration for the body and the spirit; 

 . but to stimulate the spirit of research, is to 

 help in the onward march of human advance- 

 ment, and realize the idea of the poet, that 

 " the thoughts of men are widened by the 

 progress of the suns." 



By " Eecreative Science," we understand 

 the cxiltivation of the various branches of 

 physical r.nd mathematical inquiry in a way 

 to afford amusement as well as instruction. 

 Every science has its recreative features ; 

 every separate and single fact in Nature has 

 a sunny side, and when we have solved a 

 hard problem we may find repose and 

 refreshment in tracing out what poetical 

 analogies it may yet induct us to in the 

 consideration of its recreative features. The 

 properties of a sphere require the highest 

 abilities of the mathematician to demonstrate, 

 but we have the model of every sphere in a 

 dew-drop; it is held together in the co- 

 herence of its particles by the same forces 

 which give form and consistence to the 

 world ; and if the astronomer were to use the 

 dew-drop as a key to the fundamental laws of 



