LECTURES AND ESSAYS READ AT INSTITUTES. 187 



has learned the composition of water. He has learned the constitution of the 

 earth's crnst and the properties of its constituent parts and the relative 

 abundance or scarcity of each. He has learned which of these enter into 

 living organisms — how they enter and in what proportion. Science has been 

 gradually bringing to light this very knowledge which necessarily constitutes 

 the basis of a rational agriculture. This rational agriculture is a creature of 

 experiments. It is rapidly gaining recognition, and is affecting our best 

 practices to-day. In a far larger way ic is destined to be the agriculture of the 

 future. The old prejudice against scientific knowledge as applied to the 

 operations of the farm is speedily passing away, and the more progressive 

 farmers are realizing that the roost important questions are to be solved by 

 chemical analysis, by the microscope, the spectroscope, and the balances so 

 fine as to weigh the minute particles of dust that settle on them ; solved by 

 the trained scientist in the Laboratory. This being the case the investment 

 which the State has made in laboratories and apparatus at the agricultural 

 college will I have no doubt prove to be among the wisest and most profitable 

 that could have been made. It is our desire and cherished hope that it may 

 prove like the five talents in the hands of the servant in the parable, that those 

 to whom the State hag committed this trust may be able to point to their stew- 

 ardship and say, '"behold the five talents thou didst give and beside them the 

 .five talents more which they have gained," and that an appreciative public 

 may respond : "Well done, good and faithful servants." 



PRACTICAL PPIYSIOLOGY. 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 

 [Delivered at Otsego and Caro Institutes.] 



There is much of kindly feeling manifested in the humerous Irishism of the 

 man who said to his priest, ^'Indade, sir, I hope that you may live to eat the 

 rooster that shall crow on your grave." A life full of years usually betokens 

 healthf ulness and sobriety] and so we may all devoutly wish to live to a ripe 

 old age, and may well desire for our friends a like happy experience. In 

 truth, next to a warm Christian heart, by which I mean a heart firm in the 

 right, and tender in its regard and sympathy for every living thing, there is 

 nothing more desirable than good health and long life. In fact good health 

 is no mean factor in the work of building up a noble Christian manhood. 

 The dispeptic is proverbially cross and disagreeable. There was certainly 

 point in the remark of President Phinney, who upon hearing a young man, in 

 prayer meeting, detail in a solemn, woe-begone style a most gloomy lugubri- 

 ous experience, said: "Young man you are billions, you need something to 

 work on your liver." There are few Mark Tapleys among us, and we shall do 

 well if we keep jolly through all of life's labyrinth of wicked, faithless men, 

 and untoward fortune, and circumstance, even if we can in all cases call to 

 our aid a strong, vigorous, and hearty physique. While then we may well 

 follow Christ's command of "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his 

 righteousness; " we should thereafter lose no time in seeking that second price- 

 less gem, good, vigorous health. 



Farming has often been characterized, and rightly too, as the most health- 



