306 WKITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. [1853 



THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 



CLOSING ADDRESS AT THE EXHIBITION OF THE METROPOLI- 

 TAN mechanics' institute, of WASHINGTON. 



[From a pamphlet edition, published by the M. M. Institute, in 1853.] 



Delivered March 19, 1853. 



At the close of the Exhibition of the Metropolitan Me- 

 chanics' Institute it becomes my duty to offer some remarks 

 relative to the objects and organization of the association ; 

 and in addition to these, I shall beg leave to call your atten- 

 tion to some points which present themselves more promi- 

 nently to my mind, amidst the extended field of the history 

 of mechanical inventions. 



The object of this Institute is twofold: first, the improve- 

 ment of mechanics and artists; second, the improvement 

 of arts and inventions. 



These two objects are inseparably connected, and the one 

 necessarily follows as a consequence of the other. Whatever 

 tends to develop the mind of the workman tends to advance 

 the condition of his art. Every material operation and every 

 invention is founded on some law of nature, and the more 

 intimately the operator is acquainted with the principles of 

 his art the better is he fitted to improve it. Without a knowl- 

 edge of science the practice of art is mere empiricism, often 

 involving operations which are not only unnecessary to the 

 production of the desired result, but frequently detrimental. 



The savage who recovers his health after drinking from 

 a mineral spring considers his cure due not alone to the 

 eflBcacy of the water, but also to the position of his body at 

 the time of drinking, whether facing the east or the west, to 

 the number of draughts, and perhaps in some cases he deems 

 it necessary previously to propitiate the spirit of the fountain 

 by a sacrifice of some object of value. We need not go to 

 savage life for examples of this kind. In many parts of our 

 own country — even among men otherwise intelligent — cer- 

 tain mechanical and agricultural operations are connected 



