34 WRITINGS OP JOSEPH HENRY. [1855- 



hypotheses belong exclusively to ourselves, and we are fre- 

 quently more interested in supporting or defending these 

 than in patiently and industriously pursuing the great object 

 of science, namely, the discovery of what is. 



In the account of meteorology which it is proposed to give, 

 the writer has no hypotheses or theories of his own to support, 

 but will endeavor to confine his statements to the exposition 

 of such principles as are generally recognized at the present 

 day; and if hereafter it shall be found that views have been 

 presented in this paper which cannot be sustained, he will 

 point out in the subsequent Reports the errors which may 

 have been committed. The expounder of science, unlike the 

 politician, is at liberty to change his opinions when they are 

 found to be at variance with the actual condition of things. 

 Indeed, in the investigation of nature, we provisionally adopt 

 hypotheses as antecedent probabilities, which we seek to 

 prove or disprove by subsequent observation and experi- 

 ment ; and it is in this way that science is most rapidly and 

 securely advanced. 



Some parts of our subject, as will be seen, are intimately 

 connected with leading questions of the day ; and on this 

 account it might be considered prudent to avoid allusion to 

 them. But the great aim of science is the discovery of truth ; 

 and the proverbial veneration entertained for it by the 

 human mind is a sure indication that truth, and the whole 

 truth, will always be conducive to the real progress of nations 

 or individuals, and that to present it simply as a proposition 

 without special application is the best means of supplanting 

 error. We hold in high veneration the plan of government 

 established by the wisdom of our forefathers; but we can- 

 not be blind to the fact that it required a peculiar theatre 

 for its application, a wide territory of fertile soil and genial 

 climate, well fitted to reward the labors of the husbandman 

 and to promote the health of his body and the vigorous ac- 

 tivity of his mind. Next to our political organization, under 

 Providence our prosperity has mainly been promoted by the 

 ample room afforded us for expansion over the most favored 

 regions of this continent. It becomes therefore important 



