16 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE ACADEMY. 



Professor W. B. Rogers said that, having been suddenly called upon to take part in 

 the services of this hour, he could only give expression to such thoughts as sug- 

 gested themselves at the moment. 



He spoke of the seeming connection, in the history of communities, between 

 great intellectual activity and extraordinary emotional excitement from political or 

 other causes, as illustrated by the establishment of this Academy, the Sister Society 

 of Philadelphia, the Royal Society of London, and other kindred associations, not 

 forgetting our own Institute of Technology, in times of war and civil commotion. 



He concluded with remarks on the wide scope of the studies encouraged by such 

 societies, embracing, in the words of Bacon, " the studies that are for delight, for 

 ornament and for ability," and maintained that in an enlarged view every intellectual 

 pursuit has a far-reaching utility, each department of knowledge being allied with 

 every other department, as in the boundless heavens each star whether small or great 

 is a giver as well as a receiver of light, in relation to every other star. 



At the close of the exercises in the church, the Fellows of the Academy and their 

 guests proceeded to their rooms at tlie Athenaeum building, where a collation was 

 served, after which there were speeches by representatives of other societies. The 

 Hon. Robert C. Winthrop presided, and in calling the company to order spoke as 

 follows : — 



Brothers of the Academy, Delegates from Khulrecl Associations at Home and Abroad, aiul Invited 

 Guests: — The Committee of Arrangements have assigned to me the delicate and difficult task of 

 conducting these closing ceremonies of our Centennial Festival. I am deeply conscious liow rash 

 it was in me — albeit not often accused of rashness — to accept such a responsibility. But repent- 

 ance, as always, comes too late ; and I know well that, after all which has occurred this morning, 

 I can rely on your indulgence for any shortcomings in the discharge of a duty which might well 

 have been laid on younger shoulders. 



Let me not speak of ceremonies, however. The ceremonies and formal utterances of this occa- 

 sion are happily over, and nothing remains for us but the brief and spontaneous interchange of such 

 expressions of mutual congratulation and good-fellowship as belong to the afterpiece of such a 

 commemoration. We look for no long or elaborate speeches from any one ; and certainly you will 

 expect none from me after the strain to which I have been so unexpectedly subjected at the Old 

 South. 



The most that I can do is to welcome again to our Centennial Festival the guests and dele- 

 gates who have honored us by their presence, and I now once more, in the name of the Committee 

 of Arrangements and in behalf of the whole Academy, bid them, one and all, heartily welcome to our 

 board. 



