174 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIEXCES. 



Address by Rev. S. S. Hunting. 



Members of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, all friends 

 of the same, and members of the Masonic fraternity, it is my privilege 

 to congratulate you this day upon the advancement of your enterprise, 

 which was begun nearly ten years ago. December 14, 1867, a few gentle- 

 men met in a humble place to form a Natural History Society, and the 

 result of that meeting was the organization of the Davenport Academy 

 of Natural Sciences. The publications of this Academy show what has- 

 been done in these ten years— more, certainly, than the most sanguine 

 predicted at the time of the organization. We have come hither to-day 

 to lay the stone which will mark the first decade of the life of the 

 Academy ; it will be the symbol of the corner-stone of more than a 

 material building — that of the temple of science destined to rise in this 

 city. 



It is not the time to repeat the story of the efforts, the struggles, the 

 delights, and the disappointments which have been thus far connected with 

 this enterprise. He who would tell that story should speak from his own 

 experience— one who has borne the heat and burden of the day. My 

 task to-day is different from that. It is to speak a word in the interest 

 of true science. The object of our Academy is the study of any depart- 

 ment of nature. Science is another name for knowledge, and the truth 

 which we seek is as many-sided as the variety of natural objects and. 

 the phases of life in the universe. 



Longfellow has introduced his poem, " The Mask of Pandora," by the 

 workshop of Hepha;stus, who appears standing before the statue of 

 Pandora. He then describes the fashioning of Pandora, " moulded in 

 soft clay," till the lovely form stands forth in every part. Her floating 

 drapery " was like a cloud about her, and her face was radiant with the 

 sunshine and the sea." 



It was fitting for poetic genius to personify nature in Pandora, the all- 

 gifted, subject to the Pates and the Furies, yet attended by the Graces. 

 If left to the care of ignorance and stupidity, what the Greeks named 

 Epimetheus, or After-thought, her open chest sent forth all manner of 

 evils to afflict mankind, her benevolent uses being perverted by imtu- 

 tored minds and unskilful hands. But Pandora closed her chest before 

 Hope escaped. 



Prometheus is science that dares ascend into the heavens or go down to 

 Sheol, for the evidences of truth. Under the direction of knowledge, 

 Pandora becomes, not an evil genius, sending forth disease and death, 

 but a beneficent order of life. Life in rock, in plant, in animals ; life 

 on the earth, and in all the other planets ; in the stars no less than in 

 the soul of man, " erect and free," the crown of nature. So we all say, 

 " Beautiful Pandora, thou art a goddess still." 



The continents appeared, the earth was clothed in luxuriant vegeta- 

 tion, the coal beds were formed, the rocks were stratified, and man 

 appeared in total ignorance of all things ; but there was a day coming 

 when nature would open her treasures, reveal her secrets, and speak an 



