Dr Lhyd':: Addrcsa. 421 



merit ; and wliilst man is humbled, God is exalted. Can we then fail 

 to acknowledge, with the illustrious Bacon, the religious uses of na- 

 tural science, when, in that glowing language so peculiar to himself, ho 

 thus expresses his conviction ? " Philosophia naturally, post verlium Dei, 

 certissiuia superstitionis medicina est ; cademque probatissimuni Fidei 

 aliuicntum, itaq. ; merito religion! donatur tanquum fidissima ancilla, cum 

 altera voluntatem Dei, altera potestatem manifestat." Perhaps nothing 

 can be more just than this representation of the benefits to religion to bo 

 xlerived from the study of nature ; yet I confess, that I have been still 

 more deeply impressed, and that, too, by a young gentleman of fashion, 

 who, with myself, some thirty years ago, happened to join a party on a 

 visit to the splendid gardens of the Dublin Society. On that occasion, a 

 remark was made by one of the company relative to the frailty of the ob- 

 jects which engaged our attention, which was mistaken by him for dispa- 

 ragement. I was glad of the mistake, as it drew from him an expression 

 which brought the truth home to m}- mind with so much power that I 

 never can forget it. He replied, that he was affected by what he saw in 

 a manner widely different, for that to him " it seemed that the earth wc 

 inhabit, with all its magnificent furniture, no less wonderful in its struc- 

 ture than splendid in appearance, was not made for human beings, but for 

 gods." I cannot suppose, that in this vast assembly there is an individual 

 who has not felt the truth, as well as the force, of this sentiment thus ex- 

 pressed ; or one who does not perceive what great support it is fitted to 

 afford to the Christian faith. For it will be observed, that tlio opinions 

 ■which secretly lie at the root of all infidchty are these — that man is not 

 so bad, nor God so good, as the gospel represents them. Now the latter 

 of these opinions cannot for a moment withstand the force of the obser- 

 vation here alluded to, for it must naturally occur to every mind capable 

 of the least reflection, that if such is the lavish bounty of the Creator to 

 his creatures in this their present state of alienation and hostility, there 

 can be no a priori reason whatever for susiDccting that the promises of 

 the gospel, however magnificent, are delusive, which have been made to 

 the same objects of his bounty, after that by the Divine teaching tlicy 

 shall be fitted for their true enjojTncnt. Nov.-, I know it may be said, that 

 all this may bo very true, as well as m.ucli more that may be stated 

 relative to the great advantages which flow from the cultivation of na- 

 tural science in each of its numerous departments ; but how does it prove 

 the usefulness of this and the like associations, when, after all, that which 

 is to be learned or effected is the work of individuals, to be performed 

 by them when separated from each other, often in their private labora- 

 tories, or in their closets ; and where, then, the necessity for calling on 

 men to join these meetings, frequently, as it must be, from enormous dis- 

 tances, and great personal inconvenicnpe? This question I would beg 

 leave to answer by another. How account for the fact confirmed by all 

 experience, that those who have secured for themselves immortal honour, 

 by their successful labours for advancing the boundaries of science, have 

 always appeared in groups ; distinguishing the ages in which they lived 

 frora those which preceded or foKowed, by their extraordinary brightness, 

 like the luminous bands in some of your optical experiments i Truly the 

 wave hypothesis does not furnish a more satisfactory explanation of this 

 latter pljenomcnon, than the influence of example, and its force to awaken 

 the donnant powers of genius, does of the other ; and this is the influence 

 which we propose to strengthen, by assembling together men who are 

 engaged in the same or kindred pursuits. We know that a burning coal, 

 whin taken from among other combustibles, and abandoned to itself, 

 ehuubers, and perhaps becomes extinct ; but when brought into contact 

 ■witli another combustible, they burn bright ;md strong by mutual influ- 

 ence, shedding light and heat on all around them. Tliis I lake to be an 



