CONCLUSION. 411 



advance of civilization. But to draw from the great 

 truths of science intelligible inferences and masterly 

 deductions, and from these to advance to new and beau- 

 tiful abstractions, is a mental exercise which tends to- 

 the refinement and elevation of every human feeling. 



The mind thus exercised during the mid-day of life, 

 will find in the twilight of age a divine serenity ; and, 

 charmed by the music of nature, which, like a vesper 

 hymn poured forth from pious souls, proclaims in devo- 

 tion's purest strain the departure of day, he will sink 

 into the repose of that mysterious night which awaits 

 us all, tranquil in the happy consciousness that the sun 

 of truth will rise in unclouded brilliancy, and place him 

 in the enjoyment of that intellectual light, which has 

 ever been among the holiest aspirations of the human 

 race. 



The task of wielding the wand of science, of standing 

 a scientific evocator within the charmed circle of its 

 powers, is one which leads the mind through nature up 

 to nature's God. 



Experiment and observation instruct us in the dis- 

 covery of a fact; that fact connects itself with natural 

 phenomena, the ultimate cause of which we learn from 

 Divine revelation, and receive in full belief, but the 

 proximate causes are reserved as trials of man's intelli- 

 gence ; and every natural truth, discovered by induction, 

 enables the contemplative mind to deduce those perfect 

 laws which are exemplifications of the fresh- springing 

 and all enduring POETRY OF SCIENCE. 



