AN ADDRESS TO STUDENTS. 103 



tion. Let me illustrate this point. There are in the min- 

 eral world certain crystals, certain forms, for instance, of 

 fluor-spar, which have lain darkly in the earth for ages, but 

 which nevertheless have a potency of light locked up within 

 them. In their case the potential has never become actual — 

 the light is in fact held back by a molecular detent. When 

 these crystals are warmed, the detent is lifted, and an out- 

 flow of light immediately begins. I know not how many 

 of you maybe in the condition of this fluor-spar. For aught 

 I know, every one of you may be in this condition, requiring 

 but the proper agent to be applied — the proper word to be 

 spoken — to remove a detent, and to render you conscious 

 of light within yourselves and sources of light to others. 



The circle of human nature, then, is not complete with- 

 out the arc of feeling and emotion. The lilies of the field 

 have a value for us beyond their botanical ones — a certain 

 lightening of the heart accompanies the declaration that 

 " Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." 

 The sound of the village bell which comes mellowed from 

 the valley to the traveller upon the hill, has a value beyond 

 its acoustical one. The setting sun when it mantles with 

 the bloom of roses the alpine snows, has a value beyond its 

 optical one. The starry heavens, as you know, had for Im- 

 manuel Kant a value beyond their astronomical one. Round 

 about the intellect sweeps the horizon of emotions from 

 which all our noblest impulses are derived. I think it very 

 desirable to keep this horizon open ; not to permit either 

 priest or philosopher to draw down' his shutters between 

 you and it. And here the dead languages, which are sure 

 to be beaten by science in the purely intellectual fight, have 

 an irresistible claim. They supplement the work of science 

 by exalting and refining the aesthetic faculty, and must on 

 this account be cherished by all who desire to see human 

 culture complete. There must be a reason for the fascina- 

 tion which these languages have so long exercised upon 



