IISTTEODUCTION. 



THE influences of human thought on the physical forces 

 which regulate the great phenomena of the universe, 

 and the operation of the powers of mind, on the material 

 constituents of the planet, which is man's abiding place, 

 form subjects for studies which have a most exalting 

 tendency. Thought has made the subtile element of the 

 thunderstorm man's most obedient messenger. Thought 

 has solicited the sunbeam to betray its secrets ; and an 

 invisible agent, controlled by light, delineates external 

 nature at man's request. Thought has subdued the wild 

 impulses of fire, and heat is made the willing power to 

 propel our trains of carriages with a bird-like speed, and 

 to urge in proud independence of winds or tides our 

 noble ships from shore to shore. Thought has penetrated 

 the arcana of nature, and, by learning her laws, has 

 imitated her works. Thus, Chemistry takes a crude mass, 

 rejected as unworthy and offensive, it recombines its 

 constituent parts, and gives us, the grateful odours of the 

 sweetest flowers, and tinctures which rival nature in the 

 intensity and the beauty of its dyes. 



No truth was ever developed to man, in answer to his 

 laborious toils, which did not sooner or later benefit the 

 race. Every such development has been the result of the 

 continuous efforts of an individual mind; therefore it is 

 that we desire to possess some memorial of the men to 

 whom we are indebted. 



