W. S. KING'S ADDRESS. 633 



hearers, that this light, which has travelled at the rate of 

 20,000 miles in a second, has been 3,541 years in coming from 

 its distant home. Bessel" a Prussian, has discovered the dis- 

 tance of a fixed star to be sixty-three billions of miles from us. 

 Sixty-three billions of miles ! The mind of man refuses to 

 conceive of such distance ; he can but express it in figures. 



Science, with reverent tread, approaches the very council 

 chamber of the Creator ; and, from off the outspread plan of 

 the universe, reads his yet untold decrees. She tells of the day, 

 — and names the very day and the hour and the fractions of a 

 minute, — when the " face of the sun shall be darkened, and the 

 moon shall refuse her light." She tells of the coming of the 

 fiery comet. Nay, more. She dares to say that the complete- 

 ness of the Divine plan of the -universe requires, that a planet 

 should exist where none has been found. Hard upon the heels 

 of the daring assertion comes the announcement of the dis- 

 covery of the required planet. 



Science thus bridges oceans, conquers time and space, and 

 wrenches their secrets from the heavens; but farmers yet are 

 found, who say that it cannot aid them to grow beans, — that 

 it is not practical ! 



The washerwoman laughs at science, as she stands over her 

 washtub, and uses soap. The smith smiles at the pretensions 

 of scientific men, when he tires a wheel. But how many 

 years of dabbling in grease and ashes would have enabled the 

 woman to make a recipe for soap ! And how many tons of 

 iron would be heated and cooled before the blacksmith, of his 

 own observation, would fathom the mystery of expansion and 

 contraction ? 



Science is vilified and ridiculed because she has not already 

 explained all the secrets of nature ; and because she often errs,* 

 when inquired of by the farmer. Allow to her as many years 

 in the field of agricultvire, as she has enjoyed, — yes, enjoyed 

 and improved, — in other fields, and the results, which she will 

 present, — not sell, but present, — to you, will be quite as aston- 

 ishing and quite as incalculable in value. But cramped within 

 confined limits, hooted at when she appears abroad, how is it 

 possible that science can do herself justice. 



The practical farmers, — fondly so styling themselves, — have 

 had in possession " the cattle on a thousand hills," and the 

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