The Scientific Lecturer. 73 



the sunbeam, explaining the varied influences of the 

 solar ray, with an analysis of its forces ; the relation 

 of the sun to life on our planet ; the chemistry of the 

 sun and the stars ; the links uniting the realms of mat- 

 ter and mind. In two lectures on Ancient Philosophy 

 and Modern Science he set forth the debt due by 

 chemist and astronomer to alchemist and astrologer; 

 and here he took occasion to point out how the guesses 

 of Democritus and Lucretius had been barren, not- 

 withstanding their shrewdness, from their not having 

 married experiment to speculation. In his Masquer- 

 ade of the Elements he presented in glowing outline 

 the phenomena of protean chemical transformation. 

 His New Philosophy of Forces was the first popular 

 exposition of the correlation of forces given in Amer- 

 ica. In every discourse it was his custom to give 

 ample graphic and experimental illustration ; the seen 

 proof riveted the spoken thought. His lectures, more- 

 over, had in them the salt of persuasion ; the interest 

 he enjoyed he was anxious others should share. He 

 was a sower desirous that a harvest should spring up 

 so abundant as to make his handfuls of seed corn 

 seem paltry enough. Sympathy, not less than enthu- 

 siasm for science, made him one of the most impres- 

 sive lecturers of his time. One other characteristic 

 never failed to broaden every discourse he delivered 

 a philosophic spirit which passed from detail to gen- 

 eralization, from a fact to the law of universal sweep 

 whose manifestation and proof it was. To his mind a 

 part always suggested the whole ; he never looked 

 through a window of science so small that it did not 

 show the sky. When he came to the outlook from a 

 new and lofty standpoint his delight would burst forth 

 in poetic fervour. 



