MR. GRAY S ADDRESS. \f 



life, to the mythologies of the savage state; the clear 

 and steady light which shines from the printed page, to 

 the dim shadows which come to us from popular rumor. 

 Why should not Agriculture require the aid of science, 

 to secure its permanent progress, as well as the chemi- 

 cal and mechanical arts? I am aware that the arts pre- 

 cede the sciences, and that some arts have attained a 

 high degree of perfection, long before their principles 

 were reduced to system; but generally, there is a cer- 

 tain degree of perfection only attained; and although 

 the results may be equal in beauty and perfection to those 

 which art enlightened by science produces, still, there 

 is a vast difference in the economy and facility by which 

 the results are brought about. 



The general fact is, that science is the offspring of 

 the arts in the first instance, but the child soon becomes 

 the parent of a numerous progeny. It is often the se- 

 cret, unseen agent which directs the artisan and leads to 

 eminence and perfection in the art. Mere art unen- 

 lightened by science, might construct edifices of the 

 most perfect symmetry, with sufficient time and labor; or 

 make the living form start out of rock, by a kind of in- 

 stinct; but it can never construct steamboats, cotton or 

 woollen factories. The beautiful fabrics which come from 

 our manufactories did not receive their various coloring 

 and finish by some fortunate but unscientific blunderer; 

 the modern arts of bleaching and dyeing are not the re- 

 sults of a few experiments carelessly conducted by some 

 successful compounder of logwood and alum. No, the 

 chemical arts have reached their present degree of per- 

 ection by oft-repeated and accurate experiments, and a 

 careful comparison of a great variety of phenomena, and 

 the application of principles derived from several of the 

 sciences. In fact, all our large manufactories employ a 

 professed chemist, whose whole energies are employed 

 in investigating and applying the principles of science to 

 the progress and perfection of these arts. 



When you witness the almost miraculous effects of 

 steam in its various applications; when you stand for 

 example on some promontory of the sea and observe its 

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