230 Transactions of the American Institute. 



SCIENTIFIC LECTURE— III. 



THE COEEELATION OF VITAL AND PHYSICAL FORCES.. 



By Prof. George F. Barker, M. D., op Yale Coli,ege. 



Dr. Barker delivered the third of tliis winter's course of scientific 

 lectures before the American Institute. The lecture 'Avas illustrated 

 by various experiments with philosophical apparatus, and was 

 attentively listened to throughout. Horace Greeley, President of the 

 Institute, introduced the lecturer, who spoke as follows : 



In the Syracusan Poecile, says Alexander von Humboldt in his 

 beautiful little allegory of the Rhodian Genius, hung a painting 

 which, for full a century, had continued t6 attract the attention of 

 every visitor. In the foreground of this picture a numerous com- 

 pany of youths and maidens of earthly and sensuous appearance 

 gazed fixedly upon a hallowed Genius who hovered in their midst. 

 A butterfly rested upon his shoulder, and he held in his hand a. 

 flaming torch. His every lineament bespoke a celestial origin. The 

 attempts to solve the enigma of this painting — whose origin even, 

 was unknown — thongli numerous, were all in vain, when one day a 

 ship arriving from Rhodes, laden with works of art, brought another 

 picture, at once recognized as its companion. As before, tlie Genius 

 stood in the center, but the butterfly had disappeared and the torch 

 was reversed and extinguished. The youths and maidens were no 

 longer sad and submissive, their mutual embraces announcing their 

 entire emancipation from restraint. Still unable to solve the riddle, 

 Dionysius sent tlie pictures to the Pythagorean sage, Epicharmus. 

 After gazing upon them long and earnestly, he said : Sixty years long 

 have I pondered on the internal springs of nature, and on the differences 

 inherent in matter ; but it is only this day that the Rhodian Genius has 

 taught me to see clearly that which before I had only conjectured. In 

 inanimate nature, everything seeks its like. Everything, as soon as 

 formed, hastens to enter into new combinations, and nought save the- 



