230 j Assembly 



of learning, and have them adapted to the country and to the 

 wants of the age. Let every gre^^ city have within its limits a 

 liberal university, open to all who desire to learn • and let the 

 abundance of science which each of our cities contains be brought 

 into active operation ; and let the common high schools prepare 

 their pupils for more extended instruction in the halls and lec- 

 ture rooms of your new universities. Open your doors to all 

 who desise to learn, and keep your teachers employed each and 

 every day in full and practical teaching in the recitation rooms, 

 and laboratories of science. 



This must be done, and I venture to predict will soon be at- 

 tempted ; and if our citizens are true to their own interests, it 

 will prove one of the most important steps that our country can 

 take in the march of improvement. Let the unfounded preju- 

 dices against book learning be driven from the minds of men by 

 making books still more worthy of being read and studied. Let 

 theory and practice join hands " now and forever in indissoluble 

 union." Are not the arts living illustrations of the principles 

 of science ? Is not the world a great book of wisdom, as yet but 

 partially read ? Is not the field of the farmer full of wonders 

 but little known to him, for want of scientific light? " Give me 

 to see," should be the cry of every intelligent man. 



There may be men, who, through indolence, are unwilling to 

 take the trouble of learning the scientific principles of the arts 

 which they daily practice ; but there are more who earnestly de- 

 sire to know all they can learn, not merely fur the sake of gain- 

 ing more wealth but for the gratification of a laudable curiosity 

 and for the improvement of their minds. 



The iron master naturally wishes to know the nature and pro- 

 perties of every kind of iron ore, how it was formed, where it is 

 found, and all the geological facts connected with its history, as 

 well as how to reduce the metal to its most marketable form at 

 the least cost and most profit. Though he can refine cast iron 

 in the forge and puddling furnace, he is not content with a mere 

 empirical routine, but desires to know the changes and the 

 causes of the changes which take place in the conversion of the 

 crude and brittle metal into tough and tenacious bars. He is 



