No. 139.] 237 



chanic has furnished him the sextant and chronometer, by which 

 he measures his latitude and longitude, with wonderful precision, 

 Eclipses of the sun, formerly the terror of superstitious and 

 ignorant people, are now regarded as the mere crossing of the 

 hands of the great siderial clock of the heavens, and as the indi- 

 cator? of the longitudes of places upon the earth's surface. At 

 the suggestion of Arago, the talking wires of the electric tele- 

 graph are made to measure the longitudes of places inland, with 

 greater accurary than any astronomical measurements by lunar 

 distances and occultations of stars, as formerly practised with the 

 aid of the sextant and chronometer only. 



The recording electro-magnetic clocks of Bain, Wheatstone, 

 Locke, and others, give precision to astronomical observations 

 never known before, and divide the second of time into a hundred 

 parts, measurable by the dividers upon a strip of paper ! 



It is by no means certain that there are not more worlds for 

 science to conquer; and it is more desirable to march onward, 

 than to stop to quarrel about the priority of discovery of those 

 which have already been made. Time and the scientific historian 

 will do justice to all who have contributed in bringing about 

 these valuable results, regardless of every unjust monopoly at- 

 tempted by patent laws. An occasional retrospect of the scientific 

 men of our land is much needed, to prevent abuses, which have 

 become too prominent in this and other countries ; for the rights 

 of discoverers should be held sacred. 



It is not to be expected that men of science will* devote their 

 lives to increasing the sum of human knowledge, if their labors 

 are not appreciated and honored. If ingratitude and base envy 

 meet them at every step, and sordid avarice appropriate their 

 discoveries and give them in return nothing but insult and injury, 

 can they fail to be disgusted ? A sense of duty, and fondly-cher- 

 ished hopes that their memories will be honored when they are 

 no longer living, may still stimulate them to proceed with their 

 labors ; but why should their happiness be destroyed by base and 

 wicked men, full of low cunning and artful imposture'? It re- 

 quires no small amount of moral courage in a man of science to 



