10 



iiically termed ; its numerous and beautifully 

 executed illustrations; the se.ientific and prac- 

 tical papers on some of the most important and 

 difficult subjects that come within the range of 

 modern research, brought down to the present 

 state of knowledge, would be an honor to any 

 Society, older and wealthier than your own. 

 Instead, then, of croaking and finding fault on 

 account of the slow progress of our art, instances 

 such as these should inspire us with glowing 

 hopes for the future. 



It has been remarked that, as a general rule, 

 whatever is must valuable and enduring is of 

 slow and 2:)rogressive development. The globe 

 we live on — at least its crust — appears to have 

 been subjected to physical changes through untold 

 and even unimagined periods of duration. Its 

 vegetable j)roductions, the trees of our own forests, 

 for instance, — some will endure for centuries ere 

 they become finally resolved into the mineral 

 and organic constituents of which they are com- 

 posed. Our Christian civilizcftion has a most 

 interesting and instructive history to tell ; its 

 numerous vicissitudes, sometimes apparently sta- 

 tionary and even retrograding, at others marked 

 by decided if not rapid j^rogress; and yet it has 

 taken nearly nineteen centuries to reach its pre- 



