ANNIVERSARY DISCOURSE. 409 



tude of fuccefsful experiments. The noble deobftruent 

 oil extracted from the eranda nut, the whole family 

 of Balfams, the incomparable ftomachick root from 

 Columbo, the fine aftringent ridiculoufly called Japan 

 earth, but in truth produced by the decoction of an 

 Indian plant, have long been ufed in Afia ; and who 

 can foretel whatgloriousdifcoveries of other oils, roots, 

 and falutary juices, may be made by your Society ? If 

 it be doubtful whether the Peruvian bark be always 

 efficacious in this country, its place may, perhaps, be 

 fuppliedby fome indigenous vegetable equally antifep- 

 tick, and more congenial to the climate. Whether 

 any treatifes on Agr i culture hay e. been written by expe- 

 rienced natives of thefe provinces, I am not yet in- 

 formed; but fince the court of Spain expecl to find 

 ufeful remarks in an Arabick tracl preferved in the 

 Efcurial, on the cultivation of land in that kingdom, we 

 mould inquire for fimilar compofitions, and examine 

 the contents of fuch as we can procure. 



The fublime fcience of Chemiitry, which I was on 

 the point of calling divine, muft be added as a key to 

 the richeft treafuries of nature; and it is impoffible to 

 forefee how greatly it may improve our manufactures , 

 efpecially if it can fix thofe brilliant dyes, which want 

 nothing of perfect beauty, but a longer continuance of 

 their fplendor; or how far it may lead to new methods 

 of fluxing and compounding metals, which the Indians, 

 as well as the Chinefe, are thought to have practifed in 

 higher perfection than ourfelves. 



In thofe elegant arts which are czWtd Jine and liberal, 

 though of lefs general utility than the labours of the 

 mechanick, it is really wonderful how much a fingle 

 nation has excelled the v/hole world : I mean the ancient 

 Greeks, whofefculpture, of which we have exquilite re* 



Vol, I. F f mains, 



