THE ADTANCEMENT OE SCIENCE. 69 



past ages, which would thus enable us to obtain in a small manufactory, and in a 

 few days, effects which can be realized from present natural agencies only when 

 they are exerted upon vast areas of land, and through considerable periods of 

 time." Since Wiepee, Herschel, Fox, Talbot, and Daguerre laid the foundations of 

 Photography, year by year some improvement is made, — some advance achieved^ 

 in this most subtle application of combined discoveries in Photicity, Electricity, 

 Chemistry, and Magnetism. Last year, M. Poitevin's production of plates in relief, 

 for the puipose of engraving by the action of light alone, was cited as the latest 

 marvel of Photography. This year has witnessed photogi'aphic printing in carbon 

 by M. Pretschi. Prof. Owen continued by alluding to the application of photo- 

 graphy for obtaining views of the moon, of the planets, of scientific and other 

 phenomena. After referring to the discoveries in Electro-magnetism, the President 

 continued : Remote as such profound conceptions and subtle trains of thought 

 seem to be from the needs of everyday life, the most astounding of the piactical 

 augmentation of man's power has sprung out of them, Nothing might seem less 

 promising of profit than Oersted's painfully-pursued experiments, with his little 

 magnets, voltaic pile, and bits of eo[)per wire. Yet out of these has sprung the 

 electric telegraph! Oersted himself saw such an application of his convertibility 

 of electricity into magnetism, and made arrangements for testing that application 

 to the instantaneous communication of signs through distances of a few miles- 

 The resources of inventive genius have made it practicable for all distances ; as we 

 have lately seen in the submergence and working of the electro-magnetic cord 

 connecting the Old and New World, On the 6th of August 1858, the laying down 

 of upwards of 2,('00 nautical miles of the telegraphic cord, connecting Newfound- 

 land and Ireland, was successfully completed ; and on that day a message of 

 thirty-one words was transmitted in thirty-five minutes, along the sinuosities 

 of the submerged hills and valleys forming the bed of the great Atlantic. This 

 first message expressed — "'Glory to God in the highest: on Earth Peace j 

 Good will towards Men." Never since the foundations of the world were 

 laid could it be more truly said, " The depths of the sea praise Him 1 " More 

 remains to be done before the far stretching engine can be got into full 

 working order; but the capital fact, viz., the praetibility of bringing America 

 into electrical communication with Europe has been demonstrated; consequent- 

 ly, a like power of instantaneous interchange of thought between the civilized 

 inhabitants of every part of the globe becomes only a question of time. The 

 powers and benefits thence to ensue for the human race can be but dimly and 

 inadequately foreseen. After referri ig to the labours of Ray, Linneeus, Jussieu, 

 Buffon, and Cuvier, he said: To perfect the natural system of plants has been 

 the great aim of botanists since Jussieu. To obtain the same true insight into 

 the relations of animals has stimulated the labours of zoologists since the writings 

 of Cuvier. To that great man appertains the merit of having systematically pur- 

 sued and applied anatomical researches to the discovery of the true system of 

 distribution of the animal kingdom; nor, until the Cuvierian amount of zootomieal 

 science had been gained, could the value and importance of Aristotle's ' History 

 of Animals' be appreciated. There is no similar instance, in the history of Science 

 of the well-lit torch gradually growing dimmer and smouldering through so many 



