November 1, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



681 



found in every human institution, even in 

 those most sacred. It is not my business 

 to seek them or point them out. It is 

 rather my privilege to honor the good men 

 that have built up for us and for our succes- 

 sors this great edifice, upon the firm founda- 

 tions of devotion and faith ; to admire the 

 skill, the prudence and the honesty with 

 which inadequate resources have been hus- 

 banded ; and especially to appreciate that 

 admirable union of conservative and pro- 

 gressive forces which keeps hold of that 

 which is good until the better is reached, 

 that believes in the study of nature and 

 all its manifestations, and of man and all 

 that he has achieved in language, philoso- 

 phy, government, religion and the liberal 

 arts. 



This honored and reverend seminary has 

 taught thousands of men of talent to be wise 

 and good citizens, avoiding avarice and pre- 

 tense, ready for service wherever Providence 

 might call them, in education, philanthropy, 

 diplomacy, statesmanship, church-work, lit- 

 erature and science ; not a few men of genius 

 have submitted themselves to her discipline 

 and acknowledged the inspiration derived 

 from her counsels ; some of her sons have 

 laid down their lives for God and their 

 country ; many have carried to the ends of 

 the earth her precepts and principles ; all, 

 or nearly all, have been the friends and sup- 

 porters of republican institutions, the lovers 

 of sound learning and good books, the pro- 

 moters of science whenever their aid was 

 wanted, its alert defenders against bigotry 

 and alarm, confessors of the christian doc- 

 trine. 



The new order which gives to adolescence 

 an extreme freedom in the choice of studies 

 may be more favorable than ^the old to the 

 production of men of letters, poets, orators, 

 historians, essayists — and of investigators 

 who will extend the bounds of mathemat- 

 ical, physical and natural science. Nobody 

 can tell. Every one is hopeful. But with 



all their gettings, may the new generation 

 emulate their forebears in wisdom, self-con- 

 trol, sound judgment, and in hearty appre- 

 ciation of all that books have recorded and 

 all that nature has revealed. 



Much reproach has been thrown upon the 

 studies of colonial days because they were 

 mainly directed toward theology and phi- 

 losophy, and because there was so little 

 study of the natural world. It is well to 

 reply that nature studies are the growth of 

 the last century, since Berzelius, Cuvier and 

 Liebig initiated the modern methods of in- 

 quiry, carried on by Faraday, Darwin and 

 Dana. Remember also that rigid discipline 

 in logic and dialectics makes clear and ac- 

 curate thinkers, fitted to treat the current 

 questions of society with discrimination, 

 perspicuity and persuasion. If our grand- 

 fathers did not excel in what we are pleased 

 to call literature, they were taught to follow 

 the rule of an illustrious writer, ' to use 

 words coinciding as closely as possible with 

 what we feel, see, think, experience, imagine 

 and reason,' Such men were fitted to take 

 part in the great Revolution of 1776, and 

 in the war of 1861 ; to be influential in the 

 formation of the Constitution of the United 

 States, and in the administration of justice 

 and order in every State of the Union, 

 qualified likewise to lead in the organization 

 and development of academies of science 

 and schools of learning, defenders of the 

 faith, upholders of right conduct, advocates 

 of civil service reform, promoters of litera- 

 ture and science, and in general, trained 

 by such discipline as they here received in 

 mathematics, logic, history, language, phi- 

 losophy and science, to be the leading men 

 in every community where their homes 

 were placed. 



On fame's eternal camping ground 



Their silent tents are spread, 

 And glory guards, with solemn round, 



The bivouac of the dead. 



Daniel C. Gilman. 



