28 [ Senate 



from Cambridge ( Professor Peirce) of no practical value, because 

 tliey cannot be read by the uninstructed 1 A single line may con- 

 tain the elements of the motions of all the heavenly bodies ; and 

 the eye of science, taking its* standpoint at the centre of gravity 

 of the system,. will see in the equation the harmonious revolutions 

 of all the bodies which circle the heavens. It is such labors and 

 such generalizations that have rendered his name illustrious in the 

 history of mathematical science. 



Is it of no practical value that the Chief of the Coast Survey 

 ( Professor Bache), by a few characters written on paper at Wa- 

 shington, has determined the exact time of high and low tide in 

 the Harbor of Boston, and can determine by a similar process the 

 exact times of high and low water at every point on the surface 

 of the globe'? Are not these results, the highest eiforts of science, 

 also of the greatest practical utility 1 And may we not then con- 

 clude that there is nothing truly practical which is not the consequence 

 of an antecedent ideal ? 



Science is to art, what the great fly-wheel or governor of a steam 

 engine is to the working parts of the machinery : it guides, regu- 

 lates, and controls the whole. Science and art are inseparably 

 connected : like the Siamese twins, they cannot be separated with- 

 out producing the death of both. 



How, then, should we regard the superb specimens of Natural 

 History which the liberality, the munificence and wisdom of our 

 State have collected at the Capital ? They are the elements from 

 which we can here determine all that belongs to the natural history 

 of the State ; and may we not hope that science and genius may 

 be brought here, and, striking them with a magic wand, cause the 

 true practical to spring into immortal life 1 



