Address — Henry M. Leipsiger. 43 



wholesome recreation therein, and thus find an antidote against life's sorrows 

 and a strengthener against temptation, all this is furthered by the spread of 

 scientific knowledge. And the collections, amply classified as they may be, 

 fail, unless from the lips of the living teacher comes the flow of eloquence that 

 vivifies the dead objects and makes the distant near. 



Do not the facts in this Museum's history amply prove that the lecture, as a 

 medium of instruction, was never more appreciated ? For years past have the 

 lectures by Prof. Bickmore attracted the teachers of our city, the lectures in 

 cooperation with Columbia University have attracted the student, and those 

 given by the Board of Education have attracted the masses. For five years 

 past, through the generosity of the Trustees of this Institution, on each Tuesday 

 evening this hall has been one of the forty or more lecture halls where courses 

 of lectures under the auspices of the Board of Education have been given. The 

 total attendance at the Hall of the Museum has been over twenty thousand each 

 year. Rarely has there been a vacant chair, and often was the hall filled long 

 before the time fixed for the beginning of the lecture. The topics of the 

 lectures included travel and natural science, and, as at all our centres, the 

 discovery was made that instruction was much preferred to entertainment. 

 Who can rightly determine the influence of a museum and courses of lectures 

 such as given here. 



From a quarryman, Hugh Miller became a geologist, and while attending a 

 course of four lectures by Sir Humphrey Davy, the immortal Faraday caught 

 the inspiration which determined his career. 



But in a broader sense these lectures contribute to the culture of our 

 citizens, and nowhere is that culture more needed than in a democracy and in a 

 city so cosmopolitan as our own. As a means of true refinement nothing is so 

 potent as a love of nature. 



The story is told that a few years ago a French priest, far advanced in 

 years, was met in the heart of the Rockies. Upon being asked why he, at his 

 time of life, was so far from home unattended, he replied : " Six months ago I 

 lay, as I thought, at death's door. One night I dreamt that I appeared before 

 my Maker and he said to me: ' My child, how did you like the beautiful world 

 I gave you to dwell in?' I could make no reply, for I, who had for fifty years 

 preached a better world, had never examined this one at all ! Awaking from 

 my dream, I vowed that 1 would at once proceed to see and to admire some of 

 his works, and so here I am, going round the world." 



To the thousand of toilers in this city what an opportunity is afforded by 

 the lectures to the people to get glimpses of the great world. How, by means 

 of the picture thrown on the screen, are the words of the lecturer clarified and 

 intensified. The eye and the ear are both appealed to, and the knowledge thus 

 gotten remains. 



Great as is the educational value of these lectures, they are justified from 

 the recreative side. The character of our pleasure is an index of our culture 

 and our civilization. A nation whose favorite pastime is the bull-fight is hardly 

 on a plane with one that finds pleasure in the lyceum hall. So if we can make 

 the pleasure of our people consist in the delights of art, in the beauties of 

 literature, and in the pursuit of science, and gradually turn them away from so 

 much that is lowering, are we not doing a real public service? Is not refine- 

 ment, too,, one of the ends for which we are aiming — not alone knowledge, but 

 culture ; not alone light, but sweetness ; and if we can turn our youth from the 

 street corner to the temple of nature, are we not helping to that end ? 



The course of lectures given in cooperation with the Board of Education 

 affords proof of the union of forces for good that is constantly strengthening, 

 and of all agencies that should be so united, those engaged in education should 

 form the closest bond. The schools of the city, the museums of the city and 

 the libraries of the city should be closely connected. The auditor at the lectures 

 or the observer of the collections should find on the shelves of the public library 

 the book that will give the history of the specimen or increase his knowledge of 



