52 



ship its own thought of God," and each age may be judged 

 by the worthiness of that thought. In displaying the uni- 

 form, continuous action of unrepenting Nature in its march 

 from good to better, science has inevitably directed the atten- 

 tion of men to the most glorious attributes of that Divine in- 

 telligence which acts through Nature with the patience of 

 eternity and the fixity of all-foreseeing wisdom. Verily, the 

 infinite, present Creator is worshipped in this place. A hun- 

 dred life-times ago a Hebrew seer gave utterance to one of 

 the grandest thoughts that ever mind of man conceived, but 

 applied it only to his own little nation, and coupled it with 

 barbarous denunciation of that nation's enemies. This 

 thought, tender and consoling toward human weakness and 

 insignificance as a mother's embrace, but sublime also as the 

 starry heights and majestic as the onward sweep of ages, 

 science utters as the sum of all its teachings, as the supreme 

 result of all its searching and its meditation, and applies alike 

 to the whole universe and to its last atom — " the eternal God 

 is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." 



ADDKESS hy Professor O. C. Marsh, President of th e 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science. 



The opening of this Museum to-day is an important event 

 in the annals of American Science, and one from which great 

 results are sure to follow. We see around us, here, already, 

 treasures of nature from every land, and representing all 

 periods of the earth's history. Not merely a few typical speci- 

 mens, as in most new museums, but rich series, illustrating 

 the marvellous diversity of Nature, both in the present and in 

 the past. Such treasures, arranged with system, and to the 

 best advantage, as here, arrest the attention of every observer, 

 and invite study. This alone is a grand work accomplished, 

 and yet we are told, this is but the beginning. 



The great Museums of the world are in the great cities ; 

 and it is fitting that New York, one of the few great centers 

 of culture, should at last take her proper place in Science, 

 and found a Museum, worthy of herself, for the diffusion of 

 knowledge among her citizens. But there is something higher 



