Annual Address. 



9 



chancellor. It shows not only his interest in the objects 

 of the society and his acquaintance with such subjects, but 

 the clear and decided judgment which some of the leading 

 minds of that day had in regard to some of the great 

 economical questions which at this time interest the 

 country. Speaking of the advantages of our condition, he 

 says : " The Americans are happily rid of the pernicious 

 system of regulating industry by law. This system has 

 been the reigning taste in Europe and especially in Eng- 

 land for centuries past. In almost every department of 

 business, the people found themselves controlled by the 

 voice of power intruding into all their rural concerns, and 

 by a code of restraint on the one hand and of preference 

 on the other, insolently dictating the course of industry 

 and the path of emolument which the keen eye of private 

 interest would have much better discovered." No advo- 

 cate of free trade of the present day could have presented 

 „ his principle more clearly and forcibly than does the 

 chancellor. Indeed his mind was one of rare breadth and 

 culture, enabling him to grasp any subject that came un- 

 der his consideration, in its largest bearings, and to bring 

 to its investigation all the light derived from the wisdom of 

 others, as well as the careful scrutiny of his own calm and 

 disciplined judgment. To him might fitly be applied the 

 line from Johnson's epitaph on Goldsmith — " Nullum 

 quod tetigit, non ornavit." 



Another of the most valuable members of that day was 

 Dr. Benjamin DeWitt of New York, a man of large scien- 

 tific acquirements and for many years one of the secretaries 

 of the society. He was one of the first, in an elaborate 

 paper read before the society and published in 1798, to 

 furnish a scientific examination and analysis of the Onon- 

 daga salt springs, with an account of the modes of manu- 

 facture then in use. 



[Trans. viiJ] 2 



