238 



Physical Sciences. 



every bold adventurer in thought. For such guidance and for such 

 power of man over himself we must look beyond the sphere of physical 

 science. The guiding-star to all permanent progress is found in the 

 firmament of man's moral and religious nature. When this is acknowl- 

 edged and the study of man's moral nature is exalted as the center 

 toward which the studies of youth should converge and from which 

 the acts and influence of every man should radiate, then will our civ- 

 ilization reach the full splendor of which it now gives only feeble 

 promise, and then shall we see new triumphs of physical science, the 

 great motive power in the progress of the world, guided, controlled 

 and utilized by man ever guiding and controlling and utilizing his 

 own powers. Then only shall we see the true relations of physical 

 science to civilization, and never till its true relation is seen and 

 acknowledged, will it have stable growth and give its full blessings to 

 the world. 



Members of the Albajty Institute — I cannot close this discus- 

 sion without inviting your careful attention to what I consider to be 

 the office and duty of all such organizations as you represent. In your 

 complex and comprehensive plan you embody and symbolize the char- 

 acter of modern civilization which Guizot has graphicallj contrasted 

 with the ancient civilizations, presenting as they did only some single 

 phase of human activity and develo23ment, or that uniformity of 

 thought and activity that naturally ends in such fossilized civilizations 

 as China and'India present. All questions that relate to the progress 

 of science and the social welfare of the race properly come before you 

 for discussion and illustration. In this way you secure individual 

 advancement, in which is the only hope of the world, for organizations 

 are but aggregations of individuals, and can rise no higher intellectually 

 or morally than the elements of which they are composed. But organ- 

 izations have certain powers which belong to no one of their number. 

 Organizations live while individuals die. Organizations, therefore, can 

 bring to bear upon the same problem the labor and observations of its 

 ablest men for generations, and carry on to completion grand under- 

 takings where the most gifted individual would fail. There is also an 

 aggregate influence in combined numbers such as no one man can 

 wield. When a new truth is reached, organizations can defend it with 

 power against the onset of opposers, and in the important work of its 

 dissemination they can overcome obstacles and multiply agencies 

 where individual effort would be powerless. The possession of these 

 peculiar advantages brings upon such an organization as the Albany 

 Institute a great responsibility as a promoter of every branch of science. 

 The world at large will give no heed and help to investigation till it 

 begins to promise money returns. How long it has taken our States 



