1*5 



Dr. T. R. Beck's Address. 



natural riches of that region— -in developing their uses, and in of- 

 fering them as a tribute to the mother country. 



The consequences of such exertions are manifest to every ob- 

 server. The patronage which governments bestow, fosters the 

 study of the natural sciences — improves the stock of general 

 knowledge— increases the wealth of the nation, and exalts its char- 

 acter. The extensive national and collegiate collections in France 

 and England, are so many magazines, that with accelerated rapid- 

 ity, at once, combine and diffuse information. No man, indeed, 

 can view such establishments without emotion. They contain in- 

 numerable proofs of the divine skill—exhibit, in the most striking 

 manner, the beauty and magnificence of the works of the Creator, 

 and attest, in a thousand ways, to His wisdom and beneficence. 

 It is hence not surprising that great exertions have been and are 

 still making to enlarge and extend these noble repositories. Of 

 the Royal Museum at Paris, it has been asserted, and with some 

 probability, that an American can see more of the productions of 

 his country collected together in it, than in any place on this con- 

 In thus acting, they appear as benefactors to their subjects. 



But in admiring such efforts, we must not be led to indulge the 

 wish that they should be exactly imitated in this country. The 

 object may here be also attained, but the means must be different. 

 Our national government embraces so large a number of important 

 interests within its purview, that it may well be permitted to defer 

 the patronage of similar undertakings to a more advanced period. 

 It has, however, done something to advance the cause of science, 

 in the expeditions that it has from time to time sent forth to visit 

 our northern and western frontiers. The results, in several in- 

 stances, have been honorable to the scientific men that were en- 

 gaged in them ; yet, even with these, the fact to which I have just 

 alluded, is strikingly illustrated. Their narratives have been pub- 

 lished at the expence of individuals, and the record of their discov- 

 eries is contained in the transactions of the scientific societies of 

 Philadelphia and New- York. It is thus evident that a partial sup- 

 port is ail that can be expected at the present time, in furtherance 

 of the cause of natural science ; and to individual exertions, proper- 

 ly combined, are we principally to look for its progress and ad- 

 vancement. This is a truth, which cannot be too strongly enforc- 



