ANNUAL ADDRESS 
IT is of vast importance to a Country, that knowledge be 
extensively diffused, Its utility is not confined to individu¬ 
als, whose minds may be enlightened, and whose feelings 
may be improved ; but is spread over every part of commu¬ 
nity. Taken in its most comprehensive sense, it may just¬ 
ly be asserted, that knowledge advances civilization, gives 
new energy to the mental powers, and places man in that 
proud and commanding station in the scale of animated be¬ 
ing to which his destiny entitles him. The maxim that 
K knowledge is /lower ,** is daily elucidated in the affairs of 
life; and among the moral phcenomena that agitate the world, 
its effects are clearly perceptible. It resembles in this res¬ 
pect, the electric fluid, which during the calm and tranquil 
occurrences of nature, pervades and operates imperceptibly 
over space, but when collected in the heavens, and kindled 
into action, its effects are tremendous and overpowering- 
Like all other things, it may be abused. The advantage 
that its owner possesses, may be employed towards the de¬ 
moralizing of society, or the destruction of the species. But 
to those who are unwilling, or incapable of appreciating its 
importance in so grand a point of view, it may be sufficient to 
