13 
kingdoms, ascending in unbroken series to man ; whether we 
look around and behold the curious felicity of his inventive 
genius, through which he has gained a mastery over the 
resisting elements, the stubborn earth, the treacherous ocean, 
and made the explosive steam or the “ thwart flame” of the 
“ slant lightning” ministers obedient to his behests; or the 
perseverance of his unremitted toil by which he has reared in 
every zone monuments of his piety, his ambition, his ostenta¬ 
tion ; or the fertility of his aspiring ingenuity, by which he 
has increased his sources of comfort and encumbered the 
field of enjoyment \vith the prodigality of his luxury; or, 
finally, whether wc cast our thoughts inward on ourselves, 
and consider the constitution and operations of the mind, the 
working of the passions, the sway of the affections, the facul¬ 
ties of the understanding, the dominion of the reason ? 
These afford themes which will for ever create fresh inter¬ 
est, for ever yield new gratification, for ever mock the efforts 
of the human race to exhaust them. From these, as the 
elegant relaxations of our prudently-husbanded vacation, we 
may harvest riches which neither birth nor fortune can con¬ 
fer, which neither poverty nor the vicissitudes of adversity 
can take away. 
If it be necessary to adduce further reasons besides those 
indicating the good results expected to follow on the esta¬ 
blishment of this Institute, let me call your attention to what 
is going on elsewhere, without the boundaries of our imme¬ 
diate range of action ; amongst other nations with whom, in 
the charities of art, and the catholicity of science, we may 
claim kindred. Every department of philosophy is marching 
onward with gigantic steps, each stride elongated beyond the 
last! Every year teems with some new disclosure, respecting 
the phenomena of nature and the laws by which they are 
governed, Wliile Humboldt, eminent for the remarkable 
diversity of his matured knowledge, is endeavouring to pre¬ 
pare his cosmical sketch of creation, he finds himself out¬ 
stripped, and forced to pause that he may append by supple¬ 
mental annotation to each part as it issues forth, the results 
of that inductive reasoning which, carried on by simultaneous 
