INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS 
OF 
HON. R. J. WALKER, OF MISSISSIPPI, 
DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE. 
This is the first general meeting of the friends of science ever convened in 
Washington. It is assembled at the capital of the Union, upon the call of the 
National Institute. This Institute is located at the home of the Federal Govern- 
ment, and its operations are designed to embrace the whole Union. Rising above 
local and sectional (influences, it appeals to the friends of science throughout the 
nation, and asks the support of all, with a view to the general diffusion of know¬ 
ledge, and advancement of American science. It is not designed to impede the 
progress or impair the usefulness of any present or future scientific institutions or 
societies in any of the States, but would desire to establish between them and this 
Institute the most cordial relations, together with reciprocal aid and encourage¬ 
ment. Experience has proved that no one institution, however distinguished, of 
any State, can bring to its aid the combined efforts and support of the whole 
Union. Each State will desire the advancement of its own institutions; and here 
only can all meet beyond the limits of all the States, and unite, as Americans, in 
erecting and maintaining an institution which shall be truly national, not only in 
its location, but in all its operations. Whilst the hopes of this Institute are most 
elevated for the future, its present pretensions are truly humble. It does not 
claim to have established the character or assumed the position of a scientific in¬ 
stitution ; it does not pretend to teach the men of science of the nation, but seeks 
instruction from them, and appeals to them, for light, and aid, and encourage¬ 
ment. It asks them to come forward in a patriotic spirit, and make this Institute 
worthy of the great nation at the seat of whose Government it is placed, and 
where only the now scattered lights of American science can converge at a com¬ 
mon centre, and radiate thence throughout the circle of the whole Union. 
The power and glory of a nation greatly depend upon its advance in science; 
and whilst upon its imperishable records should be preserved the deeds of its war¬ 
riors and statesmen, upon the same record should be inscribed the names of the 
untiring votaries of science, whose conflict has been with the elements of nature, 
and who have subjected them to the wants and comforts of man. Nearly all that 
we know of the world which we inhabit, of its magnitude, form, and motion, and 
of the elements of which it is composed, is the result of scientific research and dis¬ 
covery. The results of science are around and about us, enlarging our knowledge, 
elevating our views, and increasing our pleasures and our comforts. Nor have 
these researches been confined to the world which w 7 e inhabit, but have carried us 
myriads of millions of miles through universal space, marking the orbits of our 
own and other planets, and of the sun, the moon, and wandering comet. Science 
has taken as a base line the diameter of the earth’s orbit, and with it spans im¬ 
mensity, and triangulates the shadowy verges of receding space. All who have 
contributed to these great results, of whatever age or clime, deserve our gratitude j 
