IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ^ >. .V ^ /. 4^ ^ .^ K^-: /7^ V atly. I osn assore it of my best endeayora to fulfill thedatiea which it expects of me. I have great pieasare in congratahUt ing the aseooiation on its assembling again with not lessened numbers, and with its members entering on the winter in the enjoy- ment apparently of good health, and many of them prepared to take their part in suoh work as may arise for them. It will be satisfaotery to the friends to know that so far as profitaUo oeeopation for the society is concerned, tha prospects of the season are good, the oppor- tonitiea for intei changing and enlarging In- formation will not be few nor unwwthy of thea time and attention. I beUeve provision hat been made for every evening in whidi the association IS to meet, and we may begin the year with sangoine expectations of a pleasant as w^ as a profiUble season. Ton see that the oommittee which andertook the macagement of this important aod tionUe- some matter have not been idle. The friend* who f<»m it are to be eongratolated on 'Hair saeceesand thanked for their indastiy. Hi have to thank the gentlemen who eonktitate that oommittee for proearing the promise of papers on a varie^ ti sab|eeta whieh ^ perhaps exoeed in interest those of any previoas year of the ex. istenoe of the society. And this can bo said wittioat casting anj refleetioa an th* efforts of former times, f t ia the daelarad ohiMt c£ the aseoeiaiioii, first of aU, to impiovoltssif, and jra hope it is to show iapiovMnant in iti work daring, this hm sverr other yaar. *'*«'y<«'«}«I*i»» which it wi& be onr privdaga to listen to ara the work of men who an ftbsMuH ot tha daj in ^ things oaiAiak \P3 II fAU^; '^H^ AL " AD]JKES8. "^ 22.:£;?r lSf2±».'.!Sr5~:ii!^ *s^.f^^^^'?^,'^ <»»• - o« PMt vdM to na. rad whoM id«M{ op. ihoft lopios we waU wormj of our •lunliutkm. ThoM gradtmm an vUUiig to iuipffi 18^' W tbdr own knowlodgo, Md it i« bMoming that «• mako to bo Mm oori^pMoiMian of thoir MK>n.foroarMlM. bja good rad NgoUr •tton da n eort tho mttiagi of tho mmmIa- tion. 1 Mj for our Mko, bat I do not wish to •mphMiM tho word"OQr.'' It is bj no BMUMthoparpoood tn this aort of life it is that, it aeems, we are reqaiieid by tboae who have assnms4 the plaee of in- itraetora among na, to iHimUateooraolvea. it ia aartainly needfal for aa to have a lakoiHadga Qltha gioanda on whioh aa^ pot* ob|tatohai«.isto^aiMBioathoeagroanda, aa . sash's? •**• »f the beat of our ablUty. BdBM-ftUr ligrttftdi. why not lot thaaa thinfi alone, th«y are too deep and dangamaa for general diaaoaaioB, they ar« bqpond tha . avMraga eompcaheoaloB, th^ wiU have their day, and die? Thia laat wa baliava, bat in tha meantime thia advoeam (rf a new otdar ol things, or rath«ir diaordrr, ia worUng evil hi the midat of aa. and wa may not rafoaa to asamina Ita pretentima, aa we may not deny that it ia oar daty to aarva oar ganttration. Ueeidee the qaeetiona eome to oa for oor deeiaioB whether wa will or no, and we may not ahnn thrai withoat bearing tlia ahama of fearing them. Inde^ it ia tioM that thoae who tarn away with diataata from the teaehinga of oar new lighta ehanged their afttitade, and addreaaed theoBaelvee to nphold more aetively what ibey themsalvea beUave. It ia tlva fmr thoae who atand apon the old ways to be aa maah idive to oar sarrwandings, aa they are who wonld try to make aa walk In tho new. '^Traly thoae new ways, aa f ar aa they an shown to as, se 4m both hartfol and nnaiean, and they who walk in them, bcaating aa thqr go of the light of their reason, are forever aa aadly akambling aa if they had no light at all ; patting forth diaeoveriea whieh in no long time are foand to be miatakea, eoming to definite eonolaaiona from whieh thn not anfreqaenUy have to d^iart. They advise aa to believe nothing whieh eannot be proved by nnmbara. yet they give ezpraaaion to tha moat dedded oonvietiona of their own, whieh ean- not be proved by that teat. To oonvietiona, indeed, whioh, by the admission of a krga aeetlon of them, are net provable to oa. "I know and oan know notbing more than mj dog," ia a mazim whioh haa been fermahtted The mazim eontaina a very old eonfeaaion,* that man's knowledge haa ita bonnda ; bat tile (rid eonfeesion is more reverently ez« pressed, and ia atiU raverentty held by very man* who are by no maana fooliah people. In what I hikve said I do not mean to have it anderatood that thia assooiation ia to ooeapy itself with religioaadiaoassions. Mono woald objeet to that aentiment mora atrongly than the religioas men amongat ns. For saeh die* oassions. they wwld a^ thia ia not tin plaee. Bat I do mean that we ahoald endeavor to aoqoamt oarselvee with thinga whieh are maje to have a bearing on the moral Mid rW« iigicss condition of tha people,ao tiiat we may h» tkMm with m lfc»**«M» wmAmmBtaw^Alm^^ sxA *•- bMter advantage to apeak oar thcnan^ta on the relation of thoea thinga to inorala and re- ligion wh«i it ia boedfol for oarselvea or lor othera that we ahoald do so. It moatba eon- iaaaadthat oor abiaiitlflo mm and ^hact. I I INAUGURAL ADDRESS. I I whoiMBdilMrpUiiaariMrplMi intlManU TMM. Iwj* bMo, Mid SN, to no nuUl azteot objMlao able satiafaetion to the rabgiona amtimant inunoTably fltad in the nature ot man ;" and he propoaea that it ahonld be relegated entirely to the domain of the emetiona, iti Eoper aphare, whUe the intellaat rhoald bo pt free from embaraaament by it. It haa been well aaid in reply, that wa eannot Uviah oar roTerenoe, oar Ioto, and oar traat on a Ood who, aoeording to oar aaienoe, haa no being ; and may we not aak at the aame time, how aame man to be involvad with an ale- nient of oharaater ao groondlaaa and yet ao inaradieable f Man ia aaid by Okan to bo the earn total of the animahi. Ti^e leligiooa aentiment la aarely no where aeen in tha animala. from ont of whiah ha ia aaid to have prooaedad. Theae have no vain expeatationa, whereaa man wiU olinn to a hope whieb be« oomea more ardent and mora deflnite, and a more important fetnro in hia daily life, ia proportion aa the inflaenae of religion and the knowledge of it growa within him. Bat if aeiantifla men have been led to haaty eon- elnaiona with raapeot to mattera whieh, aofar, •eemed beyond the boanda of adanee, their work within their own domain haa pat the world under endaring obligationa to them. Bveiy year ia more fmitfal in reanlta from their eontinned inveatictationa, and the field of knowledge haa by them been ao well pre- pared that now an anpratended oaltivator in a eoner of it obtaina a retam for hia Ubor greater far than he bad been looking for. The telephone aeema to have grown in thia n^ ao to rpeak, ander the eye of the die* aovarera of thia mode of magnetie inflaenea. Mr. Bell had other enda in view wh«n he lighted apon the tranamiasion of apaeeh by wire from ear to ear for milea. He waa buaying himaelf about obtaining, by magnet* iam, eigne for ideas for hia deaf mute papila, and k), he foand the meana of eonveying worda to the eara of thoae who were not deaf. Lately too we have heard of the diaaeope, by meana of whioh a« mueh may ba done for tlia eye, aa the telephone haa done for the ear. Thia inatrumeot aeema to be of Pariaiab birth, and of ooone the flrat ase of it haa been to enable a aiok Frenebman, from hia darkened room to aee the performanee in a diatant theater while by meana of tha telephone he ooald at the aame time hear the play. Among the things of interest whieh we owe to aeienee of hite yeara ia the light thrown upon tbe formatioo of mctallie oraa. The oryataUiae roeka with whioh these are foond Meodated have been sabjeeted to miaoroaoop* ual examinationa. Of theae roeka aeotiona INAUGURAL ADDRESS. Mr* made, m thin m to b« quit* tnnipftnnt. Thate MotioD« are plaoad ondw glMiM of highly rnagnif jing powtr, and thus an not only the euential oonititiionti of tht ro«k, bat others whieh ere eoeeeaory. The pro- eewMe of deoonpoeition eud dielnt«in»tioD ere obeerted, end reoogniied es origiaeting the eeewMory meteriel elreedy mentioned, and whieh by eaelviie i* foontf to ooniiit ci mftellie orM, and ao are leen the atepa by whieh metals are formed from the rooka in which they originally appear. Thna it ie seen that our seientific enqairers haye beaten their Sredeeesaors, the aatrologers and alohymiste, 1 at least one respect. Their efforts at the diseovery of the elixir ol life have been rather r failure so far, hot they have made some progress in the search for the philoeopher's •tone. Who knows bat that some day we may know how to decompose certain qoarti rocks for oarselTes, and so, by farther chem> ioal opetations, to tarn them Inte gold. Alas, then, for the valae of the " precioas metals " now so-called. There will be no dlfBenlty whatever in keeping them in the eoantry. Mnch good may they do there. Time woald fail to tell all the advantages which we enjoy from the unremitting labors ol scientific men, end in tliis meeting it ie net necessary to do more than refer to them. Every one here has personal and daily ex- perience of the vast activity which those lab- orers have added to haman life. Nay, will not all M ready to assert the impmrtance of the general good of tho oontinaance of those kbors 7 Knowlsdge has done so mooh for as, has oarried as on so far. and has eansed to arise in as sach expectations that if it shoald fail to advanee now it woald be felt to be more disastroas than if it had neve&' come to oar help at all. Having been told of steam and electricity and their varioos nees, oar deeire " for more" is greater than Having given men saeh power, knew*> ledge mast farther look to it that than ii • way open for the oss el that power. It can- not be said to have, so far, made man's fntora look brighter than bdote, and I do not know that it has, on tho whole, inccaaeed his hap- pineee as maeh as is oUimed fbr it. lor there stems as great a disproportion aa ever be- tween man's deeifee and the means of giving them satiMaetien, and the vanity of liis de- •iree is made manifeet as often aa it was wool to be ; bat it has made itself n ecessa r y, ia aa far aa it has inereaaed hia power for good and evil. The men who have most know* ledge have most power for both theae ends, and if that pown is left in the poeeession of a few they will certainly abase it, to the grief