The Uses of Astronomy | Page 2

procession to the Tent, from their place of meeting in the State Capitol. On the stage were assembled many distinguished gentlemen, and in the audience were hundreds of ladies. GOV. CLARK and Ex-Governors HUNT and SEYMOUR, of New York, Sir WM. LOGAN, of Canada, Hon. GEORGE BANCROFT, and others as well known as these, were among the number present. The tent was profusely decorated. Small banners in tri-color were distributed over the entire area covered by the stage, and adorned the wings. The following inscriptions were placed over the front of the rostrum,--that in honor of "_The Press_" occupying a central position:
GEOLOGY. THE PRESS. METEOROLOGY. MINERALOGY. METALLURGY. ETHNOLOGY. ASTRONOMY.
The following were arranged in various positions on the right and left:
CHEMISTRY. TELEGRAPH. PHYSIOLOGY. LETTERS. CONCHOLOGY. HYDROLOGY. PAL?ONTOLOGY. ZOOLOGY. MICROSCOPY. ICHTHYOLOGY. ART. MANUFACTURES. STEAM. AGRICULTURE. COMMERCE. PHYSICS. SCIENCE. ANATOMY. NAVIGATION. BOTANY.
The proceedings of the day were opened with prayer by Rev. GEO. W. BETHUNE, D.D., of Brooklyn.
Hon. GARRIT Y. LANSING, of Albany, then introduced Professor LOUIS AGASSIZ, of Cambridge, Mass., who was the first of the "seven men of science" to entertain his audience, always with the aid of the inevitable black-board, without which the excellent Professor would be as much at a loss as a chemist without a laboratory. Professor AGASSIZ spoke for an hour, giving his views of a new theory of animal development. He began by saying:--
We are here to inaugurate the Geological Hall, which has grown out of the geological survey of the State. To make the occasion memorable, a distinguished statesman of your own State, and Mr. FRANK C. GRAY, were expected to be present and address you. The pressure of public duties has detained Mr. SEWARD, and severe sickness has detained Mr. GRAY. I deeply lament that the occasion is lost to you to hear my friend Mr. GRAY, who is a devotee to science, and as warm-hearted a friend as ever I knew. Night before last I was requested to assist in taking their place--I, who am the most unfit of men for the post. I never made a speech. I have addressed learned bodies, but I lack that liberty of speech--the ability to present in finished style, and with that rich imagery which characterize the words of the orator, the thoughts fitting to such an occasion as this. He would limit himself, he continued, to presenting some motives why the community should patronize science, and foster such institutions as this. We scientific men regard this as an occasion of the highest interest, and thus do not hesitate to give the sanction of the highest learned body of the country as an indorsement of the liberality of this State. The geological survey of New York has given to the world a new nomenclature. No geologist can, hereafter, describe the several strata of the earth without referring to it. Its results, as recorded in your published volumes, are treasured in the most valuable libraries of the world. They have made this city famous; and now, when the scientific geologist lands on your shore, his first question is, "Which is the way to Albany? I want to see your fossils." But Paleontology is only one branch of the subject, and many others your survey has equally fostered.
He next proceeded to show that organized beings were organized with reference to a plan, which the relations between different animals, and between different plants, and between animals and plants, everywhere exhibit;--drew sections of the body of a fish, and of the bird, and of man, and pointed out that in each there was the same central back-bone, the cavity above and the ribbed cavity below the flesh on each side, and the skin over all--showing that the maker of each possessed the same thought--followed the same plan of structure. And upon that plan He had made all the kinds of quadrupeds, 2,000 in number, all the kinds of birds, 7,000 in number, all of the reptiles, 2,000 to 3,000 in number, all the fish, 10,000 to 12,000 in number. All their forms may be derived as different expressions of the same formula. There are only four of these great types; or, said he, may I not call them the four tunes on which Divinity has played the harmonies that have peopled, in living and beautiful reality, the whole world?
PROFESSOR HITCHCOCK ON REMINISCENCES.
ERASTUS C. BENEDICT, Esq. of New York, introduced Prof. HITCHCOCK, of Amherst, as a gentleman whose name was very familiar, who had laid aside, voluntarily, the charge of one of the largest colleges in New England, but who could never lay aside the honors he had earned in the literature and science of geology.
After a few introductory observations, Prof. HITCHCOCK said:--
This, I believe, is the first example in which a State Government in our country has erected a museum