Perkins; and perhaps no person, but himself, would have thought, that his own nail machine, which with its togglejoint consumes bars of iron, and returns them in nails, with the tranquil grandeur of a giant, conscious of superior power, might not have borne the most strenuous rivalry.

And this leads me to remark, in the next place, as matter of pride, as well as of encouragement, that to mechanics themselves we are, indebted for some of the most useful and profitable inventions of our age. I have already adverted to the perfection of the steam-engine by Watt. The cotton-machine of Arkwright constitutes an era in inventions, and has already thrown back upon Asia all her various fabrics, and compelled her to yield up to European skill the cheapest labour of her cheapest population. The inventions of Wedgewood have led to almost as striking a rivalry of the pottery and wares of the East. The cotton-gin, which has given to the cotton-growing States of the south their present great staple, is the production of the genius of Whitney. In the year 1794, the Carolinas and Georgia were scarcely known to our ablest diplomatists, as cultivators of the plant, so obscure and unimportant were its results. The invention of Whitney at once gave it the highest value; and laid the broad foundation of their present wealth and prosperity. At this very moment, New England annually consumes, in her manufactories, more than one fifth part of the eight hundred and fifty thousand bales of cotton, the annual produce of their soil! which but for him would have had no existence. What wonders were accomplished by the selftaught architect, Brindley, himself a humble mill-wright;

and yet of such vast compass of thought, that to him rivers seemed of no use, but to feed navigable canals, and the ocean itself but a large reservoir for water-works. What effects is our own Perkins producing by one only of his numerous inventions, the art of softening steel, so as to admit of engraving, and then hardening it again, so as to retain the fine point and polish of copper-plate, without the constant wear of the latter, and its consequent tendency to depreciation? He has enabled us, as it were, to stereotype, and multiply, to an almost incalculable extent, the most beautiful specimens of the art, and cheapen them, so to bring them within the reach of the most moderate fortunes. Many other illustrious instances of genius, successfully applied to the improvement of the arts, might be selected from the work-shops and common trades of life. But in most of these instances it will be found, that the discovery was not the mere result of accident, but arose from the patient study of principles, or from hints gathered from a scientific observation of nice and curious facts. And it may be added, that in all of these instances, in proportion as the inventors acquired a knowledge of the principles of the arts, their genius assumed a wider play, and accomplished its designs with more familiar power and certainty. It is a subject of most profound interest, to observe to what grand results a common principle in mechanics, or an apparently insulated fact, may conduct us, under the guidance of a man of genius. The rule, for instance, in geometry, that the circumferences of circles are in proportion to their diameters, lies at the foundation of most of the operations of practical mechanics, and

has led to the means of increasing mechanical power to an almost incalculable extent. The lever, the pulley, and the wheel, are but illustrations of it. So, too, the habit of nice observation of facts, (the almost constant attendant upon scientific acquirements) has led to surprising conjectures, which have ended in the demonstration of equally surprising truths. Let me avail myself of one or two illustrations, which have been already noticed by others, as better to my purpose, than any which my own memory could furnish. In the course of Sir Isaac Newton's experiments to ascertain the laws of optics, he was led, from the peculiar action of the diamond upon light, to express an opinion that it was carbon, and capable of ignition, and not belonging to the class of crystals. That conjecture has in our day been established, by chemical experiments, to be a fact. He made the discovery also of the compound nature of light, and that its white colour arises from a mixture of all the various colours. This has led to various ingenious improvements in the formation of the lenses of telescopes, by which modern astronomy has been able to display the heavens in new beauty and order. When Franklin, by close observation, had established the identity of lightning with the electric spark, he was immediately led to the practical application of his discovery, by ascertaining the relative conducting power of various substances, so as to guard our dwellings from its tremendous agency. The galvanic battery, to which we are indebted for so many discoveries in chemistry, owes its origin to an apparently trivial circumstance. The discoverer's attention was drawn to an investigation of the cause of the

twitching of a dead frog's leg; and by patient and laborious experiments, he was at length conducted to the discovery of animal electricity.

The polarization of light, as it is called, that is, the fact that rays of light have different sides, which have different properties of reflection, is a discovery in optics of very recent date, which, it is said, "is so fertile in the views it lays open of the constitution of natural bodies, and the minuter mechanism of the universe, as to place it in the very first rank of physical and mathematical science." It was discovered by the French philosopher, Malus, as late as in 1810, by various minute and delicate experiments, and has already led to very extraordinary results.

Indeed, such is the quickening power of science, that it is scarcely possible, that its simplest germ should be planted in the human mind, without expanding into a healthy growth. It generates, as it moves on, new thoughts, and new inquiries, and is forever gathering without exhaustion, and without satiety. The curiosity, which is once awakened by it, never sleeps; the genius, which is once kindled at its altar, burns on with an inextinguishable flame.

It has been remarked, that such was the progress of astronomical science, and the number of minds engaged in it towards the close of the seventeenth century, that if Sir Isaac Newton had never lived, his splendid and invaluable discoveries must have been in the possession of the succeeding age. The approaches had been so near, that they almost touched the very verge of the paths, which

his genius explored, and demonstrated with such matchless ability. If this were true in respect to that branch of physical science, it is far more strikingly true in respect to mechanics. The struggle here in respect to priority of inventions, is often so very close, that a single day sometimes decides the controversy.

It is from considerations of this nature;-that, what has been, must continue to be; that art is never perfect, and nature is inexhaustible; that science, while it is the master of art, is itself ultimately dependent upon it; that the intellectual power grows up in all stations, and in all soils; that, all other circumstances equal, he, who knows and practices, must forever take the lead of him, who merely knows, and has none of the skill to apply power, or the practical sagacity to overcome difficulties; that he, whose interest is indissolubly connected with his science, and who feels at every turn the animating impulse of reward, as well as the pleasure of speculation, and the desire of fame, has more enduring and instant motives for exertion, than he who merely indulges his leisure, or his curiosity; -it is, I say, from these considerations, that I deduce the conclusion, that when the artisan and the mechanic shall have become instructed in science, the inventions of this class will be more numerous, more useful, more profitable,. and more ingenious, than those of any other class, and even perhaps of all other classes of society.

What an animating prospect does this afford! What noble ends to poor, neglected, suffering genius! What constant comfort to cheer the hard hours of labour, and the heavier hours of despondency! Much less of success