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 DEDICATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NEW CABINET AND OBSERVATORY^ 
 
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 AMHERST COLLEGE, 
 
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 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
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 https://archive.org/details/addressesatdedic1848amhe 
 
 
ADDRESSES 
 
 AT 
 
 THE DEDICATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ]NEW CABINET AND OBSERVATORY 
 
 OF AMHERST COLLEGE,. 
 
 JUNE 28, 1848. 
 
 BY 
 
 HON. WILLIAAI B. CALHOUN AND OTHERS. 
 
 AMHERST: 
 
 J. S. & C. ADAMS, PRINTERS, 
 
 HDCCCXLVIII. 
 
The New Cabinet and Obseiwatoiy of Amherst College having been erected 
 by the donations of more than forty individuals, and the Institution having been 
 liberally aided by others of late, these Benefactors and others were invited by the 
 Trustees and Faculty to meet on the 28th of June, to examine the edifice and 
 the collections in Natural History which the College contains, and to unite in 
 public thanksgiving to God. After an introductory Welcome by the President of 
 the Institution, the principal’Address was delivered by Hox. William B. Cal- 
 houn : And at the public dinner, several other addresses were made by distin- 
 guished gentlemen who were present. The whole is here presented in the belief 
 that it will gratify those friends of the College who were not present to mingle 
 in the scenes of that delightful occasion. 
 
WELCOME BY THE PllESIDENT. 
 
 Friends and Benefactors of Amherst College, and of Science and Religion : 
 
 It is my delightful privilege to-day, in the name of the Trustees 
 and Faculty of this Institution and of the citizens of this village, to 
 welcome you to this place. We have indeed no baronial castles, nor 
 magnificent palaces, to bid you look upon, nor city luxuries to tempt 
 your appetites. But we can show jou nature all around us, in her 
 freshness and grandeur. These broad plains, which bound the Con- 
 necticut, — these rich clusters of the primeval forests, and this noble 
 amphitheatre of mountains around us, reposing majestically against 
 the summer sky, all send back the echoing voice of welcome- TlTese 
 college edifices too, reminding us of the generous spirits and liberal 
 hands that erected them, now for the most past gone to their reward, — 
 and also of the many noble hearted youth who have been educated 
 here, these edifices put on to-day an unmounted dress * to honor your 
 presence. And the young men now connected with the Institution 
 whom your liberality has of late provided with increased facilities for 
 an education, and whom we are proud to introduce to you, hail 
 your coming. But it is mainly to show you some o’!" the fruits of your 
 beneficence in the new Cabinet and Observatory and their contents, 
 that we have invited you hither. Allow me briefly to recapitulate 
 what God through your instrumentality, has done for us within the last 
 two j'ears. 
 
 First in the order of time, though not perhaps in the order of an- 
 nouncement, came the munificent endoAvment of twm and a half Pro- 
 fessorships of $21,000 each, by Hon. Samuel Williston, though one 
 of them dates a little farther back than two years. The other half of 
 the third Professorship, was promptly supplied by Samuel A. Hitch- 
 cock Esq. 
 
 ^Recently fitted up ivith window blinds. 
 
4 
 
 Through the judicious and persevering efforts of the friends of the 
 College in the State Legislature, and eminently of its graduates, who 
 were members, the sum of S25,000, in five annual installments, was 
 granted. And with this we have been enabled to cancel our debts, 
 make our buildings more comfortable, reduce the expenses of tuition, 
 and provide a handsome endowment for a Massachusetts Professor- 
 ship, which shall forever bear testimony to our gratitude. 
 
 The next movement that resulted in rich blessings to the Institu- 
 tion, was an attempt to erect a new Cabinet of Natural History, in 
 connection with an Astronomical Observatory. Through the generous 
 efforts of Hon. Josiah B. Woods, and the liberality of more than forty 
 gentlemen in the Commonwealth, this object has been accomplished, 
 and the edifice which meets your eyes to-day on an adjoining emi- 
 nence, and whose proportions and construction I think you will say 
 do honor to the architect and to all concerned in its erection, has 
 been the result, at an expenditure of about nine thousand dollars. 
 
 As a consequence of the erection of this Cabinet, a deposit has been 
 made in it of the rich and beautiful collections of Professor Shepard, 
 which are now displayed for examination. They consist of an almost 
 unequalled collection of meteoric stones, by which the mineralogy and 
 geology of other worlds are brought under our eyes : also of a very 
 select and complete collection of simple minerals : an extensive series 
 of geological specimens : and large groups of the different classes of 
 animals. The lower room of the same building has in it, arranged 
 and ticketed, not less than twelve collections in geology, amounting to 
 more than 11,000 specimens. 
 
 Nor is this alt. For during the last year Professor Adams has 
 made a donation to the college, not only of a suite of some 2000 spec- 
 imens of the rocks and minerals of Vermont, and numerous speci- 
 mens of preserved animals, and thousands of insects, but also his su- 
 perb collection of shells, containing nearly 5000 species, and almost 
 countless varieties ; — forming one of the richest conchological collec- 
 tions in the United States. These are now' arranged with great neat- 
 ness in the old College Cabinet, so far as that could contain them. 
 The remainder have been placed upon the floor of the Library, until 
 the time, which I hope may not be far distant, — when the library 
 shall gain strength and numbers sufficient to drive the beautiful intru- 
 ders from its premises. 
 
 Thus, Gentlemen, as our means of exhibiting specimens have in- 
 creased, through your benefactions, have they flowed in upon us in 
 
5 
 
 wonderful profusion ; so that we are really nearly as much straitened 
 for room for future additions, as before we appealed to your liberali- 
 ty. When you have examined these collections, I think you will 
 agree with me in the opinion, that the specimens belonging to, or de- 
 posited in, the cabinet, are nearly ten times as valuable as they were 
 three years ago. 
 
 I shall not be able to give as flattering a view of the Observatory. 
 The transit room is indeed furnished with as fine a Transit Instrument, 
 Repeating Circle, and Astronomical Clock, as we could desire. But 
 we have no Telescope with which to grace the pedestal of the tower. 
 We should be very faithless and ungrateful, however, to doubt, that 
 the same Providence, which has done so much for us the past year, 
 will send us a fitting telescope, if it be best for us to have one ; and 
 send it too, just at the right time. 
 
 One other donation during the past year should not be forgotten. 
 It consists of real estate in the city of Boston, estimated by the donor, 
 the Hon. Daniel Sears, to be of the value of $12,000. This with 
 $10,000 formerly bestowed is to constitute the “ Sears Foundation of 
 Literature and Benevolencei” And although for the present it does 
 not yield a large income, yet such are the terms on which it is bestow- 
 ed, that it must ultimately become of immense value to the College : 
 And even now, for several years past, with the addition of $1000 
 furnished by John Tappan Esq. for the same purpose, it has enabled 
 us to purchase books enough to prevent our losing sight of the vari- 
 ous branches of science, as they rapidly expand by new discoveries. 
 
 Now to gentlemen who are familiar with large sums of money, 
 splendid public buildings, and vast collections in natural history, the 
 additions to our means that have been enumerated, may not seem of 
 so great importance as they do to us. We do not boast of them, in- 
 deed ; that would be infatuation. But gratitude, — deep sincere grat- 
 itude, becomes us ; and we know that we feel it : Gratitude first of all 
 and above all, to God. For we honestly believe, that it was He 
 who put it into your hearts to come to our help. Never, it seems to 
 us, was his special Providence more manifest than in this whole busi- 
 ness, from its inception to the present hour. If ever I had doubted 
 God’s special agency in influencing the hearts of men to deeds of be- 
 nevolence, the experience of the last two years would have removed 
 all my skepticism. Permit us then from a full heart, to praise God 
 for our increased means of honoring Him by promoting the cause of 
 education. 
 
6 
 
 But think not because we render our first tribute of thanks to God, 
 that we are less grateful to you. We honor you as the faithful al- 
 moners of our Father in heaven : And what higher praise can we 
 bestow? We cannot forget the circumstances under which you 
 came to our help. A great work had been committed to us, but we 
 had not the means of successfully accomplishing it. Promising 
 young men were here, but we could not give them all the facilities 
 which a public education demands in the nineteenth century. We 
 were crippled for the want of pecuniary means ; and that was a suf- 
 ficient reason for the Priest and the Levite to pass by on tbe other 
 side. But you came to our rescue, because we were wounded. And 
 if help in such circumstances does not awaken gratitude, those who are 
 aided, deserve to perish. We well remember the long years of dis- 
 couragement and toil through which we passed. My predecessor in 
 office, whom I had hoped to see present to-day, and the Trustees of 
 the Institution, who have long been associated with him in its over- 
 sight, could tell us many a sad tale on this subject. I could wish, 
 also, that another were here, who for many years sustained a bitter 
 conflict between hope deferred, and the shattered nerves of a diseased 
 constitution ; and who sunk at last, in a distant land, before the ne.ws 
 reached him that liberal hearts had come to tlie relief of the beloved 
 institution to which he had devoted the vigor and ripeness of his days. 
 But he had a ^presentiment of the result. For only a few days be- 
 fore his departure, he said to me with almost prophetic accuracy, 
 “ Amherst College will be relieved ; Mr. Williston, I think will give 
 it $50.000 ; and you will put his name upon it.” If human w ishes 
 could be gratified, that beloved friend would have been here to-day, 
 to be cheered by the fulfilment of his prediction. But he knows it 
 all, I doubt not: nor can I believe him indifferent to our interests, 
 though now' engaged in far higher enterprises. 
 
 Think not then. Gentlemen, that you are invited hither to-day, 
 through mere form, for the sake of a mere pageant- If any of you 
 know wiiat it is to labor year after year, in a cause which you feel to 
 be a good and important one, but which is in a depressed condition, 
 and therefore meets not wuth popular favor ; if you know the heart 
 sinking, the mortification, the struggle between duty and inclination, 
 and the alternation of hope and despondency of such a state, then, 
 you can realize our feelings for many a long year. And if you have 
 seen that depressed cause suddenly assume, a difterent aspect, and 
 have felt your lungs breathe more freely, and your heax’t beat more 
 
7 
 
 lightly, through the liberal aid of some large-souled benefactor, then 
 you can appreciate our feelings to-day. And you can realize how it 
 is, that we have wanted an opportunity publicly to testity our grati- 
 tude, and show you the effects of your benefactions. 
 
 But highly as we appreciate the liberal aid of our fiuends, let it 
 not be thought that we imagine all the wants of the Institution to be 
 supplied, and that its instructors may henceforth repose on beds of 
 down, and consider hard labor and strict economy no longer necessa- 
 ry. We have invited you to look around upon this eminence to see 
 the fruits of your donations. But while we hope you will discover 
 some things as they ought to be, it would be strange if those who 
 know what a college in the nineteenth century and in New England 
 needs, should not see many things which require other benefactors as 
 liberal as yourselves to bring them into a proper condition. If you 
 had taken from us the necessity of hard work and rigid economy, we 
 should regard it as a curse instead of a blessing. But you have only put 
 more tools into our hands, to stimulate us to work the harder, because 
 we can now work more advantageously. You have loosened the 
 cord that was almost choking us, and taken off the the incubus that 
 was crushing us. And now we can labor vigorously and cheerfully, 
 because we labor in hope. As to the cause to which we have devo- 
 ted ourselves, we have never had any misgivings. It was marked 
 out for us by those honest-hearted and noble-minded men, who laid 
 the foundation of the Institution, and carried it forward under so 
 many difficulties. To provide the means of an elevated and thor- 
 ough literary and scientific education, for those who come hither, was 
 not the chief end they had in view ; though that was an end essential 
 to an ulterior object. To promote the cause of science and literature 
 was also a subordinate, though important end. But to make all sci- 
 ence and all literature subservient to the still higher cause of pure re- 
 ligion was their aim, and their prayer. Such too, I doubt not, has 
 been the intentioti of our more recent benefactors. Indeed one of 
 them,* in offering his rich collections in conchology and entomology 
 to the Trustees, says : “ This gift is made with a view to contrib- 
 ute, in some small degree, to the exhibition of the glorious plan of 
 creation, especially of the creation of organic beings, as this exists in 
 the Divine Mind.” 
 
 Wlien, therefore, we dedicate, as we now do, these new Professor- 
 ships, this new Cabinet and Observatory, and these new Collections 
 
 ♦Professor Adams. 
 
8 
 
 in Natural History, to an object so transcendent, we know that the 
 cordial Amen is uttered by your hearts, if not by your lips. And I 
 would look upon it as an omen of the acceptance of this consecration, 
 and a pledge of the permanent devotion of our new edifice, to such an 
 object, that it occupies the site of an ancient church, where from 
 generation to generation the inhabitants of Amherst have worshipped 
 God. Palsied be the sacrilegious hands that shall ever desecrate 
 such collections on such a spot, to any inferior object. 
 
 
MR. CALHOUT\^’S ADDRESS. 
 
 In the name of the Trustees of Amherst College, and by their ap- 
 pointment, I have been deputed to present their thanks and to express 
 their gratitude to the numerous patrons and benefactors of this Insti- 
 tution, for the means, furnished by them, of raising it from decline and 
 depression to its appropriate rank, and to the paths of prosperity, use- 
 fulness and honor. The duty, which thus calls us together, is one em- 
 inently pleasing and grateful. We cherish the hope, that this may 
 be regarded as an act, not of pretending and spasmodic gladsomeness, 
 nor of casual and merely exhilarating excitement, but as the dictate 
 of the clearest obligation. 
 
 This College holds an important position in the land. Established 
 as it is, in the heart of that great valley, to which the public eye has 
 been singularly directed from the commencement of our records, we 
 may look upon it as certain that the importance of this position will 
 be even more than proportionally increased, as generation after gene- 
 ration shall advance to replenish this beautiful domain, to give vigor 
 and influence to the tone of public thinking, and to modify and shape 
 all those elements, which make up the character of a people. 
 
 How is this great purpose to be accomplished, but by the combined 
 power of education and Christianity ? These have made us all that 
 we are : the results are before us. Experience, the best of masters, 
 has taught us the extraordinary adaptedness of these means to the 
 great end. Amongst the modes of applying these means, no one is 
 more prominent, than institutions of learning like the one whose re- 
 vival and progress we rejoice in to-day. It is then a matter of pro- 
 fbundest moment, whether this College shall flourish, and aid in car- 
 rying out the glorious designs of the fathers, who planted free prin- 
 ciples upon these western shores, or whether it shall linger in bare 
 existence, or perish from self-exhaustion. 
 
 By the generous interposition of the Commonwealth, and by the 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 yet more generous and energetic eiforts of those private individuals 
 who have come munificently to the help of this languishing Institu- 
 tion, in the time of its utmost need, Amherst College stands before 
 the community reassured ; reinvested with ample endowments for 
 blessing the community ; and we fully believe, fortified in their hearts, 
 affections, and prayers. The noble-spirited donors, to whom I have 
 referred, do not need that their names should be distinctly herald- 
 ed on this occasion. No public blazonry here can add to the renown 
 which arises from the consciousness of being instrumental in the 
 hands of an over-ruling Providence, in advancing the cause of relig- 
 ion and knowledge among men. They need no letters of commenda- 
 tion from us. Theirs be that ancient compliment, of unequalled force, 
 beauty, and delicacy, and with vehement feeling be it applied, “ Ye, 
 are our epistles, written in our hearts, known and read of all men.” 
 But there is a thank-offering, which we cannot fail to make here, 
 now, and at all times, and in the most distinct and emphatic manner, 
 to that Divine Being, whose Providence is over all, and in whom, un- 
 der all circumstances, in the darkest periods of the College, its guar- 
 dians have reposed unfaltering trust. Be it ever the eminent dis- 
 tinction of this Institution, that here is its strong hold. If to instruct 
 the understanding, to purify the heart, to elevate the character, to 
 make man wiser and better, and to contribute towards fitting him for 
 the enjoyments of a higher and holier, an immortal existence, be the 
 great and true design of such an Institution, then in whom can all 
 hopes center but in Him, whose “Avord is very pure, — the entrance of 
 whose words giveth light ; it giveth understanding to the simple.” 
 Influenced by these emotions, and actuated, we trust, by generous 
 impulses, and by motives bearing no stain of selfishness or sordidness, 
 Ave have come up hither to mingle our congratulations with the friends 
 of the College, on the changed aspect of its affairs and prospects. And 
 why is it that we rejoice that this Seminary has found favor with the 
 intelligent, affluent, and far sighted, who have been the agents in dis- 
 pelling the gloom, that hung over it for so long a period ? why has 
 this day of jubilee been set apart ? It is not merely that the Institu- 
 tion is relieved from its financial embarrassments, eased of that bur- 
 den of debt, which had nearly pressed it down to the dust, and escaped 
 from an incessant drain of its resources, energies, and vitahty. It is not, 
 much as that is, that a feeling of self-respect is, if it be not right to say 
 restored, certainly iuAngorated and animated. It is not, still more, 
 that the accomplished and faithful corps of instructors are permitted 
 
11 
 
 once more to breathe the air of freedom, and to break away fi-om a 
 jjosition, which was compelling them, from a stern and noble sense of 
 duty, to do an act of unquestioned injustice to themselves. Much as 
 there is in all this to cause rejoicing, yet this might be consistent with 
 selfish designs and motives of personal ambition. Why then do we 
 rejoice ? Do I utter a sentiment, which does not find a response in 
 the heart of every one who hears me, when I say, that we rejoice be- 
 cause we now stand upon a vantage ground, which enables us with 
 an erect front, and with a humble trust in God, to go forward in the 
 work of doing good, with the assured hope, that the fruits of that work 
 will be seen in the blessings conferred upon the community, in the 
 church and in the state ? Tins I nstitution might, at the lowest ebb of its 
 affairs, have been abandoned ; and all connected with it might have 
 betaken themselves to other and perhaps wider fields of action and of 
 enterprise : the dimmed star might have gone out in utter darkness ; 
 but who, of all associated in its management, could have looked back 
 upon that darkness with an untroubled conscience ? Who, possessing 
 the heart of a man, or the soul of a Christian, could have incurred, or 
 shared in, the responsibility of so disastrous a result ? But what 
 prevented that result, — a result not inconsistent Avith the highest char- 
 acter of ordinary worldliness, — what prevented that result ? I appeal 
 to the late Head of the college , — “ clarum et venerabile nomen I ap- 
 peal to the present Head of the College and his worthy associates : 
 
 I appeal to the Board of Trustees, for the truth of what I say, that 
 nothing prevented that result but an unwavering trust in God. And 
 I do not hesitate to take this public occasion to express my own grate- 
 ful sense of the privilege of being permitted to see, — may it be that 
 I have felt also, — an<l noAV to bety’ witness to, the beauty, the calm- 
 ness, and the power of that trust. 
 
 Amherst College is then once more, what it was originally designed 
 to be, a school of all good learning, and linked to all the purposes of 
 good to a great and flourishing community. What a beautiful illus- 
 tration is here of the true principles of a just Public Economy. The 
 industry, and skill, and sagacity, which have been faithfully and ju- 
 diciously applied to the accumulation of private wealth, now pour 
 back their varied generous contributions for the improvement, the re- 
 finement, and the adornment of that land, Avhich has been at once the 
 scene and the witness of these noble aims and. efforts. Here indeed 
 is the whole science of what is improperly called Political Economy 
 presented in all its practical bearings, and in its fullest length and 
 
12 
 
 breadth. Individual fortunes created by well-directed individual en- 
 ergies ; and then distributed for individual and social welfare, and to 
 build up the intellectual, moral, and religious character of the com- 
 munity ! And see too, in this important connection, how far the prin- 
 ciples of this noble science, when rightly viewed, are carried out. 
 Are these public-spirited individuals, who thus by the power of money 
 give vitality to a dormant institution, alone illustrating and acting up- 
 on these principles ? They are adding largely, it is true, to the pub- 
 lic wealth : but where and what is the institution itself, which they 
 lift up from the dust ? Where are the instructors, and what are they 
 doing, who take charge of the minds that are brought together through 
 the impulse communicated by these material means and products, — 
 the contributions of these donors ? In moulding, deciphering, and 
 drawing out the power of these minds, are they not adding, and to an 
 extent not to be measured, to the wealth, the intellectual not less than 
 the material resourees, of the community ? The technical science, as 
 it has been and still is taught amongst us, makes the one of these 
 classes the contributor to public wealth, and not the other. Surely, 
 surely, it is not so. And it is the highest distinction, which wealth, 
 strictly so called, can gather around itself, that it does give the im- 
 pulse, of which 1 speak, and which we all this day feel. The love of 
 money, by that authority which is supreme, has been called the root 
 of all evil : under the chastening and guiding influences of that Pow- 
 er which makes this declaration, money may be made and is made the 
 root, the impulse of all good. What a glory encircles material wealth, 
 when it moves the world in the path of advancement and improve- 
 ment, and in all the ways and arts of peace ! But what untold and in- 
 conceivable horrors cluster around it^ when used, as the history of the 
 world assures us it has been used, to promote the purposes of private 
 discord and public war ! I honor the men : I know no language 
 strong or glotving enough to express the feelings with which I honor 
 the men, who contribute of their wealth to bless their country and to 
 bless the world. Be it, that the world is at last awakening universally 
 to the true use of wealtb, and to the true end in the pursuit of it. 
 Thus appropriated, wealth partakes of the quality, which the great 
 poet attributes to mercy, “ it blesseth him that gives, and him that 
 takes.” 
 
 The Saviour of mankind, at that interesting moment, — the most in 
 terestli g in the whole current of time, — when he ascended from earth 
 to Heaven, uttered his tnal farewell message to the world, that sol- 
 
13 
 
 emn injunction, “ Go ye into all the world, and preach the go?pel to 
 every creature.” Where is the mind that has ever yet taken in the 
 full import of this startling message. What mind can go to the extent 
 of its requirements, or can contemplate the means necessary to its ac- 
 complishment. It carries us back to man fallen from his original high 
 estate, to man debased by bad passions, untoward appetites, sensual 
 propensities ; to man, in a word, imbued and incrusted with ignor- 
 ance and sin. Where is the power that can make its way to the 
 mind, the soul, the heart, and find them in a proper condition to re- 
 ceive the message of which I speak, the words of divine truth ? The 
 power of God can do it ; but liberal are the human means, that are 
 to be instrumental to this vast purpose, with the sujieradded aid of 
 Him who is above ? Two thousand years ago the injunction of the 
 Great Teacher was delivered to the world. And up to this moment 
 what effects have followed ? How, for nearly twenty centuries, has 
 this injunction been obeyed ; and what is the obedience, which, in the 
 very time that is passing, is rendered to it? Is there less ignorance 
 now, less debasement, less sensuality, less sin ? Is there less scope for 
 the operation of that injunction ? What has the power of education 
 been doing in this long interval, — and what is it now doing ? Who 
 has been adequately enforcing the power of Christianity ? Education 
 and Christianity are the great agents for the redemption of the world, 
 disclosed in the valedictory of the Saviour. And where, through the 
 sixty generations that have risen, acted, and gone, have been the sil- 
 ver and the gold, the material wealth of the world, the elements and 
 the sinews of its power ? How have they been applied,' — to bless or 
 to curse the race, — to minister to the improvement of man or to his 
 destruction, — to subserve the great purposes of existence, to develope 
 the divinity within us, or to feed and pamper the selfish, the sordid, 
 the devilish ? Again and again, I ask, how has the word of God 
 been obeyed, “ Go ye into all the world.” That word has reference 
 to man’s higher nature : and has not man’s higher nature been almost 
 universally overlooked ; and has not his animal nature been as univer- 
 sally cared for, cherished and indulged? 
 
 Believe not, that I am endeavoring to divert your attention from 
 the goodly purpose, which has brought you together to-dajn You are 
 here to rejoice that the intellectual and moral armory of this College, 
 is refurnished with the equipments of education, with the means of 
 doing something to bless the woidd, and to improve the condition of 
 man ; and that this has been done through the instrumentality of 
 
14 
 
 tliose, who, whilst dealing with the material, have not forgotten the 
 immortal ; whose minds have taken liberal and Christian views ; 
 whose hearts have been expanded with benevolence, and whose souls 
 are the abode of what forms the “ hiding of their power,” love to 
 flieir fellow men. Behold then the field. Eemember the injunction 
 “ Go ye into all the world.” Look to the breaking down of the strong 
 holds of all that is evil ; look to the building up of all that can ce- 
 ment and fortify the manly, the intellectual, the moral, the spiritual. 
 Behold the field. That field is to be won alone by the holy alliance 
 of education and Christianity. lYe have heard of holy alliances 
 formed for the maintenance, by war and bloodshed, of the balance of 
 political power Let the world gather together to an alliance that 
 shall establish a balance of moral power through the influence of that 
 blessed anthem, which for almost two thousand years has been trod- 
 den under foot, — “peace on earth and good will toman.” Education 
 is the means to be used as the pioneer in this great and noble work. 
 Education uniformly opens the way to Christianity. They are one 
 and indivisible. 
 
 And now I say to the patrons and instructors of this youthful and 
 vigorous institution, behold your commission. Divine in its origin, 
 beneficent in its purpose, it reaches to all the wants of man. I would 
 gladly, if I could, impress upon all, the extent and importance of this 
 va.st enterprise. It is because I totally distrust my ability to do so, 
 that I present to you the words of Him, who spoke as never man 
 spoke. I urge it upon you as the great thesis, which should engage 
 earnestly your best thoughts. It is a common topic to dwell upon 
 the value of education ; but is it felt by any of us in all its vastness ? 
 I am fully persuaded, that even in this land, we are barely beginning 
 to appreciate it. Here in this college is a central point, from which 
 a true and fervent spirit on this subject should go forth ; — and that with 
 renewed and redoubled energy. The business of this place is educa- 
 tion, in one of its leading and most important departments The first 
 great purpose of education here must ever be, to train and discipline 
 the mind, and to invigorate its powers for active and efficient effort to 
 teach it to think, and to act on other minds, with distinctness, direct- 
 ness, and point. Looking at ourselves in a national light, we are most 
 unconscionably a talking people. It will not be regarded I am sure, 
 as libellous on my part to affirm, that a very large proportion of what 
 is said amongst us, I mean on public occasions and in public deliber- 
 ative assemblies, is said to no good purpose, and this for want of terse- 
 
Hess, conciseness, energy, and pitli. "We are in the hahit of covering 
 too much ground. The point aimed at, is lost sight of in the dust 
 and smoke and din of the warfare of words. I will not speak here 
 of the College or of its habits of study ; but in after life, when dis- 
 tracting cares and anxieties and multifarious concerns invade the mind 
 and disturb its quiet, the faculty of attention in too many cases ceases 
 to be cultivated ; and hence comes invariably the result I have just 
 indicated. I single out the faculty of attention from the rest of the 
 mental powers, because, in my own observation, I have been in the 
 habit of tracing failures to produce results aimed at, to the want orthe 
 abandonment of cultivation here, more than to any other cause ; and be- 
 cause such is the tendency amongst us to strive after the accomplish- 
 ment of a multiplicity of purposes, that failure must necessarily en- 
 sue, unless this important faculty be sedulously and steadfastly train- 
 ed and cherished. Here is the place, in the department of education 
 pursued here, to establish this faculty, in its entire strength and su- 
 premacy, in the position which belongs to it. Let not only this and 
 all the other powers of the mind be duly disciplined here ; but let the 
 importance of maintaining them in their appropriate discipline in af- 
 ter life, be earnestly and constantly enforced and a great leading pur- 
 pose of education will be fully carried out. 
 
 Another prominent design of education here is, to imbue the mind 
 with sound principles, with just, noble, and generous sentiments, and 
 with all the varied resources of a cultivated intellect. Intelligence 
 acquired, and made the subject of thoughtful investigation, under the 
 guidance of that training already spoken of, fits the man to start fa- 
 vorably in the race for usefulness. But alas ! what counteracting ten- 
 dencies and forces are to be met, resisted, and vanquished, before the 
 race is more than fairly entered upon ! Indolence, the love of pleasure, 
 the love of distinction too, the indulgence of vanity and self sufficien- 
 cy, eagerness to jump to conclusions, to gain the goal by an electric 
 stride, — these all are sore combatants, — too often victorious over all op- 
 position. How necessary, then, that a calm and resolute spirit should 
 here be infused ! and how can this be done effectually but by implant, 
 ing a deep sense of accouHtability to God for the use of all the pow- 
 ers, and for the diligent improvement of all means and appointmentsy 
 — the value of time, the claims of duty, a heedful submission to all the 
 monitions of conscience. AVhen we look at education in this light, 
 we are constrained ever to regard it as only begun, never finished, and 
 never on this side of the grave to be finished. 
 
16 
 
 la reference to the sentiments, with which the mind should be im- 
 bued, those especially which partake of the character of manliness 
 and generosity, very greatly to be lamented is it, that the ancient clas- 
 sic authors have fallen so extensively into disuse. They are to be 
 regarded, and probably ever will be so, as models of taste. In no 
 way can the intellect be so thoroughly adorned and cultivated as by 
 giving days and nights of patient toil to the mastery of the purer pro- 
 ducts of Grecian and Roman mind. The system of study, amid the 
 groves and walks of the ancient Academia, is unknown to us with 
 anything like accuracy : but we do know enough to be assured, that 
 the education of a few minds was carried to such a pains taking point 
 of perfection, that belief would be severely taxed but for the results 
 and fruits, which have come down to us. Singularly adapted to us as 
 citizens of a great Republic are these remains of antiquitj', abound- 
 ing, as they do indeed abound, with the development and investisra- 
 tion of free principles, dressed in a drapery of surpassing beauty, and 
 enunciated with chaste and invigorated eloquence, they are amongst the 
 peerless treasures of the world. The views which they present of 
 liberty are of liberty at once chastened and regulated- The study of 
 the great Orators of antiquity would put an effectual check upon lib- 
 erty running madly into licentiousness, and upon the wantonness that 
 makes the demagogue. To these evils we are singularly exposed ; 
 they are increasing and extending amongst us with a virulence, that 
 indicates deep seated disease. Where can a more effectual remedy 
 be found than in the revived study of those models of pure taste and 
 refined sentiment, which the ancient classics afford ? The time may 
 have gone by for the application of any hopeful remedy : the infusion 
 perhaps pervades the mass too intimately to be extracted or neutral- 
 ized. The language and the thoughts of our public men in many 
 parts of the land bear marks, not to be mistaken, of this type of dis- 
 ease : but here, in our own New England, let us hope that the evil 
 may be checked in its progress and averted. A taste for this branch of 
 study must be encouraged and cherished in the College and by the ex- 
 ample and counsels of the friends of pure learning amongst us, or 
 we shall be overran with litei-ary Mormonism. The decay of true 
 taste will necessai-ily be accompanied by a decay of just and true sen- 
 timent ; and all purity will come to be regarded as affectation and 
 pretension. To him, who ministers at the altars of a pure and unde- 
 filed religion I need not urge the importance of these considerations. 
 I bespeak only the influence of his unvarying example. Let not the 
 
17 
 
 study of tlie classics be confined to the Collegfe'. There is indeed its' 
 appropriate sphere : there the love of it should be nurtured and es- 
 tablished. But let it go, with all who are imbued with it, through 
 life. Let each succeeding day have a portion however limited, given 
 to this delightful and important purpose. "Were this the proper oc- 
 casion, and Avcre there time, for a full defence of the study of the an- 
 cient classics, I would gladly advert to several other kindred topics: 
 I would especially say something of that cheap literature, which has 
 come in upon us like a flood, answering no purpose but to cheapen 
 and debase the character of all who venture upon its polluted waters. 
 Purified, thorough, systematic general education must be the barrier 
 against this threatening inundation. The heads and the hearts of our 
 youth must be shielded here and all around by those who' stand upon 
 the watch-tower. 
 
 I have a word to say of a study eminently appropriate to the Col- 
 lege, inexpressibly important to those who live in the'light of free in- 
 stitutions,—! mean the study of the Bible. I do not speak here of 
 that highest use of the Bible, to which the humble and reverent Chris- 
 tian is accustomed, as the way, the truth, and the life ; as opening the 
 consummations of happiness and holiness in another world. I speak 
 of it as a divine study indeed, but as applicable to human purposes. 
 The Bible contains the best code of Pcpublican principles, which has 
 ever been furnished to man from any source. Take the history of 
 the Hebrew Commonwealth and the precepts of freedom, which are 
 scattered in great profusion over the pages of the New Testament, 
 and you have all that is necessaiy to assure to man the enjoyment of 
 a well regulated lil^erty and of well balanced institutions. But you 
 have something more, infinitely more important than even this.' You 
 have in the Bible the only jueans, by which man can be enabled to 
 render himself lit and worthy permanently to maintain free institu- 
 tions. The power of human passion, in the ten thousand forms in 
 which it is accustomed to show itself, constitutes the deadliest foe to 
 ])olitical liberty ; and in the past history of the world has uniformly 
 conducted liberty to its grave. The Bible points out the only way, 
 in which this power of human passion, essentially and otherwise in- 
 curably selfish, can be checked and controlled. We are witnesses in 
 our day of the elforts, honest and well meaning undoubtedly, that have 
 been made and are still making, to overcome the evils that thwart the 
 progress of liberty, and render its blessings so extensively unavaila- 
 ble. What are the various social systems, and systems of separate 
 communities, that have risen, flourished for a brief space, and then 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 have rapidly declined and decayed ? They have only served to show, 
 that a better way is needed, without being able to indicate what that 
 better way is. What are all the Attempts made and making in France 
 to regulate labor, and to place it upon a basis consistent with the prin- 
 ciple of freedom, and which threaten a disruption of the political fab- 
 ric now rising up amid the quicksands of that heaving and agitated 
 land ? What are all the movements, the M'orld over, which are strain- 
 ing so many minds and hearts after a foundation for liberty to stand 
 upon ? They are all but the “ experimentum crucis they are 
 putting man’s intellect to its last and severest test to find a foothold 
 for freedom around and within the vortex of human passion. They 
 are the futile attempts “ eripere sceptrunt tyrannis,” without the 
 “fulmen coelo.” Had that divine message, to which I have before 
 alluded, which the Saviour gave to man, been inscribed upon the world’s 
 banner, ivnd formed the steady motive to human effort ; instead of twenty 
 centuries of war and desolation intervening, we should now be wit- 
 nesses of a glorious exhibition of man, on every portion of earth’s 
 surface, standing erect in that liberty with which Heaven raaketh free. 
 
 Those illustrious men, whose lives can never be enough studied and 
 commemorated, who founded these States more than two centuries ago, 
 fieeing from civil and religious oppression, brought with them hither 
 the great and true principle of liberty. Their noble minds grasped 
 the truth in alt its comprehensiveness ; for they planted themselves 
 upon the platform of freedom divine. What a debt of gratitude, under 
 God, do we owe to the Puritans. Not a day nor an hour do I live 
 without an increased admiration of their character, their sagacity', 
 their honesty, their power. If u'e enjoy liberty in any measure ap- 
 proaching to purity', to the Puritans and to the principles of the Puri- 
 tans, we owe it. These principles Avere imbedded in the deep yet 
 transpai’ent truths of the Bible. “ Let nothing be done through strife 
 or vaiiT glory ; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better 
 than themselves .” — “ Look not every man on his own things, but 
 every man also on tire things of others.” Try all the schemes of Ee- 
 publican liberty by this test, and the reason why they have failed alto- 
 gether, or have not answered fully the goodly' purposes intended or aim- 
 ed at, will be at once apparent. Let the Bible be studied as the true 
 text book of Republicanism. Let Christian liberty be the liberty we 
 seek to establish. No other will sustain us. No other has in it any 
 such sustaining power. The Bible alone teaches us that all men are 
 free, not nominally but really free : it teaches us also how to treat all 
 others as being free. It implants the disposition to regard others not 
 
19 
 
 less tlmn ourselves^ He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling 
 in the fear of God.” Does any human code embrace such a maxim 
 as this ? Is this any where made the practical test in the selection of 
 rulers among men ? Until it is so, will there ever he a sound, well 
 regulated liberty? “ Do unto others as ye would that others should 
 do unto you.” Let such a maxim as this actuate the hearts of a peo* 
 pie, and the choice of rulers would be “ an end of all strife.” 
 
 I dwell not upon the other numerous practical purposes, to which 
 the study of the Bible may be applied. I offer what has now been 
 said, simply as a specimen of those purposes. I do not deem it ne- 
 cessmy, nor, wmre it so, have I the command of time, to enter upon 
 farther remarks upon the course of study appropriate to this place. 
 These remarks are all of a general and practical nature. I go not 
 into the consideration of systems or modes of study. I desire only to 
 -express my own conviction, that education in all its departments 
 should be adapted to the times in which we live. I have spoken par- 
 ticularly of the great principle of freedom, to the developement, op- 
 erations, and bearings of which so much of thought and investigation 
 is now given almost universally amongst men. This must long con- 
 tinue to be the leading topic with all minds, so far as we can form 
 any definite judgment of the aspect of human affairs. All things are 
 most evidently tending to a great conflict, in which the prominent ele- 
 ment must be the power of Christianity, — the pui’e and humble faith 
 , and practice of the Bible. This conflict I do not pretend to present 
 as a new one. Ages ago it was commenced. Often has it been car- 
 ried on with energy ; oftener has the progress of the great principles 
 contended for, been retarded and arrested. War has been the lead* 
 ing obstacle, giving strength to the artn of despotism, and crushing in 
 its march every germ of freedom. The generation that is passing, — 
 tliose who have lived and acted duiing any considerable portion of 
 the last thirty years, all who can look back with fresh thoughts to the 
 battle of Waterloo, — these have grown up to the glorious prerogative 
 and inheritance of peace. And it is under the influence of a thirty 
 year’s peace, that the world is now assuming to speak. This period 
 has been marked by the power of thought, — by the power of educa- 
 tion, — by the power of benevolence, — to sum up all, by the spreading 
 power of Chiistianity. The power of education especially, in some 
 one or other of its multifarious forms, has every where planted itself. 
 It has almost throughout the world begun its work. What are the 
 great associations for purposes of philanthropic effort, which stud the 
 cii’cle that arches the limits of the present generation, but so many 
 
20 
 
 schools of p:actical ^visdom, £t\edding their blessings and tlieir light 
 wherever dhere is darkness to be dispelled, Ayherever there is a hu- 
 man heart to be reached ? What are those Missionary Stations, that 
 now dot the suidace .of the earth, so that day after day, as the hours 
 and minutes pass, one uninterrupted voice of supplication ascends 
 from them to God for his blessing upon the wayward children of men, 
 — r'\vhat are these hut so many schools of divinest philosoidiy ? This 
 goodly heritage, which man possesses, is every where traversed hy 
 the sons and the daughters of a holy and life-giving philanthropy, 
 hearing the means aird appliances to elevate the race from debase- 
 ment and ignorance to knowledge and holiness. The Lihle ! who can 
 comprehend the achievements it has made in the new forms which 
 have been given to it only during the generation, that has not yet 
 quitted the scenes of active life? These are some of the elements 
 Avhich enter into the conflict of which I have spoken ; these are the 
 weapons, with which it is to he carried on. Education and Christi- 
 anity ? what an impulse are they giving to men’s minds ! They are 
 rapidly Sthifting that balance of power, which has so long stood in- 
 trenched hy bayonets and gunpowder. They are loosening the hold of 
 governments upon the people, because brute force can no longer keep 
 mind in its chains. And if thus much has been accomj l' h; d ur.dt-r 
 the influences of peace, and with the .riight aid ulnch lias a> yet 1< :i 
 offered by education and Christianity, what may we not exji. ct. when 
 this great combination of power shall have given, as with the iilc.-.-ing 
 of God it soon will give, the entire ascendancy to educale.l mind and 
 cultivated heart, and when man shall ever be free ! This is the con- 
 flict, which the world has now entered upon ; and the means 1 have 
 described are the means by which it is to be conducted, and by wliich 
 the triumph is to be insured. 
 
 Now then is the time for those who have anything to do with edu- 
 cation, to put theipselves to the work with unwonted eaimestness. 
 Let it be felt as the great leading interest of the world, — as that on 
 which, in God’s Providence, man’s destiny hangs. I repeat it. that 
 we cannot dissever education and Christianity. There may indeed be 
 the one -without tlie other. Cut malign in the extreme must ever be 
 the influences of intellect, unsubdued, unchastened, unsanctified, and 
 therefore aiming only at selfish purposes, cold, cheerless and heart- 
 less in all its associations. This is not the intellect that can redeem 
 the world from any of its evils- Of such intellect, there have been 
 abundant specimens : that which shone with such terrific lustre ante- 
 rior to, and during the earlier stages of the first French Eevolution, 
 
21 
 
 may have been permitted by Heaven as a warning, that true reform 
 can never come from such a quarter. 
 
 Let there be felt iu this College, under the new and encouraging 
 prospects that opens before' it, a fervid educational spirit. Let this 
 spirit be greatly, constantly cherished. It should never be regarded 
 as sufucient, that ample justice is done in the way of instruction, to 
 ingenuous youth, who come to these Halls to be prepared for the or- 
 dinary business and conflicts of life. Aside from this, vastly and pre- 
 eminently important as it is to become deeply versed in all the learn- 
 ing of the usual Collegiate course, there should be superadded a full 
 and faithful view of the pressing demand which the country and the 
 world now have upon the sons to do, what the fathers have left un- 
 done. The world has long been slumbering, or has been active, main- 
 ly, for evil ; and difficult indeed has it been to induce the educated to 
 enter into the field of conflict, where discouragements ivere present- 
 ing themselves at every turn. ISTow there is work on all sides to be 
 done : man is every where to be educated and christianized. The great 
 barriers that have paralized effort and impeded progress, have been 
 forced through, and the pathway is open from sea to sea, — from conti- 
 nent to continent, — from land’s end to land’s end. Behold wherever 
 the sun shines and the. rain descends, fields ready for the seed, — the 
 seed of human knowledge, — the seed of divine cultivation. In time 
 past colleges have been the resort of not a few, who have been known, 
 recognized, and only not absolutely encouraged as drones in the hive. 
 Time was, that the public mind identified an idle life and a life in a 
 College. Let it be understood, — that is too feeble a word, — let it be 
 felt and seen, that that time has gone by. Enerjetic and whole-hearted 
 work is now demanded of all. Eemember the commission, — Go ye 
 into all the tvorld. Improve the condition of man. Ti*herever there 
 may be forlornness and sorrow, administer consolation : wherever de- 
 pression and poverty, lend a helping hand ; wherever there is a sin, 
 invade it, — pi’obe it, — gently but effectually : wherever there is igno- 
 rance, enlighten it. In that, vast duty of infusing the element of 
 Christianity into the principle of freedom, let there here be taken high 
 ground. We stand within the atmosphere of the ancient Puritan- 
 ism : let us not be heedless of its glories ; let us not be faithless to the 
 trust it devolves upon us, — heightened as that trust is by all that we 
 see around us. 
 
 But I must quit these animating topics, and draw towards a con- 
 clusion. 
 
 Let me say in view of what has been uttered, to the patrons. 
 
22 
 
 tke benefactors of this college, bow opportune, bow Providen- 
 tial have been their benefactions. At no moment could generosity 
 have been more strikingly exhibited : at no moment could this col- 
 lege have been rendered more eminently capable of good. Receive 
 into true hearts the gratitude, which, we trust, flows from true hearts. 
 Be the obligations unceasingly appreciated and lived up to, which 
 now rests upon those who have any part in the management of the 
 affairs of the College. Let all remember w'hat is due to the benefac- 
 tors, what is due to themselves, Avhat is due to the youth who come 
 here, what is due to the country, to the world, and to God. 
 
 Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the Board of Trustees, — I have 
 now discharged, in however imperfect a manner, the duty devolved 
 upon me by your appointment. I have communicated to the benefac- 
 tors and friends of the College, the expression of your thanks and 
 gratitude. We enter now upon new scenes. The waning fortunes 
 of this Institution, have for years brought to our hearts gloom, des- 
 jjondency, almost despair. Heaven again beams upon us with bless- 
 ings. To Heaven let us not cease to offer the incense of thanksgiv- 
 ing. Nor would we fail to recognize and to be grateful for the benefi- 
 cence of our ancient Commonwealth. Blessings ever crown her. 
 She has acted up to a noble obligation. We read the language she 
 has placed in her Constitution — “It shall be the duty of legislatures 
 and magistrates, in all future periods of this Commonwealth, to cher- 
 ish the interests of literature and the the sciences, and all seminaries 
 of them ; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and 
 general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and frugali- 
 ty, honesty and punctuality ; sincerity, good humor, and all social af- 
 fections, and generous sentiments among the people ” Noble, noble 
 sentiments ! Long may they be remembered and cherished ! Never 
 may they be forgotten by the Gummonwealth, — the Fathers, the sons, 
 the children, the children’s children, — to the latest generation I We 
 render our thankfulness and gratitude to all our benefactors. We 
 leave behind us the night of gloom thi'ough which we have passed. 
 We receive the College into the fellowship of new and animated hopes. 
 The massive structures, upon which are inscribed the names of 
 the generous donors, rising up in the midst of this landscape, 
 — these hills and vallies, — of unsurpassing grandeur and beauty, 
 — are now dedicated to the cause of science and truth. Long, ever 
 may they stand thus dedicated. Here may science remain tributary 
 to virtue, freedom, religion. Here may there be inscribed on all these 
 walls and in every heart ,” — Christo et ecclesice” 
 
ADDRESSES AT THE PDELIC DINNER. 
 
 After the preceding addresses 'vrere delivered in the Chapel, an in- 
 vitation was given to the audience to examine the new Edifice and the 
 Collections in Natural History. Subsequently a large number of gen- 
 tlemen and ladies partook of a dinner at the public house, when a 
 number of letters from persons invited, who were not present, were 
 read, and several gentlemen were introduced by the President and 
 responded in sentiments too interesting to be lost. They are given 
 below as far as possible, without attempting to follow the precise order 
 in which they were introduced. 
 
 The President first referred to Hon.^ TVilliam B. Calhoux, and 
 said: We have seen him in various stations and relations: now as 
 Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives : now in the 
 Halls of Congress : now as President of the hlassachusetts Senate : 
 now as Secretary of the Commonwealth : now as the zealous agricul- 
 turalist : and to-day as the scholar and elegant orator ; and in all of 
 these stations we can say of hfm, ‘ Nihil tetigit, quod non ornavit.' 
 
 Ml- Calhoun replied, by expressing his sincere thank? for the kind manner in 
 which his address had been received ; and testified anew to the deep interest he 
 felt in whatever might contribute to the prosperity of the College, and the welt be- 
 ing of the dwellers in this noble valley, where it is situated. 
 
 Lest it should seem to the readers of this pamphlet, that the noble 
 and self-denying men tyho laid the foundations of the College were 
 forgotten on this occasion, it is proper to say, that the following re- 
 marks were intended to introduce the only two surviving Trustees, 
 who have held that office from the beginning, and who were expected 
 to be present, viz : Rev. Dr. John Fiske and Rev. Joseph Yaill. 
 
 Of the fourteen Trustees of this College who began to build it in 
 1821, w-ith Dr. Moore as President, only two survive, and I am hap- 
 py to see them both present to-day. One of them Mr. Vaill has been 
 
24 
 
 a Trustee ever since ; and botli of them are able to say of all the im- 
 portant events in the history of the College, quorum fiars fui. Wa 
 hope, therefore, that they will give us some idea of the sacrifices and 
 labors which have been necessary to sustain and carry forward the 
 Institution, and bear testimony to the character of the venerable men, 
 of whom we can say, — Honor to the memory of those who laboured 
 and suffered and prayed so much for us ! 
 
 Another of the Trustees, who was present, was then called upon. 
 
 We are happy to see among us a member of the Board of Trustees, 
 who has been for several years absent, not only from this place, but 
 from the country- I hope he will let us know Avhether his foreign 
 tour has diminished his respect for, and se'rise of the value of, the insti- 
 tutions of New England. I would welcome Governor Armstrong to 
 a place, where, in past time, he has so often offered his counsel and 
 aid. 
 
 Governor Armstrong replied as follows : 
 
 Mr. President ; — 
 
 I thank you for the kindness which has induced you to .apologize for my absence 
 from Amherst for several years past, by alluding to my recent vovage to Europe. 
 But you will pardon me i( I decline the invitation to narrate at this time to this 
 audience, any of the trifling incidents M iiich bcfel me on that voyage. Suffice it 
 that I have returned to our own country with unabated att.aclunent, and v.ith nn.a- 
 bated confidence in its institutions. There we see palaces for the noldcs : h-'i e we 
 have school houses for the people. There we see temples, and ceremonies, and 
 priests in long garments. Here we have village temples, the Sabbath bell, and the 
 New England pastor. 
 
 I thank j,'oa for the opportunity of jiarticipating in the scenes of this joyous day, 
 and of mingling my congratulations with all the friends of Amherst College in 
 view of its present condition and its future prosiiects. I rejoice particularly in the 
 Spirit which has pervaded all the exercises on this occasion. It augurs pood 
 things. The founders and benefactors of this seminary sought to cstabii>h here 
 a college for the people; where in present and in after times should be reared up 
 men of sense and men of piety, to prop.agatc at home and on foreign shores the 
 jjiinciples of the gospel. It was in their hearts tliat this college should he for 
 Christ and the chiirch. May this hope never be disappointed. 
 
 Let religion and science, piety and knowledge, go together lyhile the moun- 
 tains and the mines reveal to your eager researches their history and their treas- 
 ures, may unsurpassing diligence be manifested in working that Mine from which 
 is obtained •* durable riches,” and in diving into those depths from which is drawn 
 the pearl of great price. 
 
 Who does not rejoice to behold the beautiful structure which crowns one of 
 your beautiful hills, who of us does not he.artily approve of the purposes to which 
 it is devoted ! yet Sir. I trust you will allow me to express the hope that while 
 your pupils gaze tvith wonder upon the works of the Lord, in the mechanism of 
 
25 
 
 the heavens ; while they admire the glorious lights that make known the depths 
 of space, they may never, no never, neglect to meditate with love and gratitude 
 upon the Star of Bethlehem. 
 
 A letter from Dr. Humphrey gave rise to this introduction ; 
 
 In this letter we have the fundamental principles on tvhich the 
 College was founded, viz: trust in God, and a benevolent regard for 
 man ; and also its leading object, viz. : to prepare men for usefulness 
 by thorough literary discipline, Nothing but such principles and 
 such an object, could have carried Dr. Humphrey, and the Trustees 
 associated with him, through the many trying exigencies of the first 
 twenty years of the College. Let the time never come, when their 
 successors shall swerve from these principles, or the noble example 
 that has been set before them ! 
 
 Pittsfield, June 16, 1848. 
 
 Eev. Dr. Hitchcock, — Dear Sir : 
 
 I hasten to acknowledge your kind invitation to meet the friends afid patrons of 
 Amherst College, on the 28th inst., for the purposes mentioned in your note. It 
 tvill, I am sure, be an e.xceedingly interesting occasion ; and I should love to par- 
 ticipate in the greetings and congratulations, in the midst of which so many hearts 
 will leap for joy. 
 
 “ The Lord hath done great things for” Amherst College, “whereof we are'glad.” 
 lie hath remembered it in its low and embarrassed state, and raised up friends 
 for its effectual relief. First of all, our fervent thanksgivings arc due to Him, 
 whose are the silver and the gold ; and then, our grateful acknowdedgments, to the 
 stewards, who, with his high approbation, I nothing doubt, have contributed so lib- 
 erally, to place the Institution on a stable foundation. 
 
 Though I cannot be present in person, my heart will be with you. “ It is a 
 good tiling to give thanks unto the Lord, and to talk of all his wondrous ivorks.” 
 The foundations of Amherst College were laid in prayer and faith; and how 
 would those good men, its earliest and fastest friends, wfio have departed, rejoice 
 with those who survive, could they come back and witness “ what God hatli 
 wrought.” 
 
 Their aim was, to build up an institution for the church, “ upon the foundation 
 of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone,” and we 
 believe that God heard their prayer. “ Other safer foundation can no man lay,” 
 and from this may it never be shaken. 
 
 May a double portion of that wisdom which is fi'om above, be imparted to its 
 trustees and teachers ; may the rain of righteousness descend upon it, as in years 
 that are past, and still more copiously. May the streams which flow from it, not 
 only make glad the cities of our God at home: but continue to flow into the parch- 
 ed places of the wilderness, till every land shall be watered, “from the river of God, 
 which is full of water.” With my best regards to the Gentlemen who have “ built 
 you a synagogue” and who are coming to dedicate it, 
 
 I am respectfully yours, 
 
 4 
 
 H. Humphrey, 
 
26 
 
 A letter was next read from a former graduate, with a few prefa- 
 tory remarks : 
 
 Of the Alumni of this College she can say, as the noble yet not afflu- 
 ent mother once did of her sons, “ these are my jewels.” One of these 
 who left us twenty-four years ago, and whose name is familiar to the 
 savans of Europe as well as of this country, we had hoped to see here 
 to-day. But in his absence I know that you will be glad to hear 
 from Dr. Bela B. Ed'wakds. 
 
 Rev. Pkksident Hitchcock,- -Dear Sir : 
 
 Andover, June, 26, 1S48. 
 
 It is with sincere regret that I must decline your kind invitation to be present on 
 Wednesday. Indispensable engagements will detain me here. In common with 
 multitudes I rejoice that you have been so favored in the Providence ot God as to 
 finish your edifice and fill it with such inestimable treasures. Nothing could he 
 more appropriate than such a collection in the Connecticut valley, so full of beauty, 
 so crowded with visible and tangible proof of Divine wisdom, where the natural 
 sciences can be studied under such preeminent advantages. I rejoice, also, from 
 my belief that these studies are specially fitted to liberalize the mind and bind to- 
 gether the scliolars of our country and of all nations. No persons in England, — 
 where illiberal feelings towards us have too much prevailcd,^have done more to 
 cement the two countries together than the students of natural science. None 
 there feel or express for us more generous and ennobling sentiments than some of 
 the leading members of the Royal and the Geological Societies. One of them, be- 
 fore he showed me the wonders of science which adorn his dwelling, pointed out 
 what was particularly precious to him, — an admirable portrait of Prof. Silliman. 
 The president of the Geological Society said in my hearing, that he honored the 
 city of Boston, that it rvas doing more for the cause of popular education than all 
 England. A third individual who had traveled many years in the E.ast, remarked 
 to me, that no men were more respected for their knowledge and gentlemanly 
 character than American Missionaries. The principal paper read before the 
 Royal Society in the evening when I was present, was written by an American 
 physician on the coast of Africa. 
 
 Any thing which removes a prejudice, or promotes a kindly feeling between us 
 and our parent State, is a matter for heartfelt gratitude. England, with all her 
 faults, is a noble land. No where is there so much moral worth, such attractive 
 specimens of social and Christian character, so much that adorns hnmanitv. With 
 England and the United States are bound up to a great degree the hopes of the 
 world Long may the scholars of the two countries love and labor like brethren. 
 Rich and boundless fields of knowledge are still open before them all. 
 
 Again expresing my sorrow that I cannot be with you on Wednesday, and ho- 
 ping that every auspicious circumstance may combine to render the day pleasant 
 and the oceasion interesting. 
 
 I am yours very faithfully. 
 
 B. B. Edwrads. 
 
 P. S. When your new building for the Library is completed, — fire-proof, a fine 
 
27 
 
 specimen of architecture, and filled with 20,000 new books, as I presume it will be, 
 I will promise without fail to be present. Please inform me of the time of its ded- 
 ication. 
 
 Dr. Edwards’ enquiry in his postscript was not answered at the 
 time it was read : but upon longer consideration, we think it safe to 
 say, that if Providence 'permit, the new Library Building will be 
 dedicated on the 4th of July, 1850 ; or if necessary to delay longer, 
 due notice will be given of the time. 
 
 The Donors to the new Cabinet and Observatory, whether by 
 money or specimens, were alluded to as follows : 
 
 In St. Paul’s church in London, is an inscription intended for Sir 
 Christopher Wren, the famous architect, which expresses a good deal 
 in a few words ; and I would apply it to those who have contributed 
 to our new Cabinet and Observatory, as well as to the architect and 
 the builders. Si monumentum quoeris, circumspice. 
 
 The most munificent benefactor of the college was spoken of in the 
 following manner : 
 
 We are honored to-day by the presence of a gentleman, who, for sev- 
 eral years, has been in the habit of carrying on a double system of 
 manufactures. With the results of ordinary manufactures, I mean 
 money, he has established other manufactories, where mind is the raw 
 material, and cultivated and polished thought the finished article ; 
 where our sons may become as plants, grown up in their youth, and 
 OUT daughters as corner stones polished after the similitude of a palace. 
 For this invention the public voice has decreed, and the voice of 
 posterity will decree, that the name of Williston shall be engraven, 
 not on marble or steel, but on the grateful heart of the world. 
 
 Mr. Williston made the following reply : 
 
 Mr. President : 
 
 I rise not to make a speech but to express the gratitude, which I feel for the very 
 honorable mention, which has been made of my name on this occasion. I cannot 
 but esteem it both & privilege, and a duty incumbent on those gentlemen, who have 
 been prospered, (by the blessing of God), as manufacturers, or in other business 
 pursuits, that they should contribute a portion of their wealth for the establishment 
 of “those manufactories” where, (as has fill,- been said), “mind is the raw mate- 
 rial, and pulished and cultivated thought the finished article.” 
 
 Sir, I feel myself most happy to meet, on this pleasant occasion, many distinguish- 
 ed gentlemen from abroad, the friends of science, and of religion ; and I cannot 
 fail of expressing my happiness, in meeting so many of the friends and patrons of 
 Amherst College, with their wives and daughters. I cannot say, Mr. President, 
 how much I am gratified, in contemplating the present and prospective prosperity 
 
28 
 
 of the Institution, which I have known in its days of darkness and of poverty ; 
 and to which it has been my happiness in connection with many others, to afford 
 some relief. 
 
 Sir, This beloved Institution was founded in prayer ; it has been blessed by 
 God, with numerous revivals of religion, — it has always been, and I trust, it ever 
 will be, the handmaid of sound learning and of true religion. 
 
 The President next gave an account of the circumstances that led 
 him to apply to the IIoN. Josiah B. Woods, to undertake the work 
 of procuring funds for the Cabinet and Observatory. Mr. Woods 
 finally said, “ I’ll try” ; as did Col. Miller, when asked whether he 
 could take a post at the battle of Niagara. Both did try and suc- 
 ceeded. The one strewed the ground with the dead and wounded, 
 made many widows and orphans, and acquired the reputation of a 
 brave soldier. The other has had the satisfaction of seeing an edi- 
 fice erected and devoted to-day, with its rich contents, to the cause of 
 science and religion ; and thus shall its influence be to enlighten and 
 bless mankind, instead of destroying them. Who then is entitled to 
 the highest honor and gratitude, the hei'O of Niagara, or the en- 
 lightened and persevering Manufacturer of Eastern Hampshire ? I 
 know who will be most honored here, and I think I know what will 
 be the verdict of posterity. 
 
 Mr. Woods responded as follows : 
 
 Mr. President : 
 
 I presume it wall not be expected, nor do I deem it proper, under the present 
 circumstances, to attempt an extended reply to the remarks by which you h.ave 
 brought my name to the notice of this audience. But I feel that I should be do- 
 ing great injustice to my deep sense of obligation, if I were to allow this opportun- 
 ity to pass without tendering to you my sincere and hearfelt acknowledgments for 
 the very kind and flattering manner in which you have been pleased to speak of 
 myself and my humble efforts to promote the interests of Amherst College. 
 
 A letter from Hcn. D.avid Sears was introduced as follows : 
 
 In the Astronomical Observatory at Cambridge is a massive tower, 
 built solid of Quincy granite, called the “ Sears’ Tower” ; which sus- 
 tains one of the most splendid telescopes in the world. But in the 
 “ Sears Foundation of Literature and Benevolence” in Amherst Col- 
 lege, we have a more enduring structure: ‘‘monumentura aere per- 
 ennius” : imo vero etiam, saxo perennius. 
 
 Xewport, R. I., JcxE 20, 1S4S. 
 
 Bev. Edward Hitchcock, President of AaiHEusT College, 
 
 Honored AND Dear Sir: — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of 
 
29 
 
 your letter of the 5th instant, inviting me to visit Amherst on the 28th of June, to 
 examine the new building which contains your Cabinet of Natural History, and to 
 join in services appropriate to tlie occasion. 
 
 I regret that circumstances oblige me to deprive myself of this pleasure. I 
 should rejoice to mingle my congratulations with yours at the bright day which is 
 now dawning on the College, and at the prospect of its increased usefulness. 
 
 It is the peculiar characteristic of Massachusetts to give encouragement to learn- 
 ing. and to cherish her literary Institutions. It is a sentiment which has grown 
 with her growth, and strengthened with her strength, and almost marks her as a 
 distinct people. From the landing of their Forefathers in 1520, to the present day, 
 her sons, — while differing on other .subjects, — have thought alike on this, and they 
 have reason to be proud of the result. 
 
 The Colleges of Massachusetts are aptly called Seminaries of learning ; for by 
 them the seeds of knowledge, of virtue, of morality and religion are sown broad 
 cast through our land. Go where you will from Maine to Mexico, from Ohio to 
 the Pacific Ocean, and much of what you find among the people that is good, and 
 honest, intelligent and successful, owes its origin to the loins or education of New 
 England, — and principally of Massachusetts. In my humble opinion our Colleges 
 are the great conservatives of the Union, and we are deeply indebted to them for 
 whatever of honest principle, and integrity of character exits among us. 
 
 You inform me that the Trustees of Amherst College wi.^h to take this occasion 
 “ to testify their gratitude to those who have recently aided them so liberally in the 
 endowment of Professoships, the erection of a Cabinet of Natural History, and an 
 Astronomical Observatory.” 
 
 I join with you most heartily in such a testimony. The good judgment of the 
 gentlemen in selecting, and their liberality in giving to these objects, fully entitle 
 them to such a mark of your attention, and I know from agreeable experience how 
 ready the Trustees of Amherst are, to express the gratitude they feel, for any evi- 
 dence of interest shown to their Institution. 
 
 Especially permit me to notice the Observatory, and the liberal and enlightened 
 Gentleman whose name stands the first on the list of Patrons. I trust that the 
 foundation thus laid by him will hereafter sustain the instruments of modern sci- 
 ence to draw from the skies a knowledge of the stars — to demonstrate to men the 
 Glory of God, and the magnificence of His works, — and show to their wondering 
 minds that “ the thousand brilliant worlds which circle round Him, are governed 
 by one law, and that in wisdom “ He has made them all.” 
 
 But while the Benefactors of the College are thus honored, the Faculty of the 
 College should come in for their share of gratitude. I have been a silent but not 
 an inattentive observer of them. I have been informed of their devotion to their 
 literary labors, — of their self-denials, — of their voluntary surrender of a part of 
 their moderate salaries, — reserving only enough for a bare subsistance, — to relieve 
 the College in its necessity. Such disenterested zeal stands out brightly, and mer- 
 its an honorable record. 
 
 I venture to conclude my answer to you, Eeverend Sir, with the following sen- 
 timent : Literary talent, and pecuniary abilitj', maj' their zeal be ever found united 
 in building up the Halls of learning, and extending the altars of Eeligion 1 
 With great respect and consideration. 
 
 Your obedient humble servant. 
 
 David Seaks. 
 
30 
 
 In like manner a letter was brought forward from Hox. Abbott 
 Lawrence. 
 
 It is said that in the city of London there are one hundred and 
 twenty men by the name of John Smith : and the fact gives rise to 
 numerous ludicrous and some serious mistakes in the distribution of 
 letters. The family of Lawrence in Mas.«achusetts is somewhat nu- 
 merous. Yet this fact occasions but little inconvenience, so far as the 
 cau.se of learning and benevolence is concerned. For if the letter on- 
 ly reaches one of the name, it is pretty sure to result in a Scientific 
 School, a Mechanics Library, a College Library Building, a Profes- 
 sorship, or an Astronomical Observatory. I know you will be glad 
 to hear from one of this name, whom a letter from us happened to 
 reach. 
 
 Boston, June 12, 1848. 
 
 Mr Deak Sir: 
 
 I am greatly obliged for the invitation -with which you have honored me, to visit 
 Amherst on the 28th inst., and regret that it will not he in my power to be with 
 you. I hope to have the satisfaction at a future time, of visiting your Institution, 
 which appears to he in a prosperous condition, and destined to be the instrument 
 of producing great good to our common country. I rejoice in ths success of all 
 our Institutions of learning, partieularly those which have been established for the 
 special object of educating a class of men at a moderate charge, who arc to dis- 
 pense the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people, and disseminate sound morals 
 drawn from his teachings. I have a clear conviction, that the only security for our 
 excellent form of Government, is universal education, founded upon the platform 
 of the Bible. Whatever may be said of our Pilgrim Fathers, there can be no 
 doubt with all their rigid views, they understood the true princi|)les of Kepublican- 
 ism, (all of which were taken from the fountain of wisdom) as well lus the jihiloso- 
 phers of the present day, whether on this, or the other side of the Atlantic. In the 
 hope that your labors may be blessed through all time, I pray you to believe 
 Dear Sir, that I remain always. 
 
 Your friend and obedient servant, 
 
 Abbott Lawrence. 
 
 The following letter was received from Gerard IIallock, Esq., 
 of New York, co-editor of the Journal of Commerce. 
 
 New York, Jcne 15, 1848. 
 
 Rev. President Hitchcock, Dear Sir: 
 
 I did hope to be able to attend the celebration to which you kindly invite me. — 
 but a sudden and dangerous illness of ;ny partner, Mr. Hale, from which, however, 
 he appears to be slowly recovering, will render it impossible. As I had the honor 
 of holding the plough at the second ploughing of the ground preparatory to the 
 erection ofthe first College building, (Col. Graves held it the first time,) and as from 
 
31 
 
 that day to this I have felt a deep interest in the prosperity of the Institution, I 
 should sincerely rejoice to mingle my congratulations for its success, ■with those of 
 the many respected friends who will be present on the occasion. 
 
 With much respect, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 GeearD Hallock. 
 
 In this letter we have an important development of character. 
 This gentleman tvhen young, though he might yield to age and expe- 
 rience the right to turn the first furrow in founding a literary institu- 
 tion, was sure to take the lead in the second ploughing. "We need 
 not wonder then, that in subsequent life, he has so often ploughed the 
 first furrow, and ploughed it deep, in many an important enterprise. 
 
 Professor Silliman, Senior, -wms thus introduced by a reference 
 to his great work. 
 
 There is a work in our country that has now completed its fifty- 
 fifth volume, whose history is essentially the history of American 
 Science- It has formed a rallying point for the widely scattered cul- 
 tivators of American Science, and gathered fuel to keep the sacred 
 fire burning upon her altar ; and the light which has emanated thence, 
 has been a principal means of giving to this hemisphere the scientific 
 reputation which she enjoys abroad. This work was started, and has 
 been carried on, for thirty years, mainly by an individual, often at 
 great personal and pecuniary sacrifice. I refer to the American 
 Journal of Science and the Arts, Avhose fifty-five volumes you can 
 see standing on yonder shelf ; and what is better, we have with us to- 
 day its eminent editor, Dk. Silliman, who, I would hope, will be 
 willing to give us some history of his early labors and sacrifices in 
 this cause ; and I know, if you look at yonder work, you will not re- 
 gard it as flattery v hen I introduce him as the Nestor of American 
 Science. 
 
 To this call Professor Silliman replied as follows :* 
 
 Mr President: — 
 
 I have listened with great pleasure, to the very interesting and instructive ad- 
 dresses which have been pronounced this morning, in the College Chapel. The 
 orator, in his terse, lucid and sententious discourse, presented the best possible illus- 
 tration of the results of the moral and mental training and of the value of the in- 
 tellectual treasures which he commended to his youthful audience ; while the grace- 
 ful and beautiful response of their literary and parental head was in perfect harmo- 
 ny, with the happy occasion. 
 
 * By request, he furnished in MS. his recollections of his impromptu remarks ; and sora'e 
 thoughts have been added or carried out more fully than the limits of time permitted on the 
 occasion. 
 
32 
 
 The hospitable and warm-hearted social meeting, in which we are now engaged 
 in the midst of the guardians, the alumni, the pupils and benefactors of the Col- 
 lege, and of many lovers of learning, has alreadt' elicited vivid thoughts and kin- 
 dled warm sympathies : more warm and more vi\ id, no donht, fiom the kindly in- 
 flence of the gentler friends who grace this hoard. 
 
 Happy should I have been to remain a hearer and an observer only, for I came 
 to Amherst not to speak hut to listen. But since I have been called up by those 
 who have a right to command, I must even obey, although I must throw myself 
 upon the indulgence of this courteous company, since I cannot offer premeditated 
 thoughts, and must of necessity give utterance to the feelings, sentiments and rec- 
 ollections which may present themselves, spontaneously, from the influence of the 
 circumstances that now surTOund ns . 
 
 Allusion having been kindly made to my humble action in promoting the 
 progress of science in our country, if I am to respond to that suggestion, I 
 shall not be able to state what I have observed, without speaking somewhat of 
 myself. Egotism I would gladly avoid, but as I cannot entirely escape from the 
 consequential pronoun, I must beg pardon of my audience, while I pass on, as 
 quickly as possible, to the more modest second and third persons, whom I shall he 
 happy soon to introduce. In the summer of 1802 , being then a tutor in Yale Col- 
 lege, I had nearly finished a course of study in jurisprudence, intending to offer 
 myself as a candidate for legal practice as soon as I should have passed the usual 
 examination for admission to the bar. At this crisis, a rather tempting invitation 
 was presented to me to remove to the State of Georgia, to take charge, at first, of 
 a higher Academy at Sunbnry, in Liberty County, near to Savannah, and then to 
 pass into the practice of the law. That distinguished man. Dr. Dwight. 
 President of Talc College, being the friend of my fither and family, and always 
 a parental friend to me. I asked his advice on the occasion, when Jie promptly 
 replied, “ I advise you not to go to Georgia to make a permanent residence — 
 and after assigning several cogent reasons, which need not be repeated here, he 
 added ; “I have a much better object to propose to you. The corporation of Yale 
 College, last year, — ISOl, — at my suggestion, passed a vote to establish a profes- 
 sorship of Chemistry and the connected sciences, as soon as the funds of the Insti- 
 tution would allow. dVe have no men among us possessing the requisite qualifi- 
 cations; we c:innot adopt a foreigner, with habits, and prejudices, and perhaps a 
 language alien to our own, and we have therefore no alternative but to select some 
 young man, in whom we can confide, and allow him time and assistance to pre- 
 pare himself for tlie duties of the new professorship ; now," he added, “ if you will 
 allow your name to stand for this oflBce, it shall be my care to see that you are aj>- 
 pointed at the next meeting of the corporation of the College in the ensuing Sep- 
 tember.” It wa.s then July, and we were standing fn front of the College buildings, 
 shielded from a fervid snn by the noble sycamores, now forty -six years older than 
 on that day. I naturally thought of the still more fervid suns of Geoigia, while 
 the very unexpected and gratifying overture of the President revived a love of 
 phenomena and of observation and experiment which had delighted my childhood 
 and early youth, made me familiar with mechanical employments and somewhat 
 expert in the use of tools and in v.arious juvenile fabrications. A chord of sympa- 
 thy had been touched by a master hand ; my feelings promptly responded, and I 
 consented to take the matter into consideration. 
 
33 
 
 The president went on to enforce his proposition, by adding, that in Ms viewj 
 the sciences which he had named afforded a fair field of usefulness and of reputa- 
 tion, especially for a young man, who might rise with them in our rising country, 
 and if they did not present as flattering prospects of emolument as the law, they 
 would be free from its distractions and collisions, and from the keen rivalry of a 
 crowded profession. 
 
 After consulting my friends, I agreed to accept the offer ; the appointment was 
 made accordingly, and very much to the surprise of the public ; but suitable ex- 
 planations of the plan soon set that matter right, and there was a ready acquies- 
 cence in what appeared, at first, so startling if not preposterous. 
 
 The political situation of the country being then critical, and tlie position of col- 
 leges not being deemed very secure, I finished my legal studies and was duly ad- 
 mitted to the bar ; for it appeared possible that I might find it still a desirable re- 
 fuge from the violent movements of a tempestuous period. In the autumn of 
 1802 and 3 I repaired to Philadelphia, and returned to New Haven in the spring 
 season of 1803 and 4, after availing myself of the courses of scientific lectures, and 
 especially of those of the late Dr. James Woodhouse on Chemistry. I was also 
 associated in a course of private experiments with a gentleman,* then already a 
 proficient, who afterwards became himself an eminent Professor of Chemistry in 
 the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania, and has recently retired 
 from his labors after a long and honorable course of public duty. 
 
 Pinding in the drawers of a small miscellaneous museum in Yale College a 
 number of minerals , I packed them aU, being then the entire mineral cabinet, 
 in a small box, not larger than a common travelling valise, and took them to 
 Philadelphia, in my first visit to that city, in November, 1802. The late Dr. Sey- 
 bert, subsequently the distinguished writer on our national Statistics, had then re- 
 cently returned from the celebrated school of TVemer, at Pribourg, in Germany, 
 and’was, at that time, the only thoroughly trained mineralogist and geologist in 
 the United States ; nor had he among us any superior in the science of Chemistry. 
 An early introduction to that gentleman, secured his kind attention to my little 
 collection, which I had marked by numerals, and I had prepared blank sheets of 
 paper, with corresponding numbers, against w'hich I wrote the names which du- 
 ring a visit to my chamber. Dr. Seybert gave me, as he performed the function of 
 Adam at the creation, by imposing appellations on objects, most of wMch were 
 quite as new to me as were the animals to our great progenitor. 
 
 This brief, but to me very important instruction, I never forgot ; it was my 
 starting point in mineralogy ; like the first dollar obtained in business, it became 
 the basis of capital, and like that dollar, when earned by industry and effort, it 
 was highly valued, because I realized its importance. Prom that time onward, for 
 many years, I lost no occasion for studying and collecting minerals, until the sub- 
 ject, illustrated by fine opportunities in the field and splendid collections in cabi- 
 nets, grew upon me with a rapidity of acquisition equal to that wMch attend'S suc- 
 cessful efforts in business, and with a degree of fascination not inferior to that 
 which surrounds an acquired fortune. K any persons who have seen the cabinet 
 of Yale College as it now stands arranged,! should chance to recollect the small 
 
 * Robert Hare. 
 
 t The iplendid Gibbs Cabinet wa» acquiiied within the first twenty years after my appoint- 
 ment. 
 
 5 
 
34 
 
 box of minerals with wliicli it began, — they will not tliink it extravagant, if wC 
 should appropriate the classical sentiment, e parvis oriuntur magna. 
 
 On the 4th day of April, 1804, I gave my first lecture hi Chemistry' to the Senior 
 Class in Yale College, and the suceeding seasons until March, 1805, were dili- 
 gently occupied in the fulfilment of similar duties, and in constructing a Labora- 
 tory. 
 
 Between the months of March 1805 and June 1806, 1 was industriously em- 
 ployed, chiefly in England and Scotland, and a short time in Holland, in pursuits 
 connected with Science and with the interests of Yale College. Eich sources of 
 knowledge were opened to me, both in the halls of instruction in London and Ed- 
 inburgh, and in the profound depths of the mines, and I retumed with increased 
 confidence and satisfaction to my proper duties. 
 
 And here, Mi’. President, as you have called me up and compelled me to speak 
 of myself, I must be forgiven, if I now say something of you. 
 
 What I am now to utter must be considered as spoken aside, like some passa- 
 ges in a play, and I shall adopt the fiction that you arc not present, while I address 
 myself not indeed to the galleries with which the room is not embellished, but to 
 the tables, surrounded as they are by intelligent gentlemen and ladies. 
 
 Several years after my return from Europe, and before this college was founded 
 I received a small box of minerals from a person then unknou-n tome, who stated 
 that he was the principal of Deei’field Academy, and that he was in the habit of 
 collecting, in his excursions, among the rocky ridges of that picturesque and beau- 
 tiful country, such minerals as he could find, but as he was not able to name 
 them, he had forwarded to me a box of specimens, with the localities attached, 
 and I was desired to mark and return them. The accompanying letter produced 
 a very favorable impression on my mind, by the intelligent zeal and modesty 
 which were its characteristics. It was therefore promptly and kindly answered ; 
 the minerals were named, and the gentleman was encouraged to send other boxes 
 as he might find occasion. In due time, other boxes came, and the mineralogists 
 now present, hardly need to be informed, that the minerals were such as are 
 usually found in trap or basalt formations, and that among them were quartz of 
 several varieties, agates, chalcedony, analcime, chabasie, and other Zeolitic mine- 
 rals ; some of which were not indeed of great practical importance, but all of them 
 possessed a degree of scientific interest, as new localities, and especially as char- 
 acterising, geologicalh’, this part of the valley of the Connecticut. 
 
 The interest which had been created by this correspondence was soon increased 
 by personal interviews, resulting in several terms of residence at New Haven, 
 where all the sources of knowledge in our possession, were freely opened and ren- 
 dered available to one who knew how to appreciate them and whose valuable mor- 
 al, and interesting social traits made me happy to acknowledge an estimable per- 
 sonal friend and efficient coadjutor in Edwakd Hitchcock.. 
 
 If the arduous and important duties of the clerical profession under the com’ic- 
 tion of the superior claims of religious duty, soon detached the devotee of science 
 from his favorite pursuits, he never relinqmshed them entirely ; and well might he 
 linger over the science of nature, in the study of which in the beautiful language 
 of Agassiz, we read the thoughts of God, and thus the science of nature becomes 
 preparatory and auxiliary to the study of revelation. Not many years passed 
 away, before we had the pleasure of recommending the Keverend clergyman 
 
35 
 
 CiS a proper person to fill a professorship of Natural Science in this College; 
 he accepted the apipointmcnt, and we have come forward to this day pari passu 
 in the pursuits of science and united in the confidence of friendship. How 
 ably he fulfilled the duties of his station, is well known to all the classes 
 which have passed under his instructions, and his grateful pupils have often sent 
 him returns from distant lands, — even from central Asia, of the natural produc- 
 tions of those regions so famed in ancient story. His numerous papers in the 
 Arnejican Journal of Science and Arts, on the mineralogy and geology of the 
 Connecticut Kiver Valley and on many other subjects ; and above all, his element- 
 ary work on Geology and his elaborate and masterly report on the Geology and 
 Natural History of Massachusetts, rendered more and more perfect in three edi- 
 tions published by the government, prove that our confidence in him was well 
 founded, and that he is fully entitled to the high reputation, both American and 
 European, which he enjoys. 
 
 I must now request another gentleman to vanish for a few moments, or to re- 
 main incog, while I advert to some circumstances connected equally with his per- 
 sonal history and with that of the departments of science which he has success- 
 fully cultivated. 
 
 Some years after this college was founded, I received a letter from a member 
 of one of its college classes, whose name was new to me. He, in a modest man- 
 ner, offered for publication in the American Journal of Science, a description of 
 certain minerals found in this vicinity. The skill and tact of a proficient W'erc 
 apparent in this early effort, and he was of course encouraged to repeat his com- 
 munications . As in the case of the honored head of this Institution correspondence 
 brought us to a personal interview, followed by a residence at New Haven, under 
 the shadow of the college. In the course of some time he became the scientific ^ 
 assistant in my department, and was, for several years, my zealous and able col- 
 league; until the Franklin Institute of New Haven, a popular Institution for in- 
 struction made accessible to all persons, was founded by a patriotic citizen, James 
 Brewster Esq. when the gentleman alluded to above became charged with the 
 care of this new establishment. From this temporary connexion, we in full con- 
 fidence indorsed him over to the Medical College of South Carolina, situated in 
 Charleston, where he has for tliirteen years sustained a high and deserved reputa- 
 tion. 
 
 His own alma mater has also adopted him, as one of her professors, and we 
 have now the pleasure of seeing Chaeles Upham Shepaed, among those who 
 do honor to the Institutions with which he is connected, not only among his own 
 countrymen, but in the Scientific circles of Europe. 
 
 This gentleman has been a frequent contributor to the pages of the American 
 Journal of Science and Arts, and his numerous explorations and reports on mines 
 and mineral resources and various practical interests, including an able report on 
 the economical mineralogy and geology of Connecticut have made him a part of 
 the scientific furniture of his country, “ known and used of all men.” A rapid 
 journey to Great Britain, some years since, enlarged his knowledge and extended 
 his connexions, and thus we are happy to see in this case and in many other in- 
 stances, that learning does not always rust out in colleges, but is often drawn 
 forth for the benefit of mankind. Professor Shepard has also given us a valuable 
 elementary work on mineralogy which is still a standard book. 
 
3G 
 
 Contributions to science, through the American Journal have been made by 
 other gentlemen of this faculty, but we must set limits to our present recapitula- 
 tion, as the proprieties of this occasion do not allow us to go beyond the sphere of 
 our personal observation in relation to this College and our own, and we can not 
 even allude to a multitude of other interesting facts relating to the progress of 
 Science over the wide area of our country, and to the connexion of the science of 
 this land with that of Europe, where it is now eagerly sought for, and many of our 
 best memoirs are republished in various languages. 
 
 I cannot close these hasty remarks without offering my best congratulations to 
 the friends of this college, on the happy occasion which has brought us togetl)er. 
 A quarter of a century ago and Amherst College was not in existence; now it 
 presents to ns results worthy of our older Institutions : and if it has experienced 
 adversity, and has in former years struggled on with limited means, it is now 
 cheered by the bright sunshine of public and private patronage, and the useful 
 arts have yielded to it a liberal portion of their rich results. May they long pros- 
 per, and may that munificent individual, who knows so well how to bestow the 
 bounties of providence, long continue to reap and wisely use his golden harvest. 
 
 The noble Building, constructed for an Observatory and Museum, which now 
 crowns one of the hills of Amherst, does great honor to the Institution, to the lib- 
 eral contributors to its erection, and to the architect. 
 
 The museum of Natural History is rich in various departments, especially in 
 mineralogy, geology, conchology, and entomology. The beautiful and very se- 
 lect cabipet of mineralogy, deposited by Prof. Shepard would do honor to any uni- 
 versity in Europe, and there are few collections in conchology and entomology 
 equal to that of Prof. Adams, both as regards its extent, variety and com- 
 pleteness and the fine taste and beauty of the arrangement; while the rich collec- 
 tion made chiefly by tbe President, extremely interesting and instructive as it is 
 especially in local specimens, is almost unique among the cabinets of our country. 
 
 Here and at Greenfield* are to be seen tbe results of much labor and skill ex- 
 pended in developing the foot marks of extinct races of animals that walked this 
 earth and in this region in great multitudes soon after the era of the coal formation. 
 This is not the occasion to discuss the relative claims of reptiles and birds as the 
 authors of these tracks. It appears, however, to admit of no reasonable doubt 
 thatboth once walked on the yielding but tenacious mud when it was in a fit 
 state to receive and retain the impressions, which, in the case of some of the 
 largest and deepest, fill us with astonishment, when we see that several quarts of 
 water may be contained in the separate cavities, and that the tallest man strives in 
 vain to equal the easy stride of these more than birds of Jove. 
 
 The splendid science of Geology informs us that below the coal all animals 
 were marine, — at the era of the coal, we find the first transition to amphibia 
 and reptiles, and if our views are correct, to birds ; but many ages rolled by, 
 before any terrestrial animal walked the earth, and more ages still before man, 
 the lord of this lower creation, was called into being, and took quiet possession 
 of his splendid palace. 
 
 In this college. Astronomy still looks below as well as above for means to fulfil 
 
 *At Greenfield, by Dr. Deane, who has distinguished himself greatly in tliis re- 
 search, — aided by a zealous and intelligent artizan, Mr. Marsh, whose collection 
 /s exceedingly large and interesting. 
 
37 
 
 its higli behests. It will not be in vain that the telescopic aperture in the revolv- 
 ing dome of this lofty observatory shews its empty space and its naked pedestal. 
 Some Williston, or Hitchcock, or Lawrence, will, before many years, mount on tliis 
 tower the magical tube that revolves the nebulte, and shews a countless multitude 
 of worlds, where the naked eye sees only a diffused light, like that of the milky 
 way. When Harvard needed a grand telescope it was only necessary for Prof. 
 Pierce, during a public lecture on comets in Boston, to hold up in his hand a very 
 small instrument, and to say that if they had not been as fortunate as a sister in- 
 stitution in discovering the comet of 1842 — this was the reason, as they had no 
 better telescope. We were present and did not doubt that this would prove a 
 master stroke of eloquence, addressed as it was to the liberality of a rich and 
 munificent community. The result is well kno\vn, and we hazard little in pre- 
 dicting, that tlie mute eloquence of this unfurnished dome will prove equally ef- 
 fectual, e’er many astronomical cycles have revolved. 
 
 We cannot take leave of Amherst and its vicinity without casting our eyes, 
 once more, upon its splendid scenes of grandeur, beauty and loveliness. Its ranges 
 of abrupt and yet accessible mountains, — its gi-aceful hills of gentle slope, — its 
 rich fields of com, and crops of various names, — its vast and luxuriant mead- 
 ows, W'atered by its matchless river, — its numerous and brilliant villages, adorned 
 with school houses, and bristling with steeples, — and more than all, its morah 
 intelligent, and happy population present to the eye and the mind a combination 
 which it is delightful to contemplate. 
 
 Permit then, a son of another State, which, as the younger sister of the same 
 lineage, holds Massachusetts in high veneration, — and, as a son of an Institution 
 which is a scion of the venerable Harvard, to wish all prosperity to the Colleges 
 of this State, and especially to this young Institution, which, under its present 
 wise and happy administration, will continue to enlarge its means of usefulness, 
 and to draw to itself increasing esteem, confidenee and affection. 
 
 The reference of Dr. Silliman to Professor Shepard brought 
 .the latter before the audience in the following remarks : 
 
 In rising to return my thanks for the notice which Dr. Silliman has been pleas- 
 ed to take of me in his remarks, I may perhaps be allowed to be so far egotistical 
 as to allude to my early relations with that eminent individual. Twenty-two years 
 ago, it was my good fortune to be admitted, first as a private pupil of the Profes- 
 sor, and soon after as his assistant. Having previously had my attention strongly 
 turned to the departments of chemistry and mineralogy, the increased facilities I 
 found at New Haven for their prosecution, (arising from a well furnished labora- 
 tory, a splendid cabinet of minerals, and a well supplied library,) heightened by 
 the dignified and generous bearing of my instructor, determined so effectually the 
 current of my life, that it has steadily kept to the same channel ever since. To 
 my latest day, I shall never lose the memory of those happy years, in which there 
 remains behind not one recollection tinctured with regret, save this : that I did 
 not more assiduously improve the golden opportunities then placed ■within my 
 reach. Whatever of success has -«-aited upon my cai-eer, I am bound to ascribe to 
 my early master ; the errors and the imperfections which have marked my course 
 are my own ; and I regret that the stock of these undesirable originalities is so 
 very considerable. 
 
9 
 
 38 
 
 I need scarcely add, that it is one of the pleasantest events of my life to welcome 
 the faithful professor and learned editor here to-day, to whom with many a palpi- 
 tation of heart, I sent, while still a youthful student in yonder walls, the scientific 
 paper to which he so flatteringly alluded, and from whom I soon received in reply, 
 words of encouragement and hope. May his days be greatly prolonged on earth, 
 to witness and to aid, the extension of those useful sciences, which he was among 
 the first, and by far the most efiicient of any, to introduce to the notice ofhis coun- 
 trymen. 
 
 In this reminiscence of my early associations, will Dr. Silliman allow me before 
 taking my seat, to add, that my attention was drawn to a blooming boy, who used 
 occasionally to linger about the laboratory and the cabinet. His first chemical ex- 
 ploit, I believe, consisted in tapping a row of sugar-maple shade trees before his 
 father’s door, and in manufacturing from the sap a superior quality of sugar. He 
 next surprised his friends by procuring a fine series of medallion castings in iron. 
 These exploits, were followed in quick succession by the unassisted construction of 
 a splendid turning lathe, by means of which he rapidly executed a great variety of 
 the most finished turmings in metal. That youth, as the years roUed by, stead- 
 ily advanced in this promising career. He passed with credit the college currica- 
 lum, became a skillful chemist and mineralogist, rose to an equal rank in the Uni- 
 versity with my honored teacher himself, and enrolled his name as co-editor of the 
 American Journal of Science. That name is no other than Pbofssor Bexjajiin 
 S11.LIMAN, itself; and the individual who bears it, honors us with his presence to- 
 day, in company with his distinguished parent. 
 
 The elder Pliny wrote thirty-seven books on Natural History, which constitute 
 in this department, our most precious relic of classic antiquity. The elder Silli- 
 man has already completed about fifty, in scientific journalism ; may the younger 
 Silliman be permitted at least, to achieve the century of volumes ! 
 
 Pkopessor Shepard’s allusions to’ Professor Silliman, Junior, 
 produced a response from that gentleman. 
 
 In reply. Prof. Silliman said ; That he was never taken so much by surprise 
 as in finding himself alluded to on the present occasion, by the gentleman who 
 had just spoken. Never before had he found himself placed in circumstances of 
 such peculiar embarrassment as his friend had now left him in ; and much as he 
 felt himself indebted to Professor Shepard on the occasion, he certainly could not 
 thank him for the present flattering allusions, since they imposed the obligation of 
 a reply, when entire silence was the only course consistent with his feelings. 
 
 He reverted with great pleasure to those youthful days, when it was his privi- 
 lege to enjoy daily intercourse with his distinguished friend, in the Laboratory of 
 Yale College, and to witness the zeal with which he devoted himself to his favor- 
 ite pursuits. He felt the power of this example in awakening his own mind to 
 kindred interest and zeal in the same departments. Certaih lie was, if any success 
 should attend his efforts in the cause of science, that tlie most of such success, 
 should, in no inconsiderable degree, be most gratefully refen-ed to the advantages 
 derived by him from his former intimate connection with Prof. Shepard. 
 
 The speaker would not trust himself to encounter those emotions which must 
 unavoidably arise in his heart from a contemplation of the delicate position of pe- 
 
89 
 
 culiar responsibility in which he was placed, as it were, by inheritance. Mr. Shep- 
 ard had feelingly alluded to his editorial connections and his filial position. He 
 felt most keenly his inability to meet all the expectations which might be reason- 
 ably entertained in consequence of the advantages which he had always enjoyed . 
 No one else could be so painfully sensible as himself of the imperfect manner in 
 which he had improved those opportunities, and he must rely upon the kind con- 
 sideration of his friends for all his short comings. 
 
 He adverted with pleasure to the present encouraging position of Amherst Col- 
 lege, — to her enlarged and available means of instruction. He had not before en- 
 joyed the pleasure of being within her walls, and he could scarcely credit the 
 statements he had heard of her former days of despondency and gloom, contrast- 
 ed as such a condition was with her present position of commanding excellence, — 
 not second to the best appointed institutions in this country. The speaker con- 
 cluded by congratulating the President upon the remarkable prosperity which had 
 attended his administration of the affairs of Amherst College, — a success which 
 was the best pledge of future usefulness and advancement. 
 
 Another scientific gentleman was thus introduced : 
 
 When Franklin discovered the laws of Electricity, it gave him 
 power to a certain extent, over the lightning. We have a gentleman 
 with us on this occasion, who has obtained a similar power over the 
 winds and the storms, in the same way, by discovering at least a part 
 of the laws that regulate them. It gives me pleasure to introduce 
 my friend, William C. REDriELU, Esq., of New York, known 
 throughout the scientific world, as having well nigh wrested the scep- 
 tre from Eolus, and the trident from Neptune. 
 
 The response of Mr. Redfield was as follows : 
 
 Mr. W. C. Eedfield could only offer bis thanks for the kind manner in 
 which he had been introduced by the President to the respected auditory. If it 
 had been his fortune to be instrumental, in any degree, in pointing out to the mar- 
 iner the true dangers which beset his path, and the best methods for avoiding or 
 lessening these dangers, it had been owing, in a great measure, to those earlier ef- 
 forts for the promotion of American science, which they had heard described so 
 eloquently on the present occasion, — in which efforts. Professor Silliman, Presi- 
 dent Hitchcock, and others, had been so eminently distinguished. He saw before 
 him some of the friends to whom he had been mainly indebted for advice and en- 
 couragement in his own humble efforts and inquiries, and among them one, [Dr. 
 Gridley, of Amherst,] who, when a college student, had first drawn his uncultiva- 
 ted attention to chemistry and other natural sciences, which at that time had only 
 begun to receive attention in our colleges. It was his privilege to be a native of 
 the Connecticut valley, and, having been brought here to-day, by the interest 
 which he felt in its prosperity and in the progress of useful knowledge, he could 
 make no claims to their attention but such as might well belong to the sons of 
 New England who have been trained in her common schools. He would consid- 
 er these primary schools as constituting the true foundation of those matnrer ef- 
 
40 
 
 fotts and institutions for the promotion of knowledge and virtue which we haJ 
 met to commemorate ; and would now beg leave to offer as a sentiment,— T he 
 Common Schools of New England : living germs of a great fcture. 
 
 A letter from tlie Hon. Jonathan C. Perkins, whose Report 
 and efforts as chairman of the Committee of the Legislature, had ex- 
 erted a strong influence in giving the College success in its applica- 
 tion for aid from that body, was introduced with the following remarks i 
 
 Little did I imagine that among our numerous benefactors we 
 should find the Sea Nymphs, coming to our aid. But I hold in my 
 hand their beautiful offering, which the following letter from Hon, 
 J. C. Perkins will explain. 
 
 Salem, June 20, 1848. 
 
 Mt Dear Sir : 
 
 I have sent addressed to you, a book of sea plants, prepared for the use of Am- 
 herst College by some of my friends in Salem: Mrs. James Briggs, Mrs. Robert 
 Brookhouse, the Misses Richardson, and Mrs. Perkins, my wife. It appears to be 
 a very choice collection. Will you be kind enough to take the book and make 
 such disposition of it as you may think proper and useful. 
 
 I am very sorry that my engagements in Court at Ipswich will necessarily 
 prevent my accepting your very kind and flattering invitation to be present at the 
 meeting ol the friends and benefactors of Amherst College, on the 28 th inst. I 
 find that time and age increase and strengthen my interest in the prosperity of 
 Amherst, — and I am sure it would afford me great pleasure to join in congratu- 
 lations upon her success. But that I must forego at this time. 
 
 Ever faithful and sincerely, 
 
 Yours, &c. 
 
 J. C. PeRkins. 
 
 Here is another similar offering from Miss Sarah S. Mugford^ 
 of the same city, rendered doubly valuable from the fact, that the se- 
 verest bodily sufferings of years have not extinguished in her the love 
 of nature. 
 
 It seems then, that the Sea Nymphs would probably never have 
 thought of us, had they not been moved by the Land Nymphs. I 
 know, then, that you will join me in wishing health and happiness to 
 the Land Nymphs of Salem ; nor would I withhold the wish from any 
 of this family in Massachusetts. 
 
 Another gentleman was thus called upon : 
 
 I see near me a gentleman who twenty-five years ago, and only two 
 years after the College was regularly commenced was a Tutor in it, and 
 subsequently for ten years a Professor. We shall claim a little credit 
 for the extensive good he has accomplished since that time, in another 
 
41 
 
 sphere, on the ground that his eleven years successful instruction 
 here, in that microcosm, a college, more fully prepared him to act 
 successfully in the larger 'world on -which he has been operating. 
 Gentlemen, it is hardly necessary for me to say, that I refer to Dr. 
 Worcester, of Salem. 
 
 To this call Dr. Worcester promptly responded. 
 
 Me. Peesident ; 
 
 If I were to express myself in military phrase, suc^ as was so common in the 
 days of Napoleon, I should say of myself, that I belonged to the “ Old Guard” of 
 Amherst College. — It is now twenty-five years, next October, since I came rock- 
 ing over the hills of Pelham to this place. It was literally so ; for the vehicle in 
 which I rode, was as much like a bread-tray as anything else. This used to come 
 into the town with the mail, once a week, — returning also the next day from North- 
 ampton ; and stirred up all the people, both of the East street and the West. 
 
 I arrived here one week before our reverend friend, the late president of the Col- 
 lege, whom I regret not to see present with us, on this delightful occasion. I had 
 received my appointment, I might say, from the gentleman, who has since been so 
 well known as the Editor of the “ National Preacher.” He had come to Andover, 
 as a plenipotentiary ambassador from the higher powers, to secure some one to fill 
 the office of junior Tutor in the “ Amherst Collegiate Institution.” I was then an 
 assistant in Phillips Academy, having left my class in the Theological Seminary, 
 about two weeks previous. I had known but little of the Institution, but accept- 
 ed the appointment, as a choice of evils, one year. And if I had known a small 
 part only of what I soon ascertained to be the state of things, it is not at all pro- 
 able, that I could have been persuaded to leave my situation in the Academy. 
 
 On my arrival, I was met by one of the friends of the Institution, who accom- 
 panied me to my room in the “ South College.” Very different was the whole ap- 
 pearance of things from what is now seen, upon yonder hill, and all around us. I 
 was soon conducted to the upper story of what is now the “ Middle College,” and 
 to the room which was then used for the “ Chapel.” Adjoining this were the 
 rooms for the library and the apparatus, philosophical and chemical. While in- 
 specting the books, I was informed of the encouraging remark of a gentleman , 
 who had said, that they were “ sufficient for the beginning of a library of fifty thous- 
 and volumes!' But a wheel-barrow, a few times loaded, could easily have borne 
 them all away; and if a considerable part had thus been disposed of, it might have 
 been as well, so far as any actual benefit was derived from them. Of the “ap- 
 paratus” I can hardly trust myself to speak. There was, I believe, an electrical 
 machine, which possibly might have raised a spark, and an air-pump. 
 
 ********** 
 
 Among the students in the different classes, numbering in all about 125, there 
 was a good degree of talent, and enterprise. The Senior Class consisting of nine- 
 teen members, it is no diparagement to then' successors to say, has never been ex- 
 ceeded, in ability and real worth. Erom one of the distinguished Professors, (Dr. Ed- 
 wards,) which that class has given to our New England, you have heard in a letter 
 which has just been read, and the speech of another we have had the pleasure of 
 receiving from the gentleman on my right. (Prof Shepard.) 
 
 6 
 
42 
 
 The opposition to tlie College, at the time when I became connected with it, was 
 very great, in all this region. Good, men, honestly no doubt, were divided in 
 opinion, in regard to tire expediency of its establishment, and the course which was 
 pursued. There was much misunderstanding and misrepresentation. No charter 
 had been obtained from the Legislature. Some of the most eminent ministers as 
 I well remember to have noticed, when they preached in the pulpit of the village, 
 could pray for the young men, who were assembled here for education ; but they 
 could not pray for the Institution, and much as ever did they pray for the officers. 
 ********** 
 
 Such were the trials of the*President, in that first v'ear of his experience, that 
 at one time he narrowly escaped, as many thought, a fatal prostration. If he had 
 not left his duties and cares for a season, he would have found as early a grave, as 
 did his estimable predecessor, in the summer previous. Were it suitable, I 
 could speak out upon this subject, and make knotvn what has been but little under- 
 stood or appreciated, of his difficulties and perplexities, as the head of the Institu- 
 tion, in its early days. 
 
 In the Spring of 1824, a committee was appointed by the Legislature, to come to 
 Amherst, and investigate all matters affecting the Institution, and report the ensuing 
 winter. There was no dread of a candid and impartial scnitiny. But from divers 
 causes and occasions, the prospect w^as gloomy indeed. Many of the best students 
 had become uneasy and discontented. Some were dissatisfied with the means of 
 instruction ; others feared that they never should be able to obtain a diploma, like 
 graduates at Incorporated Colleges. In the Summer Term, when I was expecting 
 to leave my humble station, I was informed in a confidential interview, that a large 
 portion of the class, which was then becoming Junior, — had determined to take a 
 dismission, unless they could have better instruction in the languages, and some 
 lectures upon ancient literature. Members of the Freshman Class also, which had 
 been particularly under my care, expressed a similar purpose, — provided they 
 could not be assured of my remaining with them. — I regret to be obliged to speak 
 so much in the way of personal allusion ; but it is impossible, that I should other- 
 wise state the facts, which ought to be known, in respect to this dark period of the 
 history of the College. 
 
 From my personal esteem for Dr. Humphre)', I may say, Mr. President, more 
 than from any other consideration, I yielded at last to an application to remain. 
 There was one condition, however, whieh it was somewhat venturesome in a 
 young officer to prescribe. It was, that there should be a new Professor. The 
 condition was acceded to, and to my great surprise, I was solicited to take the 
 office, which was to be made vacant. Of this, you may be assured, I should not 
 have spoken, but for its connexion with the best service, which it was my privi- 
 lege to render to Amherst College. Listcad of accepting the office proposed to me, 
 I at once nominated my friend and brother, and your friend and brother, 5Ir. Pres- 
 ident, the L.VMENXED Pkofessok Fiske. I went myself to persuade him to 
 join us. He had just returned from a missionary service, at the South. You 
 need not, that I should tell you what has since followed, from his connexion with 
 the College. 
 
 We commenced the college-year 1824 — 5, with two new officers, and were five 
 in all. The Senior Professor attempted but little labor, and was absent much of 
 the time, until the Institution was incorporated, when he tendered his resignation. 
 The rest of us had to work hard, but we were of one heart and soul. And I ques- 
 
43 
 
 tion whether, in any subsequent year, the internal state of the Institution was 
 more pleasant and animating. 
 
 When the “ long agony” was over, and the intelligence of the Act of Incorpor- 
 ation, as fully signed and sealed, had arrived, there was, as you may well suppose, 
 not a little of exhilaration. At evening prayers, the president read a portion of 
 Seriptm-e, which you will find in the 4tli Chapter of Nehemiah. I do not think 
 I shall soon forget how he read the words : “ But it came to p>ass that when San- 
 ballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, 
 and mocked the Jews. And he spake before his brethren, and the army of Sa- 
 maria, and said, what do these feeble Jews'? will they fortify themselves'? will 
 they sacrifice 1 will they make an end in a day ? will they revive the stones out of 
 the heaps of the rubbish which are burned 1 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by 
 him, and he said. Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break 
 down their stone wall, &c.” The emphasis upon “ Sanballat,” and '• Tobiah,''' and 
 “ the Arabians," and the "fox going up," you may be certain had its effect ; as did 
 the other parts of the Chapter, upon which there was no commentary but in the 
 tones of the reading, and no practical observations but in the answering emotions 
 of all present. 
 
 When the new Faculty was appointed, under the Charter, your own honored 
 name, Mr. President, was among them. And I doubt not, you will bear me wit- 
 ness, that after the college was regularly organized, those young officers entered 
 upon their work, in their respective departments, with much industry and energy. 
 They were quite different from one another, each having his own peculiarities ; yet 
 were they truly a band of brothers, who harmonized as one, in the emulous exer- 
 tion to make the college worthy of public confidence and a liberal patronage. 
 But I must not enlarge. I could now speak for hours of the events and scenes in 
 the ten years subsequent to the Act of Incorporation. 
 
 More recently, the College has had the sad reverses, which we all have felt most 
 deeply. But in the darkest days of decline and depression, there has been that 
 same faith in God, for which its founders and early friends were so remarkable. 
 And what are we now permitted to behold'? We behold, Mr. President, what the 
 most confident, the most sanguine of all, who have prayed for the prosperity and 
 perpetuity of this College, could never have expected with their own eyes to witness. 
 
 And Sir, of those living, w’ho are absent, or of those dead, who have gone to 
 their reward on high, who would more rejoice to be with us, at this tlnilling festi- 
 val, than our departed brother, whose memory is so dear ? When in days gone 
 by, we were so happily associated together, how little was it thought by you or 
 me, and how little could it have been expected by himself, that he would ever 
 send you those stones from “ the goodly Lebanon,”* which Moses saw from the 
 summits of Pisgah.; and, that at last he would find his sepulchre with king David, 
 on Mount Zion ! 
 
 I wept when I heard of his death : for I loved him as an own brother. I wept, 
 as I said to myself, how delighted he would have been to hear of the divine inter- 
 position, so signally manifested in behalf of the College ! But I did not say, 
 “Alas! my brother.” I said, “/ yfue you yoy, my brother. It is all well with thee.” 
 
 He has gone, we cannot doubt, to that glorious city, which “hath the founda- 
 tions of the waU garnished with all manner of precious stones.” He is an inhab- 
 
 *More than 200 specimens in the Cabinet were sent by Prof. Fiske from Syria 
 and Palestine. 
 
44 
 
 italit where it is never said, “ I go the way of all the earth /” Be it our aim to be 
 faithful as was he, that we may have our part in the same blessedness ! We 
 are yet in the world of action, where our appropriate duty is woek, for the high- 
 est good of man, and the glory of HIM to whom all glory belongs : and where 
 none but God, angels that never sinned, and spirits of just men made perfect, “ are 
 entitled to be spectatohs. 
 
 I conclude, Mr. President, as others have before me. I give you as a sentiment 
 for the occasion; The Pounders of Amherst College, — worthy sons op 
 The immortal fathers of New England ! 
 
 The following remarks were intended to bring before the company, 
 a gentleman present, who is distinguished in science : But the public 
 conveyance summoned him away before he could reply. 
 
 The Government of the United States within a few years have car- 
 ried through two great enterprises : the Explormg Expedition to the 
 South Seas and a War with Mexico. The first cost perhaps three 
 or four millions of dollars, — and the last one hundred and fifty. The 
 results of both are now in a great measure before the world, and to 
 which will impartial Christian men now and hereafter attach the 
 most honor? We have present a gentleman who shared in the toils 
 and dangers of the Exploring Expedition, and whose splendid vol- 
 umes of Reports are among the noblest results of that enterprise. I 
 do not expect, howmver, that my friend James D. Daxa, Esq., 
 whom I am happy to introduce to this assembly, will on account of 
 his battles and victories in the South Seas, be brought before the 
 people as a candidate for the Presidency or any other high political 
 office. But I am sure he deserves and will receive some of the high- 
 est honoi’s which the Republic of Letters can bestow. 
 
 Besides the gentlemen from other Colleges of New England, whose 
 names have been already mentioned, others -were present who were 
 alluded to as follows : 
 
 We are honored by the presence of gentlemen connected with other 
 New England Colleges, from whom we have not yet heard. Those 
 Institutions are the Watch Towers, of this part of the Republic of 
 Letters. Our cause, therefore, is a common one, and whatever 
 strengthens one strengthens the whole, and whatever weakens one 
 weakens the whole. We can therefore rejoice with one another in 
 prosperity and sympathize in adversity. The gentlemen present, to 
 whom I refer, hold commissions in fortresses that have long been 
 distinguished in the great warfare that is going on against ignorance 
 and despotism, vice and irreligion, — and they I doubt not will be glad 
 to see any evidence that the most recent of these towers is filling up 
 its magazines and burnishing its armor, after the example of those of 
 
45 
 
 earlier date. But I hope that these gentlemen will let us hear from 
 themselves, something on this great subject of education. Allow me 
 to introduce President Wheeler of Vermont University, and Pro- 
 fessor Lasell of Williams College. 
 
 The public conveyance took away Professor Lasell before he had 
 time to respond to the call. Dr. Wheeler however favored the com- 
 pany with some very interesting views on the subject of education. 
 But the great pressure of public duties has prevented him from giving 
 his address upon paper in season for this publication. 
 
 Professor Hubbard of Dartmouth College had hoped to be 
 present, but having been jirevented, the following extract from his let- 
 ter will be interesting to the friends of science. 
 
 “ It may be relevant on this occasion of your celebration to men- 
 tion, that our College has recently imported a telescope and other in- 
 struments, from Munich, — made to order, — sufficient for furnishing an 
 Observatory. I trust that at no distant period, Amherst and Dart- 
 mouth may be in direct communication with each other and Yale ; 
 thus constituting a line of points of advantageous observations, hard- 
 ly equalled.” 
 
 Professor Adams (and we might make a similar remark in respect 
 to some other gentlemen, J had no opportunity to reply to the allusions 
 to him and his Cabinet by Dr. Silliman. He was therefore request- 
 ed to furnish for this pamphlet any remarks which he might then have 
 desired to make. Pie has accordingly sent in the following : 
 
 The efforts of naturalists to exhibit the true order of Nature, can never fail to 
 gratify a correct and refined taste. Such order is of far liigher origin than mere 
 human invention, and is so perfect as to harmonize no less with our emotions of 
 beauty than with our ideas of fitness and method. It is indeed one of the most 
 delightful features of science, that the farther she advances in a correct knowledge of 
 nature, the more symmetrically and harmoniously are all the powers of the intellect 
 and the emotions of beauty and virtue gratified and invigorated. Nor can the les- 
 son of humility he lost on the lover of science, since his highest efforts consist 
 only in the discovery and exhibiton of a beauty and perfection, which not only 
 does not originate in him, but which extends far beyond the most distant flights of 
 his imagination. A feeble beginning has been made here in the exhibition of the 
 Divine plan of nature. That it should meet with the approbation of one, whose 
 life has been a long series of eminent services rendered to science, is truly grati- 
 fying. We are encouraged to hope that what has been done is in harmony with 
 the highest truths, when it is regarded with satisfaction by one who has been ac- 
 customed in the diffusion of science, ably and happily to illustrate the infinite 
 glories of the great Author of Nature. 
 
1 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
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