ever be temperate, and the atmosphere pure, through the greater part of the continent."'*

With respect to the fertility of our soil, the excellence and abundance of its products, and the luxuriant power of vegetation, there cau be no dispute. Famine has never been heard of; and if facility of subsistence, salubrity and plenty of food, and all the comforts of life, can produce that composure and serenity which are generally necessary to elicit the powers of the mind, there is no country which can claim a superiority over the United States.

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The nature of our government and the constitution of our confederacy, are admirably adapted to promote the interests of science. Free governments are the native soil of great talents. "Though a republic should be barbarous," says Hume, it necessarily, by an infallible operation, gives rise to law even before mankind have made any considerable advances in the other sciences; from law arises security; from security curiosity, and from curiosity knowledge." That most profound politi. cal writer, whom I have just quoted, with the vast volume of history before his eyes, and aided by all the powers of an analyzing and investigating mind, has laid down the following incontrovertible propositions in relation to the influence of government upon the arts and sciences.

1. It is impossible for the arts and sciences to arise, at first, among any people unless that people enjoy the blessing of a free government.

2. Nothing is more favourable to the rise of politeness, and learning, than a number of neighbouring and independent states connected together by commerce and policy.

3. Though the only proper nursery of these valuable plants be a free government, yet may they be transplanted into any government; and a republic is most favourable to the growth of the sciences, a civilized monarchy to that of the polite arts.

Although this was published more than half a century ago, yet it suits our situation so precisely that one would suppose the writer had the United States fully in his view. Perhaps the flourishing condition of the literature of Europe is, in a great degree, owing to the division of that continent into a number of independent states. Each capital is a place where letters are encouraged, and the different governments vie with each other in rewarding the effusions of genius; but if Charles V., Lewis XIV., or Napoleon, had succeeded in establishing an universal monarchy the dark ages of gothic barbarity would have revisited mankind. Thus, under the direction of an all-wise and beneficent God, the half-civilized serf of Russia has become the unconscious guardian and protector of

knowledge. The small country of Attica, not so large as Long-Island, can never be contemplated without the mingled emotions of veneration and sorrow. “Ab Athenis enim humanitas, doctrina, religio, fruges, jura, leges, ortæ, atque in omnes terras distributa, putantur.” "It is acknowledged," said Cicero," that literature, polite arts, religion, agriculture, laws, and social rights, originated in Athens and were thence distributed over all nations." The fertility of the soil, the excellence of the climate, the freedom of the government, and the enterprising spirit of the people, must have coöperated in producing this transcendent and preeminent state of human exaltation. And if a comparison was institu- ` ted in those respects, between that country and ours, in what important part would we be deficient?

We are, perhaps, more favoured in another point of view. Attica was peopled from Egypt; but we can boast of our descent from a superior stock. I speak not of families or dynasties; I refer to our origin from those nations where civilization, knowledge, and refinement have erected their empire; and where human nature has attained its greatest perfection. Annihilate Holland, Great Britain, Ireland, France, and Germany, and what would become of civilized man? this country, young as it is, would be the great Atlas remaining to support the dignity of the world and perhaps our mingled descent from various nations may have a benign influence upon genius. We perceive the improving effects of an analogous state upon vegetables and inferior animals. The extraordinary characters which the United States have produced may be, in some measure, ascribed to the mixed blood of so many nations flowing in our veins; and it may be confidently predicted that the operation of causes, acting with irresistible effect, will carry in this country all the improvable faculties of human nature to the highest state of perfection.

Taking it for granted that the United States afford every reasonable facility and inducement for the cultivation of letters, it cannot be doubted but that this city is the proper scite for a great literary and scientific institution. When we view the magnitude of its population, the extent of its commerce, the number of its manufactures, and the greatness of its opulence; when we contemplate its position near the Atlantic, its numerous channels of communication by land and by water with every part of the United States, and the constant and easy intercourse it can maintain with all parts of the civilized world; when we consider the vast fund of talent, information, enterprise, and industry which it contains; and when we take a prospective view of the rank which it is destined to occupy as the greatest commercial emporium in the world, we must acknowledge that no position could be selected better adapted for acquiring information, concentrating knowledge, improving literature, and extending science and we may say of this place as Sprat, in his history of the Royal-Society, said of London: "It has a large intercourse with all the

:

earth; it is, as the poets describe their house of fame, a city where all the noises and business in the world do meet, and therefore this honour is justly due to it, to be the constant place of residence for that knowledge which is to be made up of the reports and intelligence of all countries."

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*

The Royal-Society of London, for the improving of natural knowledge, (the first institution of this kind,) was established about the year 1663. Butler, the author of Hudibras, wrote a satire against it entitled "The elephant in the moon." Sprat, the historian of the society, feeling too acutely the shafts of ridicule, attempted in a singular way to propitiate the hostile wits. To gain their good will,” said he, “ I must acquaint them that the family of Railleurs is said to be derived from the same original with the philosophers. The founder of philosophy is confessed by all to be Socrates, and he also was the famous author of all irony. They ought, therefore, to be tender in this matter, wherein the honour of their common parent is concerned." Cowley, on the other hand, wrote a complimentary address to the society.

The satire of Butler has sunk into oblivion, while the society which it assailed has established a reputation and usefulness that cannot be subverted or denied. From its origin to the end of the eighteenth century (as appears from dr. Thompson's history of the Royal-Society from its institution to the end of the eighteenth century) it has published 4,166 memoirs on natural history, anatomy, surgery, medicine, mathematics, mechanical philosophy, chymistry, and miscellaneous subjects; the greatest number of which is on astronomy, medicine, and chymistry. The institution of this society was soon followed by that of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, and similar associations have been since formed in almost all the important cities of Europe.

The first society of the kind in this country was the American-Philosophical-Society, held at Philadelphia, for promoting useful knowledge, which was founded in 1769; its principal promoter was dr. Franklin :(6) it has published six volumes of transactions. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was incorporated in Massachusetts in 1780; and the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences was established in 1799. All these institutions have given to the world several useful and interesting memoirs. The United States Military Philosophical Society was founded at West Point, in this state, in 1802, by colonel Williams, chief of the Cops of Engineers, and Military Academy. The whole corps of engineers were the original members; and its number has been increased by the admission of others from different parts of the United States. This attempt to diffuse science has been attended with remarkable success, and was worthy of the gentleman who inherits the investigating mind as well as the blood of dr. Franklin. The travels and discoveries of Pike, the

history of Louisiana by Stoddard, the code of Martial Law by Macomb, a treatise on the Organization of Artillery by Morton, several important military memoirs by the president of that institution, and the system of maritime defence adopted, and now visible in our harbour, may be considered as emanations from it.

Such associations are productive of great individual and collective benefit: they stimulate the mind to exertion, produce emulation, and form habits of observing with accuracy and of reading with attention; they elicit powers that would otherwise lie dormant, and collect knowledge that would otherwise be scattered. "Science, like fire, is put in motion by collision."* The communion of cultivated minds must always have a benign influence on knowledge; and the experience of a century and a half bears testimony to this truth.

The objects of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New-York being coextensive with the principal branches of human knowledge, an unbounded prospect of investigation lies before us. It would be an herculean task, far transcending my powers and occupying too much time, to point out those desiderata in science which ought to be supplied; and to indicate those improvements and refinements which ought to be engraffed into our literature; but it may not be unimportant, with respectful deference, and in a very concise manner, to invite your attention to those objects of inquiry which refer to the peculiar situation of this country which have been little attended to or entirely neglected; and which, on account of their peculiar importance, deserve and demand our notice.

In the first place, the geology of our country is almost unknown, and few attempts have been made to elucidate it. William Maclure has, indeed, applied the wernerian system to the United States; has undertaken to divide the country into regions of primitive transition, flætz, and alluvial rocks; and has, upon this plan, delineated those different formations in a geological map of the United States. He has not noticed any volcanic formations; probably from an opinion that none exist.

Dr. Mitchill, in a report made to the Agricultural Society, has divided the state into

The granite country,

The schistic,

The lime stone,

The sand stone, and

The alluvial;

and has designated the different regions in which those divisions exist.

* Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester.

Volney, borrowing the ideas of Mitchill, without acknowledging the obligation, has applied this theory to the United States at large; and his geological division consists of

He has in one instance, departed from dr. Mitchill's arrangement by substituting a region of sea sand for a schistic region.*

These are the principal attempts which have been made to illustrate our geology; and although entitled to merit they are imperfect; and, probably, to a considerable extent fanciful. Amid the thirty-eight different substances which Maclure has mentioned as composing the different formations, the others have designated but five; and although I presume that the denomination given to a particular region is only intended to indicate that the principal rocks or substances are of the kind from which the appellation is derived, yet it must be obvious, that in such an extent of country it is utterly impossible to arrive at such a conclusion without the most minute and scrutinizing surveys. It is difficult to distinguish and ascertain the different kinds of formations; it requires considerable practical knowledge to discriminate between matter purely inorganic, and its mixture with organic substances, and as strata of different as well as of cognate species are not only piled upon each other, but are frequently buried in the bowels of the earth, there is great difficulty in forming just conclusions. This science, and the kindred science of mineralogy, have been almost entirely uncultivated with us; and when we consider their immense importance, and the extensive investigation which they open, we must be convinced that we ought to devote more than ordinary attention to their cultivation.

The aspect or physiognomy of our country is certainly marked by striking and extraordinary characters. The Hudson is the only river in the United States where the tide passes through the alluvial primitive transition, and into the flatz formation. In the east we have an ocean of salt water. In the west we have fresh-water seas of immense extent : there is every indication, not only of the recession of lakes, but also of their total exsiccation :(7) hence we have three kinds of alluvial formations: one arising from the retreat of the ocean, another from the subsidence or extinction of lakes; and another from the overflowing, retreat, and change of rivers. Marine and vegetable substances are to be found,

* See the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 6.-Transactions of the Society of Arts, held at Albany, vol. 1.; and Volney's View of the Bnited States.