Excerpt from Address Delivered Before the Philodemic Society: At the Commencement 0f Georgetown College, August 28, 1846

The youth here have had not only all the advantages of education which we had in our day, but they have had the benefits also of all the new lights, the discoveries and 1m provement that have since been made. They are the grey beards, we the striplings.

As knowledge increases, our views are enlarged, our wants multiplied, and our social condition improved; um der the pressure of newly constituted wants, there has gone forth from the schools a spirit of philosophical research which gives new strength to the human mind, and imparts to the ingenuity of man-energies whose compass cannot be measured. Ever urging on to fresh conquests of mind over matter, the achievements of this spirit are seen in the discoveries, the inventions, and improvements which mark the times. Almost daily we hear of some new thing, of some triumph of mind over matter, which those who wit ness it are ready to pronounce the ne plus ultra of humaningenuity. But to-morrow, the ever busy mind of man, acting under the impulse of an age eminently utilitarian, pushes on with its discoveries, and finds more room for improvement: the powers of ingenuity are again taxed with a new idea, and the next day brings forth a plus ultra.

We were not content. To snatch the lightning from the clouds, and to turn the thunder - bolt aside from its mark; for in the act electricity was discovered to be an important agent of nature. Finding that man might rule the light ning, the utilitarian sought to use it; as knowledge with regard to it has increased, its uses have been extended, until ingenuity has contrived to fashion it into wings for thought, and then to charge it with the instant delivery of messages as far asunder as the poles.

Philosophers have found new elements. The old dogma of fire, earth, air; and water, is exploded. Light, heat, and electricity are now the agents; with these we send invisi ble couriers throu h the air; with these we print and paint, spin and weave, and endow machinery almost with the at tributes of intelligence. With such agents the world is set in motion. Nature employs them in all her works, and when man begins to enlist them into his service, he may well boast of a step gained, and talk of advancement and improvement.

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