iscience
goes on, but is like that of the infinite approach of the asymptote,
which never reaches the hyperbolic curve. The onward of science is in a
geometrical ratio, so that in time, the intellectual progress of a day
in the future, must exceed that of a century in the past. Knowledge is
enthroned as king, and grand truths and new ideas are his ministers.
Science takes the diameter of the earth's orbit as a base line and unit
of measurement, and with it spans immensity, and triangulates the
nebulous systems amid the shadowy verges of receding space. Its
researches are cosmical upon the earth and the heavens, and all the
elements minister to its progress. Sink to the lowest mine, or fathom
the ocean's depth, or climb the loftiest mountains, or career through
the heavens on silken wings, and it is there also. On--on--on;
nearer--nearer--still nearer it moves forever and forever, with
accelerated speed, toward the infinite eternal. Such are the triumphs of
knowledge; and he who diffuses it among our race, or discovers and
disseminates new truths, advances man nearer to his Creator; he exalts
the whole race; he elevates it in the scale of being, and raises it into
higher and still higher spheres.

It is science that marks the speed of sound and light and lightning,
calculates the eclipses, catalogues the stars, maps the heavens, and
follows, for centuries of the past and the future, the comet's course.
It explores the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. With geology,
it notes the earthquake upheaval of mountains, and, with mineralogy, the
laws of crystallization. With chemistry, it analyzes, decomposes, and
compounds the elements. If, like Canute, it cannot arrest the tidal
wave, it is subjecting it to laws and formulas. Taking the sunbeam for
its pencil, it heliographs man's own image, and the scenery of the earth
and the heavens. Has science any limits or horizon? Can it ever
penetrate the soul of man, and reveal the mystery of his existence and
destiny? It is certainly exploring the facts of sociology, arranging and
generalizing them, and deducing laws.

Man, elevated by knowledge in the scale of being, controls the forces of
nature with greater power and grander results, and accumulates wealth
more rapidly. The educated free labor of Massachusetts, we have seen,
doubles the products of toil, _per capita_, as compared with Maryland,
and quadruples them (as the Census shows) compared with South Carolina.
One day