the beasts of the forests, exposed to the inclemencies of the seasons and the horrors of famine, and subjected to the still greater calamities of ignorance and superstition, while on the other hand they enjoy all the conveniences and luxuries of body and mind, which flow from civilized society?  Accustomed to the charms of civilized life from our earliest years, we are too apt to consider them as our natural inheritance.  Being familiar with the effects we slight the cause, and consider not wherefore it is that we are elevated above the barbarian and the savage.  But it is to the sciences we are principally indebted for this proud distinction.  On their broad bases rest the pillars of civilized society.  Without these as foundations the lofty fabric must tumble into ruin.  In proportion as these flourish and decay, so must society rise or fall.  But how few are those who consider science as of little value.  They suppose it to be a collection of wild and extravagant theories, calculated only to bewilder and perplex.  They laugh at the supposed folly of those who spend their time in the acquisition of it, and believe its pursuit to be an employment no more worthy, no more commendable, than the continual devotions of ones time and faculties to the acquisition of wealth.  Nor is the prevalence of this opinion to be wondered at.  The pleasures which are