in all the professions and pursuits of life, our university has ever enjoined a reverent attendance on the daily devotional exercises, and on the religious services of the Lord's day, either in the chapel of the university, or in such other place of Christian worship as may be preferred by the parent or guardian of the student, or by himself if of legal age. Could the means be found (and this remark is of general application to the churches and communities of professing Christians throughout the world) to raise these religious services above the paralyzing, the killing influence of routine and habit; to give a sense of reality to the most solemn acts in which men can engage, but in which they engage too often as if they were the most barren of forms; to infuse life into those duties, which, performed with earnestness, give energy and vitality to every other purpose and act; - could this be done, it would mark a new era, not merely for schools and colleges, but for communities and nations. An influence over the minds of men would begin to prevail, under which, by the divine blessing, our nature, refreshed and purified, would start up with a truth and vigor of moral action, as far beyond the existing standard of conduct and morals as this is, in many respects, beyond the standard of heathen antiquity.

But the space assigned me in this day's ceremonial has been more than filled up, nor will I trespass on the patience of the audience, but, with a few brief words of kindly salutation to you, young gentlemen of the university, who must hereafter -you and your successors fill so large a place in my cares, my thoughts, and my affections; and of whom I would beg, as the all-sufficient means of attaining the great object of all our labors, of all your efforts, of the hopes and prayers of those who, however distant in abode, dwell with a most intense spiritual presence within these walls,that you would yourselves but give your hearts to the duties and studies of the place. I do not say, that absolutely with this alone the heights of intellectual cultivation can be reached, that books, and teachers, and cabinets are of no

account compared with the frame of mind that exists on your part. Such a paradox, absurd in any place and on any occasion, would be doubly unbecoming here. But this I say, that till the kindly and generous affections are enlisted, all else is comparatively unavailing; till the heart is engaged in the service, it moves with a heavy step. Study is oppressive, and discipline is vexatious. The page is languidly turned; its contents make a feeble impression, and nothing but long continued and weary repetition fastens the lifeless doctrine upon the memory. But let some strong and kindling passion engage in the work, and a light like that of the prophetic vision seems to flash from every character. The attention is aroused, the mental perception penetrates all difficulty and all obscurity, and the memory clings with hooks of steel to the most complicated, the most repulsive details. It may be, and I fear too often is, no higher passion than emulation; but even under that excitement, low and selfish as it sometimes is, the intellect is continually braced to the most extraordinary efforts. But if, instead of this, the least elevated of the nobler sentiments, the love of pure excellence gain the mastery of the heart, the love of truth, the love of nature, the love of art, the love of country, the love of moral greatness, the love of man, the love of God, it awakens the powers of the mind to an energy, which no inferior principle can kindle. Then, in the language of Burke, "our passions instruct our reason." When the all-pervading loveliness of nature, as it is even now budding and bursting around us, has profoundly touched the soul; when a pure and refined taste has learned to pay an innocent homage to the sweet idols of art; when the perception of intellectual beauty has been acquired, and has become distinct and real like that of material form, proportion, and grace, till it affords a tranquil pleasure, which no indulgence can satiate; when, above all the delights of sense, and taste, and intellect, sweeter than the voice of eloquence or music, the loveliness of virtue, the august beauty of spiritual excellence, has revealed itself to the youthful heart; theu, indeed, it matters little what else is given or taken

away. This is the life-giving principle, the vital spark, caught from no mortal altar, kindled by that

"SPIRIT, that doth prefer

Before all temples the upright heart and pure,"

and warming into energy the whole intellectual and moral

nature.

THE NEW MEDICAL COLLEGE.*

It is probably understood by most of those present, that by our academical organization, the president of the university is the head of each of the professional faculties attached to the institution; and a wish has been expressed, on behalf of the medical faculty, that I should address a few words to the company assembled at this time. It will readily occur to every one that my participation in the affairs of the medical school can only be that of official form; but the occasion which has called us together is certainly one deserving the public notice of the academic authorities. It has its origin in the growth of this department of the university to such a degree, as to require the abandonment of the edifice which thirty years ago was erected, not only for the immediate accommodation of the school, but with due reference to its prospective increase. Such a circumstance affords sufficient evidence of the skill and success with which this branch of the university is administered. It adds the strongest confirmation of that which is apparent from other indications not less satisfactory, that our Medical School has sustained its reputation under the competition of rival institutions, and the steady elevation of the standard of professional merit throughout the country. I should but be repeating the statistics contained in the circular lately put forth by the medical faculty, if I were to lay before you the facts which authorize this stateThere can certainly be no occasion, no place, where

ment.

* An Address delivered at the opening of the new Medical College in Grove Street, Boston, on the 4th of November, 1846.

it is less necessary than now and here, to produce an array of documentary evidence to illustrate the growth and perity of the Medical School.

It would be ungrateful not to acknowledge the public and private liberality which has come in aid of the resources of the university, and enabled us thus to enlarge this part of our institution. The expense of the edifice in Mason Street, now lately abandoned, was principally defrayed from a grant of the legislature of the commonwealth, which appropriated the proceeds of the tax on the state banks (sixteen thousand dollars per annum) for ten years, to the three collegiate institutions then existing in the commonwealth: viz., Harvard, Williams, and Bowdoin. Of this generous donation, the sum of ten thousand dollars per annum for ten years was assigned to the university at Cambridge; the last act of patronage, I believe, for which we have to be grateful to the government of the commonwealth. About a fourth part of this liberal endowment was employed in the erection of the Medical College in Mason Street, and supplying it with the apparatus required for medical instruction. These premises, having in the lapse of thirty years become too narrow for the accommodation of the school, have been sold, and the proceeds of the sale have yielded a considerable part of the funds required for the new building. The liberality of one whom I should leave unnamed, if I felt it right in such a connection to consult only his own feelings, (Dr George Parkman,)* has furnished the ground for the new edifice; and the sum still required to complete it has been chiefly drawn from that fountain, which, though always flowing, is never exhausted,

I mean the munificence of the men of wealth in Boston. I hope this often-repeated compliment is not out of place on this occasion; for though the amount of the subscription needed to complete our new edifice is not very large, we stand in a neighborhood where the most magnificent and enduring monuments have been reared to the liberality of Boston. If I mistake not, the adjacent establishment, the

* See note A, at the end of this address.