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WISCONSIN'STATiE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
with such absolutA., exactness as.to the foree that a stream 
of wäter falling upon a wheel will exert, that the trial test 
will in no way differ from the estimate. 
In a set of weighing seales, each lever and fulerum, and 
weigh ing bar an 1 lalance wei' ht, must be made' in accord- 
ance with a known law of mechanies., in order that the 
seales may weigh right. 
What the seales are to things having weight, seience is to 
our theories and our practiee. The design of both is to do 
awa witb guessino- and to determine with certainty what- 
ever is within its sphere. 
The locomotive that " drew us here to-day, was not a chance' 
combination of probabilities, or fortLinate guesses. The 
maker of that engine knew, gs well before he.lifted a tool to 
build it, as he knows to'day, what it would be able to do. 
The at.nount of f Uel it would take to generate a given 
amount of steam.. the foree that steam, would exiert, and the 
safety point of the boiler under pressure, for the reason that 
each part was made and placed' in position in accordance 
with law workedou't and formul-ate"d by seience. 
Sciünce, then, in any field it- has mastered, sets up stand- 
ards by which we may test our theories, and determine be- 
forehand, with certainty as to W'hat will be the charaeter of 
-our unaccomplished results. 
Having learned the law, and work in conformity to it, the 
result will never disappoint us. 
If this be true, s*ientitic knowledge, that ean be redu'ced 
to Practice, must possess great value-. 
The ancients knew comparativel    little o E what we 
moderns eall science. Indeed it- is less than two hundred 
years since any correct ideas of the simple elements of mat- 
ter were, entertained or any philosop«hical method of investi- 
gation adopted. 
Durino- the last century many important discoverie3 were 
made, and principles established; but it is within this nine- 
teelitli century that its chief miraclos.have been wrough.t. The 
contributions that science, has made to the world's wealth~ 
and the world's co.M'fort, have follo wed each other sorapidly 
and have been so soon, ineorporated into our daily life that