Ceremonies, Etc; New York State Inebriate Asylum, Binghamton, New York (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1859 edition. Excerpt: ... OPENING ADDRESS. BY JOHN W. JEAN CIS, M. D., IX. D. Gentlemen: I return you my sincere thanks for the honor you have assigned me in the exercises of this day, and for the favorable reception I have met. You all know that I present myself before you, on this occasion, rather at your solicitation than from my own choice. Resistance proving unavailing, I am here with you, and trust that, however imperfectly the duty committed to me may be discharged, you will bear in recollection that my ardent hopes are cherished for the success of your noble undertaking, and that I shall neglect no proper measure for the furtherance of your great design. A half-century or more, has repeatedly placed me in peculiar circumstances, but never until this time have I been awakened to higher responsibilities, when contemplating the vast movement now entered upon for the benefit of humanity, and the elevation of our race. Minds matured by the experience of practical life, philosophers imbued with the wisdom of rich culture, divines who have enriched the principles of religious faith by the potent example of good works, scholars whose closet elaborations have excited emotions of a wide philanthropy, and the eminent members of the liberal professions of every calling, have all, all coalesced, as one body, to organize a plan worthy so illustrious a group of individualities, and which, in its issues, is destined to constitute an era in the progress of the social relationship of man. You will tolerate me, when I affirm, before so vast and enlightened assembly, that the glory of a nation does not depend solely upon the multitude of its people, nor upon the richness of its soil, the mildness of its climate, or its wide domain; neither is it to be inferred from wealth...