“But these discoveries only made the Telegraph possible.  They offered the brilliant opportunity.  There was needed a man to bring into being the new art and the new interest to which they pointed, and it is the providential distinction and splendid honor of the eminent American, who is our guest to-night, that, happily prepared by previous acquirements and pursuits, he was quick to seize the opportunity and give to the world the first recording Telegraph.

“Fortunate man! thus to link his name forever with the greatest wonder and the greatest benefit of the age! [great applause]...  I give you ’Our guest, Professor S.F.B.  Morse, the man of science who explored the laws of nature, wrested electricity from her embrace, and made it a missionary in the cause of human progress.’”

As the venerable inventor rose from his chair, overcome with profound emotion which was almost too great to be controlled, the whole assembly rose with him, and cheer after cheer resounded through the hall for many minutes.  When at last quiet was restored, he addressed the company at length, giving a resume of his struggles and paying tribute to those who had befriended and assisted him in his time of need—­to Amos Kendall, who sat at the board with him and whose name called forth more cheers, to Alfred Vail, to Leonard Gale, and, in the largeness of his heart, to F.O.J.  Smith.  It will not be necessary to give his remarks in full, as the history of the invention has already been given in detail in the course of this work, but his concluding remarks are worthy of record:—­

“In casting my eyes around I am most agreeably greeted by faces that carry me back in memory to the days of my art struggles in this city, the early days of the National Academy of Design.

“Brothers (for you are yet brothers), if I left your ranks you well know it cost me a pang.  I did not leave you until I saw you well established and entering on that career of prosperity due to your own just appreciation of the important duties belonging to your profession.  You have an institution which now holds and, if true to yourselves, will continue to hold a high position in the estimation of this appreciative community.  If I have stepped aside from Art to tread what seems another path, there is a good precedent for it in the lives of artists.  Science and Art are not opposed.  Leonardo da Vinci could find congenial relaxation in scientific researches and invention, and our own Fulton was a painter whose scientific studies resulted in steam navigation.  It may not be generally known that the important invention of the percussion cap is due to the scientific recreations of the English painter Shaw.