I I 24 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



who are reaping golden harvests through the science of a 

 past generation. 



When we remember that science is really no more nor 

 less than such accurate and full knowledge of this or that 

 class of natural things as enables us actually to under- 

 stand "the causes of things," then it becomes obvious that 

 the distinction which is sometimes drawn between the 

 " scientific " man and the " practical " man is founded upon 

 some kind of error. If there is the antithesis which fashion 

 causes many persons to assert as existing, let us see what 

 becomes of it when we say, as we are justified in saying, 

 that the scientific man is the man who knows thoroughly 

 and accurately, The contrast insisted on between the scien- 

 tific and practical man becomes, then, simply the contrast 

 between the man who knows and the man who does not 

 know, but acts in ignorance. 



As a matter of fact there is no such antithesis. Your 

 man of science is, or should be from the nature of his pur- 

 suits, more thoroughly practical than any one who affects 

 to despise scientific knowledge, for he is accustomed to 

 insure success in his experiments and investigations by 

 taking every means in his power to that end ; above all, and 

 chiefly, by guiding himself by reasonings based on the most 

 accurate and extensive knowledge. So, too, indeed, every 

 so-called practical man who is not a mere adventurer a 

 happy-go-lucky tempter of Fortune makes use of accurate 

 knowledge to aid him in his commercial ventures and specu- 

 lations ; so far as he can get it, he makes use of science, 

 though he often calls it by some other name as soon as it 

 becomes useful knowledge. 



The fact is, that a large part of the indifference to 

 science in this country, and the notion that science is 

 dreamy, vague, untrustworthy, and useless to practical men, 



