EDITOR'S TABLE. 



73 



from him in service something like a 

 compensation for the benefits with 

 which it surrounds him by day and by 

 night. But " independence " in this 

 sense is absolutely inconsistent with 

 swagger or any form of unsocial action 

 or sentiment. We can conceive of 

 some philosophic mind saying to this 

 great nation, " One thing thou lack- 

 est." Knowledge we have, and mate- 

 rial power and business energy, and 

 back of all this, no doubt, a great fund 

 of true humanity. But the lack is in 

 consciousness of the true aim of life, 

 which is beauty and harmony in all 

 social relations. The voice of Science 

 itself bids us make a true generaliza- 

 tion, a true synthesis, before we begin 

 to work out our plans. We have hith- 

 erto stopped short too much at the idea 

 of knowledge as an instrument of work 

 and ambition, and have greatly hin- 

 dered the growth of knowledge there- 

 by. If we now set before us as our 

 main object the building up of charac- 

 ter in all its elements, we shall find our 

 progress sure, if not rapid, and shall 

 discover a deeper meaning and value in 

 our labors from year to year and from 

 age to age. 



THE TYNDALL BANQUET. 



The dinner given to Professor Tyn- 

 dall in London on the 29th of June, 

 on the occasion of his retirement from 

 his professorship in the Royal Institu- 

 tion, was also intended as a testi- 

 monial to the value of his work in 

 the advancement of knowledge. The 

 two hundred guests who participated 

 constituted, according to the English 

 papers, "as large and distinguished 

 a company as ever assembled to do 

 honor to a man of science " ; or were 

 "men who have rendered themselves 

 notable in the pursuit and application 

 of the most diverse forms of knowl- 

 edge." It is questioned if English 

 science has ever been more completely 

 represented than at this banquet, where 



" the tables were crowded with men 

 whose names are known wherever Na- 

 ture is studied." Other men, equally 

 eminent and equally representative in 

 various fields, sent letters attesting their 

 hearty concurrence in the honor in- 

 tended for the investigator and teacher. 

 British public life was represented by 

 Lord Salisbury and other prominent 

 men; literature, by Lord Lytton; and 

 the United States, by Professor Asa 

 Gray. Professor Stokes, President of 

 the Royal Society, presided ; and the 

 presidents of several scientific societies 

 were vice-chairmen. 



Various reasons were given in the 

 addresses why Professor Tyndall should 

 be particularly honored. The chairman 

 described his researches ; Lord Lytton 

 dwelt upon the value of his scientific 

 writings as contributions to literature ; 

 Sir Lyon Playfair and the Earl of Derby 

 spoke of the obligations the public serv- 

 ice was under to science. 



But Professor Tyndall's researches 

 and discoveries were not considered his 

 only claim to recognition. The feeling 

 seemed general that the world was un- 

 der peculiar obligations to him, of a 

 higher character, because he had made 

 science accessible to the public and 

 attractive to the general reader. Pro- 

 fessor Stokes insisted upon the im- 

 portance, to the general diffusion of 

 science, of expounding its leading prin- 

 ciples and results, whether by lectures 

 or by treatises, in which, while they 

 are scientifically sound, popularity of 

 style and general readableness are not 

 sacrificed. Most of those present had 

 had opportunities of being impressed 

 with Professor Tyndall's lucid style and 

 graphic expression in expounding to 

 audiences the salient points of the scien- 

 tific subject which he brought before 

 them ; and the same qualities were ap- 

 parent in his books. 



" Nature " also gives prominence to 

 this feature of Professor Tyndall's work, 

 saying that " if the wide-spread knowl- 

 edge of science was to be, as it is, an 



