22G UNIVERSITIES: ACTUAL AND IDEAL viii 



In the mcanwliile, there is one step in the di- 

 rection of the endowment of research which is free 

 from such objections. It is possible to place the 

 scientific enquirer in a position in which he shall 

 have ample leisure and opportunity for original 

 work, and yet shall give a fair and tangible equiva- 

 lent for those privileges. The establishment of a 

 Faculty of Science in every University, imi)lies 

 that of a corresponding number of Professorial 

 chairs, the incumbents of which need not be so 

 burdened with teaching as to deprive them of am- 

 ple leisure for original work. I do not think that 

 it is any impediment to an original investigator to 

 have to devote a moderate portion of his time to 

 lecturing, or superintending practical instruction. 

 On the contrary, I think it may be, and often is, a 

 benefit to be obliged to take a comprehensive sur- 

 vey of your subject; or to bring your results to a 

 point, and give them, as it were, a tangible objec- 

 tive existence. The besetting sins of the investiga- 

 tor are two: the one is the desire to put aside a 

 subject, the general bearings of which he has mas- 

 tered himself, and pass on to something which has 

 the attraction of novelty; and the other, the desire 

 for too much perfection, which leads him to 



"Add and alter many times, 

 Till all be ripe and rotten ;" 



to spend the energies which should be reserved for 

 action in whitening the decks and polishing the 

 guns. 



