586 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that certain important researches, then under "way, might be com- 

 pleted ; but the appeals in his behalf were met by a brutal reply : 

 "The republic has no need of savants.^^ Such was the spirit of igno- 

 rance in politics, as opposed to the spirit of science ; and yet the event 

 was so recent in history that another distinguished French chemist, 

 Chevreul, who is still living and at work, was then eight years old. 

 Contemporary with Lavoisier, Franklin and Rumford were eminent 

 alike in science and in statesmanship to a degree equaled in either 

 department by very few ; and to-day Lyon Playfair, John Lubbock, 

 and Professor Virchow are conspicuous both as investigators and in 

 political life. In Italy, Quintino Sella has been illustrious as geolo- 

 gist, crystallographer, and statesman ; and in our own country several 

 men of science have shown their fitness for public affairs, and their 

 capacity for usefulness as legislators. The " scholar in politics " may 

 be out of place from the partisan's point of view, but not from the 

 true statesman's. A closet scholar, who lives only in books, a vision- 

 ary theorist, or a mere popular lecturer, who reflects the thoughts of 

 others, may lack the qualities which fit a man for dealing with prac- 

 tical measures ; but, for the careful scientific investigator who studies 

 things for what they are, with neither fear nor prejudice, a place is 

 surely open. Every one must admit the need of real knowledge, 

 intelligence, and thoughtfulness in parliaments and congresses ; and 

 among the statesmen of the future, side by side with the jurist, the 

 diplomat, and the financier, the man of science will stand as a coadju- 

 tor and equal. The dictum of the French judge is already reversed : 

 the republic has need of savants. 



-♦♦♦- 



THE DAEWmiAN THEORY OF INSTINCT * 



By GEOEGE J. EOMANES, F. K. S. 



« /"^ AVEST thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks ? or wings 

 vX and feathers unto the ostrich ? which leaveth her eggs in the 

 earth, and warmeth them in dust, and forgetteth that the foot may 

 crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. . . . Because God 

 hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her under- 

 standing." 



This is the oldest theory of instinct. The wi'iter of that sublime 

 monument of literary power in which it occurs observed a failure of 

 instinct on the part of the ostrich, and forthwith attributed the fact 

 to neglect on the part of the Deity ; the implication plainly being 

 that in all cases where instinct is perfect, or completely suited to the 



* Address delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Friday evening, Febru- 

 ary 8, 1884. 



