340 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. X. 



enquiry have incre;ised in a greater ratio. The time was when 

 science was cultivated only by the few, who looked upon its ap- 

 plication to the arts and manufactures as almost beneath their 

 consideration ; this they were content to leave in the hands of 

 others, who, with only commercial aims in view, did not aspire 

 to further the objects of science for its own sake, but thought 

 only of benefiting by its teachings. Progress could not be rapid 

 under this condition of things, because the man of pure science 

 rarely pursued his enqniry beyond the mere enunciation of a 

 physical or chemical principle, whilst the simple practitioner was 

 at a loss how to harmonise the new knowledge with the stock of 

 information which formed his mental capital in trade. 



The advancement of the last fifty years has, I venture to 

 submit, rendered theory and practice so interdependent that an 

 intimate unioti between them is a matter of absolute necessity 

 for our future progress. Take, for instance, the art of dyeing, 

 and we find that the discovery of new colouring matters derived 

 from waste products, such as coal-tar, cempletely changes its 

 practice, and renders an intimate knowledge of the science of 

 chemistry a matter of absolute necessity to the practitioner. In 

 telegraphy and in the new arts of applying electricity to lighting, 

 to the transmission of power, and to metallurgical operations, 

 ■problems arise at every turn requiring for their solution not only 

 an intimate acquaintance with, but a positive advance upon, 

 electrical science, as established by purely theoretical research in 

 the laboratory. In general engineering the mere practical art of 

 constructing a machine so designed and proportioned as to pro- 

 duce mechanically the desired effect, would suffice no longer. 

 Our increased knowledge of the nature of the mutual relations 

 between the different forms of energy makes us see clearly what 

 are the theoretical limits of effeot ; these, although beyond our 

 absolute reach, may be looked upon as the asymptotes to be 

 approached indefinitely by the hyperbolic course of practical 

 progress, of which we should never lose sight. Cases arise, 

 moreover, where the introduction of new materials of construc- 

 tion, or the call for new effects, renders former rules wholly 

 insufficient. In all these cases practical knowledge has to go 

 hand in hand with the advanced science in order to accomplish 

 the desired end. 



Far be it from me to think lightly of the ardent students of 

 nature, who, in their devotion to research, do not allow their minds 



