UeConLe.] •)< Z [March 15, 



the best modern instruction ; the substitution of common 

 sense and individual judgment upon matters of faet, for un- 

 intelligible jargon or incomprehensible dogma. For, as is 

 well observed by Prof. Huxley, " science is common sense 

 ai its best, that is: rigidly accurate in observation and mer- 

 ciless to fallacy in logic." 



To this end, that is, to the perfection of observation, the 

 highest inventive power has co-operated with the most 

 acutely directed reason, in devising instruments of precision 

 by which magnitudes and movements, inappreciable by the 

 unaided senses, are accurately observed, and even demon- 

 strated to large bodies of spectators. 



Ingenuity of a higher kind than that employed in com- 

 mercial workshops, and labor more severe than any known 

 to the artisan or mechanic, have been given to the construcr 

 tion of philosophical apparatus, and to the collection of ma- 

 terials for investigation. The community has often profited 

 by the economic advantages indirectly derived from such 

 untiring exertions, which were inspired by higher objects. 

 The reward striven for has been, indeed, rather spiritual and 

 moral than physical and sensuous. The love of knowledge 

 and truth for their own sake is the stimulus ; and, as is 

 natural in communities growing in intelligence, greater in- 

 fluence in the realm of thought is the result. For be it ob- 

 served, that the largest contributors to the thought of the 

 present day are biologists and physicists ; and their opponents 

 are chiefly among those wedded to prejudice of ancient usage, 

 or addicted to pursuit of their own temporal advantage. 



These classes, we h;ivo ronson to believe, are gradually 

 diminishing in number, and will more rapidly lessen, as the 

 genial influence of the still youthful science of observation 

 infuses itself into our daily life and conduct. 



