at the Royal Institution, 1900- 1907. 403 



and to itsk ourselves whether genius be not too often maimed and not 

 made by " education." Taking into account the large number of 

 workers now engaged in scientific inquiry, the comparatively low 

 average of quality attained to in the output is somewhat surprising ; 

 the majority appear to lack not only originality and breadth, but also 

 the critical faculty and that sense of proportion which is so emi- 

 nently characteristic of Faraday's writings. Some occult influence is 

 at work tending to depress the value of human effort ; the distance 

 between those who are really pioneer workers and the general body 

 appears to be widening, not diminishing, as it should be if effective 

 means were being taken to inform and instruct the public. 

 It would almost seem that, as Wordsworth has it — 



... for everything we are out of tune ; 

 It moves us not . . . 



in the sense, that we are not yet attuned to the complexities of 

 modern knowledge ; that in our attempt to grasp facts we lose sight of 

 relations and co-relations ; and that men like Mr. Hodgkins, looking 

 on from a distance, have seen this and desired to assist in bringing 

 about a better understanding. 



His history appears to have been a remarkable one. Born in this 

 country, he emigrated while young to America and established a con- 

 fectionery business in New York ; having made a fortune, he retired 

 when about sixty years old and took to farming on the coast of Long 

 Island. He died in December 1892, shortly after he had transferred 

 to the Royal Institution the sum of 100,000 dollars United States 

 currency, the income whereof was to be devoted (at his demise) to 

 the purposes of scientific investigation. He was also the donor of 

 40,000/. to the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. 



It would be interesting if we knew how he was moved to take so 

 great an interest in science. Liebig, who visited Faraday in 1844, 

 wrote to him on his return to Germany : — 



"What struck me most in England was the perception that only 

 those works which have a practical tendency awakf attention and 

 command respect ; while the purely scientific, which possess far greater 

 merit, are almost unknown. And yet the latter are the proper and true 

 source from which the others flow. Practice alone can never lead to the 

 discovery of a truth or a prmciple. In Germany it is quite the contrary. 

 Here, in the eyes of scientific men, no value or at least but a trifling one 

 is placed on the practical results. The enrichment of science is alone 

 considered worthy of attention. I do not mean to say that tliis is 

 better ; for both nations the (jolden medium would certainly be a real 

 good fortune." 



Very largely owing to his influence and more particularly in 

 consequence of the introduction into the University system of 

 •experimental research work such as Liebig first made possible by 



2 D 2 



