FROM DUST TO DUST. 47 



vistas of thought, that we are apt to imagine we have found the 

 master-key to unlock all the secret drawers of Nature, but she still 

 keeps many of them closed to us. 



We are accustomed to speak of the different sciences, though 

 really but one science exists, which, like a civilised state or a com- 

 plex organism, requires inter-communication between all its parts 

 to preserve its corporate life. Science, like all other organised 

 complexities, tends more and more to become specialised in its 

 several parts ; so that We get many segregated facts and induc- 

 tions, until a Darwin or a Lister arises to aggregate, collate, and 

 deduce some general principle from them. 



Natural "Science seeks to show not only what a thing />, but 

 what it does^ and deals with all the conditions of life, as well as 

 life itself. Geology treats of the formation and inorganic develop- 

 ment of the earth, that is to say, of the conditions of life existence. 

 Anatomy, Morphology, Histology, and Embryology are so inti- 

 mately connected with Physiology, and the latter with Chemistry 

 and Physics, that it is impossible to define their boundary lines. 

 These Sciences, combined with a knowledge of the external 

 requirements necessary to existence, teach us to know the positive 

 conditions under which life is carried on ; whilst Pathology tells 

 us the negative conditions, which are inimical to healthy life, pro- 

 ductive of an alteration of vital properties, and death. Amongst 

 all these Sciences, Chemistry and Physics alone contemplate things 

 in a state of rest, and bring us nearer to the ultimate analysis of 

 matter. The Physicist shows us how gravity, attraction, pressure, 

 and the vibrations of light, heat, and magnetism influence matter ; 

 and the Chemist, by analysing and combining its elements, teaches 

 how inorganic matter can be built up, and brings us to the very 

 threshold of organic life. Well may these sciences be wedded and 

 work together as Chemico-Physics ! Such unions between all the 

 Sciences, with increasing knowledge, will more and more take 

 place, as their action and interaction are better understood. An 

 advance and stepping forward out of line takes place, first in one 

 and then in another science, so that, eventually, each Science is 

 enabled to cast side-lights upon others, and to receive light from 

 them in return. 



Bacteriology, the youngest of all the Sciences, has of late years 



