68 
logically drawn from it, explain everything. The next step is as 
certain, but not so innocent, in its effects. Everything it cannot 
explain is nonsense, and has no existence. ‘Tiresome men make 
fresh discoveries ; they are hushed for a time, or for their life, but 
others rise in their places. More strange still, facts discover them- 
selves, they are said to be the result of trickery or credulity, but, 
as Carlyle has said, they still stand there like questions waiting for 
an answer, and, what is more, refuse altogether to go away until 
they get one. Let us ever keep our minds open to evidence, 
remembering that knowledge has a tendency to turn the key of her 
treasure-house, lest a portion should be found on closer examination 
to be dross; and as the knowledge of yesterday is often the 
ignorance of to-day, so the human mind may still be only on the 
threshold of discovery. 
