Scientijic Societies. 26 



tent to wait, until his creatures open their eyes to the laws which 

 he has written upon the material universe on which they dwell, and 

 which he reveals to those who rightly seek them. We see that 

 there is not one of those laws, even the most apparently simple and 

 elementary, which is not pregnant with consequences for human 

 happiness. We see that the discovery of those laws has been 

 due in every instance to the gift of observing eyes, an enquiring 

 mind, and a deep love of knowledge for its own sake. Not one of 

 these great men knew whither their observations would lead them. 

 They inquired because they loved to inquire with deep reverence 

 into the laws of God ; and had not learnt, while they were study- 

 ing the works of man, to despise as beneath their notice the mighty 

 works of God. They little knew how fruitful their studies would 

 become, but they would not have been staggered had any one 

 sneered at such studies as mechanical or useless. The geometri- 

 cians of Alexandria devoted themselves for years to the study of 

 the abstract properties of the lines which bound the sections of a 

 cone. Few things could have appeared more gloriously useless 

 than such inquiries. Doubtless the crass idlers and varicose 

 centurions laughed at them long and loud ; yet on these inquiries 

 are founded the whole possibility of modern commerce, the whole 

 science of modern navigation. The most ignorant skipper who 

 sails the sea owes a debt to those quiet students ; and the mere 

 monetary value of their discoveries, had they but been aware of it, 

 was worth unknown thousands, aye, millions of pounds. 



Such immortal achievements — who knows ? — may be lying in 

 the vast regions of the unknown, to be grasped soon or hereafter 

 by some of you. There is no reason why it should not be so, if 

 only any one of you have open eyes, truthful hearts, fervent 

 spirits, and patient souls. In science it is pre-eminently true that, 

 voir c'est avoir, " to see rightly is to possess." When a boy 

 knows how to read, to write, to think, and to look on the world as 

 one of the books which it is for him to read, he is equipped with 

 all the armour by which man has conquered the elements where- 

 with he so long wrestled in vain. But, even if not — if you never 

 gain a single ripe fruit of knowledge — is there no cause for you 

 to fear the effects of ignorance ! Ignorance, remember, is no 

 mere vacuum of knowledge, but a " plenum of positive errors," 

 and often the ignorant man, particularly if he has a very good 

 opinion of himself, is as dangerous as a madman who scatters 

 firebrands, arrows, and death. I once shewed to the Society a 

 a nodule of phosphate of lime, the notice of which by Professor 

 Henslow in the crag at Felixstow, led to its use as a manure, and 

 was found invaluable in adding riches to the soil. Thousands of 

 people had seen these " coprolites," as they are erroneously called, 



