10 



may we not naturally be led to anticipate such consequences 

 as the necessary result of an analogous desuetude of the 

 mental powers ? 



Nor are the instances rare, or in any wise exceptions 

 to the laws of human thought, in which we find men, 

 who, engaged during the day in the busy hum and turmoil of 

 commercial pursuits, are devoting, with untiring ardour and 

 with commensurate success, their leisure hours to scientific 

 investigation, or to literary research. It is, I believe, 

 known to most of my hearers, that the late lamented Francis 

 Baily, the president of the Astronomical Society of London, 

 was an active member of the Stock Exchange. There are 

 many instances of living excellence in the various depart- 

 ments of intellectual inquiry, which one might with ease 

 select out of the crowded paths of active life, if it were 

 fitting on this occasion so to do. 



Nor is it strange that there should be such, for, to an 

 active mind, engaged, during the greater portion of the 

 day, in occupations which only exercise a particular class 

 of the mental faculties, it is no irksome task, but rather a 

 relaxation, an unbending of the bow, so to speak, to employ 

 it in pursuits which bring into play other faculties, and other 

 operations of the intellect. Hence, too, the zest with which 

 men of business are often found to attend literary 7 and scien- 

 tific lectures, where the real amount of accurate knowledge 

 obtained is often, even under the most favourable circum- 

 stances, but very little. Nor let any one imagine to himself, 

 that the fields of discovery are already reaped and garnered ; 

 and that at best but a few gleanings now remain, to reward 

 the patience of the most diligent inquirer in the regions of 

 truth. It is not so : the fertility of nature is inexhaustible, 

 — one discovery is but the harbinger of another, — " uno 

 avulso non deficit alter." It is more in accordance with 

 that adaptation of means to ends, which, so far as it has 



