DIFFUSION AND ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 343 



cultivated and held in less estimation in England 

 than on the Continent? — is perhaps too general. A 

 distinction must then be drawn between abstract 

 and practical science ; or, in other words, between 

 such branches as can be brought to bear upon the 

 physical wants and necessities of society, and such 

 as are purely intellectual. There is still a further 

 distinction, — and it is a very important one, — be- 

 tween that degree of knowledge which can render a 

 science pleasing and popular, and that which, from 

 aiming at the highest objects, the discovery of new 

 laws, and the investigation of difficult questions, 

 renders it, in the eyes of the many, abstruse and 

 uninteresting. To each of these minor questions 

 very different answers would be given, and they 

 should therefore be considered separately. If we 

 speak of science generally, it may fairly be ques- 

 tioned, whether, at any former period of our history 

 it was ever held in so much estimation, or was so 

 generally diffused among the mass of our country- 

 men, as it is at present. Yet, while we may truly 

 exult in this awakening of the national intellect, we 

 must remember that diffusion and advancement are 

 two very different processes : and each may exist in- 

 dependent of the other. It is very essential, there- 

 fore, to our present purpose, when we speak of the 

 diffusion or extension of science, that we do not 

 confound these stages of developement with dis- 

 covery or advancement ; since the latter may be as 

 different from the former as depth is from shallow- 

 ness. Reverting, then, to the simple question, whe- 

 ther the higher walks of science, properly so called, 

 are more neglected in England than on the Con- 

 z 4 



