92 OBSERVATIONS ON THE DIFFUSION OF 



consequences that can follow to their superiors will be, that to de- 

 serve being called their betters, they too must devote themselves to 

 the pursuit of solid and refined learning." Such an effect would 

 prove an advantage of no mean order. When the upper classes are 

 pushed on to higher mental cultivation by the elevation of those be- 

 low them, they must be said to gather the fruits of their own sow- 

 ing ; so true is it that we can hardly benefit others without bene- 

 fiting ourselves. Those of them who shall take upon themselves the 

 office of instructors will derive an additional advantage; for the know- 

 ledge acquired in preparing ourselves for the instruction of others is 

 most precious ; because,, in looking for the most simple and satisfac- 

 tory explanation of difficulties, we must ourselves entirely overcome 

 them, and view the subject in all its different bearings. 



II. The duty of diffusing scientific knowledge is one which we owe 

 to our Maker and to society. — If we are grateful to our Maker for 

 all the blessings he has bestowed upon us, is it not our duty to exalt 

 Him among our fellow-creatures, and to make known His attri- 

 butes of wisdom and goodness ; which, while they are pourtrayed in 

 the pages of Revelation, are similarly developed in every work of 

 Nature ? " The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament 

 showeth His handy work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night 

 unto night showeth knowledge There is no speech or language 

 where their voice is not heard." We have all heard that voice ; it 

 has reached us in the still, calm hour of night, when we have gazed 

 on the countless host of heavenly bodies, and our thoughts have 

 been called upward to Him who hath set his glory above the hea- 

 vens ; but how has that voice deepened, how thrilling have been its 

 tones when we have contemplated those bodies through the glass of 

 Science, and have learnt somewhat of their number and extent, of 

 the almost immeasurable distance from each other at which some of 

 them are placed, and of the wonderful manner in which they re- 

 volve, and retain their relative positions by the forces that the Crea- 

 tor has impressed upon them. Our faculties are unable to fathom 

 the whole depth of the power and wisdom of God which these views 

 partially display ; and as to his goodness and providential care of 

 His creatures, there is not a common operation of Nature in which 

 they cannot be demonstrated by the explanation of its causes afforded 

 by Science. Thus, in winter we observe the surface of the water 

 becoming frozen, and after a certain time resuming its usual form. 

 We are taught by Science that in this process there is an exception 

 to a general rule, that bodies contract by the loss of heat ; for, at 

 about eight degrees above the freezing point, the water at the sur- 



