1864. | Introduction. 3 
close their ears to her teachings; but these are exceptional cases, and 
those who “waste their philosophic pains” in thus endeavouring to 
stem the tide of progress, will one day find themselves drifting alone 
down the current with which they might have sailed in the company of 
their fellow-travellers on the way to Truth. 
Scientific knowledge is now eagerly sought, and its possessors are 
respected. Here and there a few impetuous workers or thinkers give 
utterance to tenets which shock the temperate and cautious, and lead 
the pious to believe that another golden calf is about to be set up for 
worship; but these are the exceptions, and compared with Theology 
and Politics, Science has but few extremists. As, however, her 
devotees are rather men of thought and action than of wordy elo- 
quence, they are often less appreciated than the fruits of their labours, 
and thus it happens that the astute politician or the talented historian 
may edge his way on to the Treasury Bench, or arrive at the dignity 
of a Peerage, and the eloquent Theologian may succeed in reaping 
a Bishopric, whereas the able man of science whose labours have 
changed the destiny of nations, or who has given a new direction or a 
fresh impulse to the course of civilization, must content himself with 
a Knighthood, or declining that, must rest satisfied with the honour- 
able letters affixed to his name by his fellow-labourers, and leave it to 
posterity to raise an enduring monument to his memory. 
Still, as we have said, Science is beginning to exercise a potent 
influence in every circle of society, and not only does she reckon 
amongst her followers multitudes of the labouring classes (so many, 
indeed, that it has been found necessary to organize a special depart- 
ment and machinery in the State to aid them in the pursuit of this 
species of knowledge), but even lords and statesmen who had pre- 
viously bestowed all their favours upon the nurseries of literature, are 
now beginning to cast tender glances upon Schools of Science, and 
other similar institutions. The discoveries of unwearying investiga- 
tors, too, and the explorations of bold adventurers on the earth or sea, 
or in the air, are no longer published in ponderous tomes and modest 
“brochures,” but find a rapid utterance in special periodicals, and 
even in the flying sheets of the daily press,—those great organs of 
public opinion without which no man can live the life of the nine- 
teenth century. 
Thus much by way of preface to the consideration of the present 
state of Scientific knowledge; but if, from a theme so noble and in- 
spiring, we have been able to derive so little eloquence, what words 
shall we find to plead our own cause? As we approach the subject, 
we feel as does the candidate for public suffrage, who comes before 
the constituency primed with eloquent appeals and telling periods, 
B2 
