370 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



one case, were as severe as in the other. All the practical opera 

 tions of husbandry furnish ample materials for inquiry and re 

 flection ; and inquisitive and reflecting minds, constantly engaged 

 in them, have some peculiar advantages in the study of them, 

 over philosophers exclusively confined to their closets and their 

 laboratories. There is every encouragement to exertion pre 

 sented even to the most humble. One of the most distinguished 

 ornaments of the school of English chemistry a man whose 

 attainments would do honor to any country and any age was 

 devoted, in early life, to a purely mechanical trade, and, by the 

 determined energies of his own mind, has made his way, by uni 

 versal acclamation, to the proud preeminence which he occupies.* 

 Some of the greatest discoveries in the arts and in science have 

 been made by men of comparatively unassisted genius. I should 

 be too happy, if I could feel that my humble labors had, even in 

 the smallest degree, contributed to induce men to respect their 

 own minds ; to lead the laboring portion of the community, 

 while they are working with their hands, to be as active in 

 working with their understandings ; and to become ambitious to 

 bring from their own personal inquiry and experience their con 

 tributions, however small, to the great and rapidly accumulating 

 mass of human knowledge. So far from contemning science, I 

 reverence it with a species of idolatry an idolatry, I trust, pardon 

 able, for it is only a form of homage to the great Source and Centre 

 of all intelligence. In the mind of man, enlarged and improved 

 by science, I recognize the proper foundation of moral as well as 

 of intellectual greatness ; and I adore with humble gratitude the 

 reflection very partial and limited indeed it is of that wis 

 dom and intelligence, which created, guide, arrange, fill, and 

 bless an eternal and boundless universe. 



* Professor Faraday. 



