344 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



Nature's organ his elevation is the instant consequence 

 of his humility. I should not wonder if my remarks 

 provoked a smile, for they seem to indicate that I 

 regard the man of science as a heroic, if not indeed 

 an angelic, character ; and cases may occur to you 

 which indicate the reverse. You may point to the 

 quarrels of scientific men, to their struggles for priority, 

 to that unpleasant egotism which screams around its 

 little property of discovery like a scared plover about 

 its young. I will not deny all this ; but let it be set 

 down to its proper account, to the weakness or, if 

 you will to the selfishness of Man, but not to the 

 charge of Physical Science. 



The second process in physical investigation is de- 

 duction, or the advance of the mind from fixed prin- 

 ciples to the conclusions which flow from them. The 

 rules of logic are the formal statement of this process, 

 which, however, was practised by every healthy mind 

 before ever such rules were written. In the study of 

 Physics, induction and deduction are perpetually wedded 

 to each other. The man observes, strips facts of their 

 peculiarities of form, and tries to unite them by their 

 essences ; having effected this, he at once deduces, and 

 thus checks his induction. Here the grand difference 

 between the methods at present followed, and those of 

 the ancients, becomes manifest. They were one-sided 

 in these matters : they omitted the process of induction, 

 and substituted conjecture for observation. They could 

 never, therefore, fulfil the mission of Man to ' replenish 

 the earth, and subdue it.' The subjugation of Nature 

 is only to be accomplished by the penetration of her 

 secrets and the patient mastery of her laws. This not 

 only enables us to protect ourselves from the hostile action 

 of natural forces, but makes them our slaves. By the 

 study of Physics we have indeed opened to us treasuries 



