OBJECTS, PLEASURES, AND ADVANTAGES OF SCIENCE. 



working in particular employments to obtain the knowledge required, because their chances are greater than 

 other people's of so applying that knowledge as to hit upon new and useful ideas : they are always in the 

 way of perceiving what is wanting, or what is amiss iu the old methods ; and they have a better chance of 

 making the improvements. In a word, to use a common expression, they are in the way of good luck ; and 

 if they possess the requisite information, they can take advantage of it when it comes to them. This, then, 

 ia the tecond great use of learning the sciences : it enables men to make improvements in the arts, and dis- 

 coveries in philosophy, which may directly benefit themselves and mankind. 



3. Now, these are the practical advantages of learning; but the third benefit is, when rightly considered, 

 just as practical aa the other two the pleasure derived from mere knowledge, without any view to our 

 own bodily enjoyments : and this applies to all classes, the idle as well as the industrious, if, indeed, it be 

 not peculiarly applicable to those who enjoy the inestimable blessing of having time at their command. 

 Every man is by nature endowed with the power of gaining knowledge ; and the taste for it, the capacity to 

 be pleased with it, forms equally a part of the natural constitution of his mind. It is his own fault, or the 

 fault of his education, if he derive no gratification from it. There is a satisfaction in knowing what others 

 know in not being more ignorant than those we live with : there is a satisfaction in knowing what others 

 do not know in being more informed than they are. But this is quite independent of the pure pleasure of 

 knowledge of gratifying a curiosity implanted in us by Providence, to lead us towards the better under- 

 standing of the universe in which our lot is cast, and the nature wherewithal we are clothed. That 

 every man is capable of being delighted with extending his information upon matters of science will be 

 evident from a few plain considerations. 



Beflect how many parts of the reading, even of persons ignorant of all sciences, refer to matters 

 wholly unconnected with any interest or advantage to be derived from the knowledge acquired. Every 

 one is amused with reading a story : a romance may divert some, and a fairy talc may entertain others ; 

 but no benefit beyond the amusement is derived from this source : the imagination is gratified ; and wo 

 willingly spend a good deal of time and a little money in this gratification, rather than in resting after 

 fatigue, or in any other bodily indulgence. So we read a newspaper, without any view to the advantage 

 we are to gain from learning the news, but because it interests and amuses us to know what is passing. 

 One object, no doubt, is to become acquainted with matters relating to the welfare of the country ; but we 

 also read the occurrences which do little or not at all regard the public interest!), and wo take a pleasure 

 in reading "them. Accidents, adventures, anecdotes, crimes, and a variety of other things amuse us, inde- 

 pendent of the information respecting public affairs, in which we feel interested as citizens of the state, or 

 as members of a particular body. It is of little importance to inquire how and why these things 

 excite our attention, and wherefore the reading about them is a pleasure ; the fact is certain ; and it proves 

 clearly that there is a positive enjoyment in knowing what we did not know before ; and this pleasure 

 is greatly increased when the information is such as excites our surprise, wonder, or admiration. Most 

 persons who take delight in reading tales of ghosts, which they know to be false, and feel all the while 

 to be silly in the extreme, are merely gratified, or rather occupied with the strong emotions of horror 

 excited by the momentary belief, for it can only last an instant. Such reading is a degrading waste of 

 precious time, and has even a bad effect upon the feelings and the judgment.* But true stories of 

 horrid crimes, as murders, and pitiable misfortunes, as shipwrecks, are not much more instructive. It 

 may be better to read these than to sit yawning and idle much better than to sit drinking or gaining, 

 which, when carried to the least excess, are crimes in themselves, and the fruitful parents of many more. 

 But this is nearly as much as can be said for such vain and unprofitable reading. If it be a pleasure to 

 gratify curiosity, to know what we were ignorant of, to have our feelings of wonder called forth, how pure a 

 delight of this very kind does Natural Science hold out to its students! Recollect some of the extraordi- 

 nary discoveries of Mechanical Philosophy. How wonderful are the laws that regulate the motions of 

 fluids ! Is there anything in all the idle books of tales and horrors more truly astonishing than the fact, 

 that a few pounds of water may, by mere pressure, without any machinery by merely being placed in a 

 particular way, produce an irresistible force? What can be more strange, than that an ounce weight 

 should balance hundreds of pounds, by the intervention of a few bars of thin iron ? Observe the extra- 

 ordinary truths which Optical Science discloses. Can anything surprise us more, than to find that the 

 colour of white is a mixture of all others that red, and blue, and green, and all the rest, merely by being 

 blended in certain proportions, form what we had fancied rather to be no colour at all, than all colours 

 together ? Chemistry is not behind in its wonders. That the diamond should be made of the same material 

 coal; that water should be chiefly composed of an inflammable substance; that acids should be, for 

 the most part, formed of different kinds of air, and that one of those acids, whose strength can dissolve 

 almost any of the metals, should consist of the selfsame ingredients with the common air we breathe ; 

 that salts should be of a metallic nature, and composed, in great part, of metals, such as potassium, &c., 



miilrn'i kooti hare it all time* been made upon the pernicioui plan of exciting wonder, generally horror, at whatever risk. 

 Th* folly nd mucrr Derationed by thii error, it would be difficult to estimate. The time may come when it will be felt aud 

 ndentood. At pnaent, the inreterate habit* of parenti and nuries prercnt the children from benefiting by the exceUenl lessons ol 

 vaaj of our popular wiiten. 



