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RY, THEOKY AND PRACTICE. 



TIIK"l:Y, TlllMKV AND 1'KACTICK. 



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to lure, bat which the theorist assured them they would not get, fur 

 the preceding reason. The answer WM, " That is very true rtor(e<Wy, 

 but now ! t us look at it praelieaUjf." We (hall nay no more of the 

 ' gram abuse of the tcrmi, except to remark that were it worth w -lulu 

 really to make a contest between theory and practice, it would be 

 difficult to my on which aide the balance of absurdity would incliue ; 

 or whether the man who is too confident in hi* theory, or too confident 

 in hi* experience, baa done moat miachief for the time being. 



Coming now to the higher cUaa of practical men, and "peaking aa of 

 the balance between two methods the value of both of which is 

 admitted, we observe there are obvious faults to which both parties are 

 subject, both in conduct, and in argument respecting their pursuits. 

 Qreat care is necessary to secure the theorist from pushing an im- 

 perfect theory too far, and neglecting causes of disturbance ; but at 

 least as much is necessary to prevent the practical man from general- 

 ising into theory from imperfect experience, or from restraining inquiry 

 by a notion formed from practice. This is his besetting sin, to such 

 an extent that we should almost be inclined to say that the fault of a 

 practical man is a tendency to form false theory, as that of thn theorist 

 is to make false applications. We have often been surprised at the 

 boldness with which the former assert generalities, upon evidence 

 which would only make a pure theorist look for further information. 

 Analogies are of all things the most deceptive. Much and frequent 

 attention to men's arguments has loft us with a feeling which, whenever 

 we hear a person begin with " I am a practical man," makes us say to 

 ourselves, " Now for a smack of false theory." 



In argument there is one mode which is common to both parties, 

 and which is exceedingly detrimental. It is the selection of instances 

 from the very highest minds of the two orders, to illustrate the effects 

 of theory or practice upon the general mass of understandings : minds 

 the superior calibre of which, and their power of adapting themselves 

 imstances, and tpitlring the most of what they have, render them 

 exceptions to all rules, and no proper examples of the most advantage- 

 ous course of training. Every one likes, no doubt, to draw consequences 

 about and concerning his own self from a contemplation of the minds 

 and methods of the Newton* or the Galileos of a higher sphere of 

 int< ll.'ctuol existence, or the Arkwrights or Telfords of a better state 

 of power of adaptation. " What is your theory good for ?" says the 

 tongue attached to some head which holds about the same weight of 

 conceit that Telford's. did of sagacity; " Telford knew nothing of it, 

 and I may do without it too." The answer is Telford. The opinion 

 of Bacon was, that " the root of all the mischief in the sciences is, that, 

 falsely magnifying and admiring the powers of the mind, we seek not 

 its real helps," a mrim full of meaning, and a lesson to him who rates 

 theory too highly, and also to one who thinks that the only use of 

 his mind is to arrange the results of experience, his own or others. 

 What are the majority of men, that they should look down upon any 

 course of training, theoretical or practical .' 



Another fault of argument, but almost peculiar to the practical 

 world, who have the force of numbers on their own side, is the habit 

 of claiming all who are successful in application aa instances of their 

 own method and knights of their own order. Suppose that one indivi- 

 dual should discover a mine, work it with his own hand, purify the 

 ore, and beat the metal into a horse-shoe ; which is he, a geologist, 

 miner, furnace-man, or blacksmith ? He has done the work of all, but 

 the community of blacksmiths would hardly be allowed to claim him as 

 peculiarly belonging to themselves. When a person who has mastered 

 the difficulties of theory has also successfully applied them, he is free 

 of Imtli corporation* ; but those who attend only to application, never 

 fail to appropriate his merit*. WATT is a striking instance ; he was a 

 highly accomplished theorist on every point on which he worked : and 

 yet his name has been frequently cited as a proof that theory could be 

 dispensed with. And his career, when compared with that of Telford, 

 will illustrate theory applied to practice, as distinguished from practice 

 alone, however acute. It is impossible to contemplate the career of 

 Telford without a feeling of high interest, created by the comparison 

 of his apparently inadequate education with his startling successes. 

 Looking at the individual himself, there is everything for his age to 

 admire; and so long as his structures last, each of them is the moitu- 

 mmtam, but not art pertnititu. The time will come when his name 

 shall be like that of the builder of the old London bridge, who was no 

 doubt the Telfi >rd of the day, a stimulus to his contemporaries, useful 

 and honoured, but not the remembered of succeeding ages. On the 

 other hand, the discoveries of Watt, though equally startling in what 

 is called the practical point of view, have the mind of the discoverer 

 impressed upon them, and have been, and must be, the guide of his 

 successors, not merely to repetitions of what he did himself, but to 

 enlargement of ideas, ami to the conversion of principlex int. 

 useful in art. Take away the honourable qualities which enabled the 

 two men to outstrip their contemporaries, each in his line, qualities 

 , .ire the properties of the individual minds, and consider what is 

 left, namely, their modes of proceeding : consider the effect of these 

 two modes upon men in general, and there is nothing in that of Telford 

 which would raise the workman above a workman, while in that of 

 Watt there is the vital principle to which we owe all the mechanical 

 triumphs of civilisation and all the theoretical successes of physical 

 philosophy. 



Thin country has been long and happily distinguished for the great 



attention which has been paid to application ; l.ut it is a mistake to 

 suppose, as some do, that our supremacy in practical matters has been 

 co-ordinate with, "till less owing to, neglect of theory. It would I.e 

 easy to show that though the comparative neglect of theory alone, 

 (u ajturtuil, added to its diligent cultivation on the Continent, under 

 the encouragement of government, had given to foreign countries a 

 decided preponderance, now very much on the wane, of theoretical 

 inquirers and writers, yet that there has been no country in Km 

 which s competent knowledge of the mathematics and their applica- 

 tions has been spread over so large a mass, or raised to so high on 

 average. At any time since the beginning of the 17th century the 

 total amount of theory in Britain has been larger than in any other 

 European country, on account of the numbers who have possessed 

 a useful amount of knowledge : the diffusion of education in Germany 

 may have altered our position, but of this we are not sure. F> 

 selves we are perfectly satisfied, however little those most concerned 

 may know it, that this greater diffusion of theory has been the original 

 moving cause of the practical excellence to which we have al 

 If those who have become known for splendid achievement* in the 

 former are few, the same may also be said of the latter ; but a country 

 owes its excellence in either department, not to one or two of the 

 highest, but to the mass of those who have competent knowledge, 

 producing good habits of thought and action. It is a new thing to 

 hear one branch set against the other, and would make our writers of 

 a century bock think that posterity had lost its senses. The only 

 addition wanted has been some means of systematically nurturing the 

 growth of theory, so that, well as we have done with what we hare, 

 we may do better with more. The efforts which are making on every 

 side to extend education will, it may be hoped, do what is wanted in 

 this particular ; they will at least have the effect of making it clear 

 that, whatever the force of genius may do for an isolated exc< 

 the mass of mankind must place their best hope of progress in tin- 

 union of theory and practice. 



There is also a mode of viewing what we may call the action of 

 theory, which is absolutely necessary to a tme conception of the value 

 of their labours who employ their time in its advancement. Watch the 

 arguments of a person who colls himself, distinctively, a practical 

 man, and it will be always found that a well-established theory, fifty 

 years old, is practical knowledge, so called. To this there cannot be 

 the slightest objection in the non-distinctive sense : a well-established 

 theory, which has been shown to be sufficient, is highly practical, as 

 opposed to one of which the investigation is more recent, and the complete- 

 ness not so well ascertained. But when the question is theory, as theory, 

 against practice, as practice, the advocates of the latter frequently 

 find it convenient to assume, for their own share of the matters in 

 contest, all the best theories plius the most recent practical knowledge, 

 leaving to the other side the onus of supporting theory upon the most 

 imperfect port of the moss of doctrines which it contains, being that 

 port which is not yet off the anvil. Suppose a merchant going into the 

 boil court to prove his being worth a certain sum : he is asked whether 

 his business, all debts and risks allowed for, would produce that sum : 

 he replies, that his ventures must be beyond record unsuccessful, if it 

 would not bo so, over and over again. " So then," he is further 

 questioned, " you cannot positively swear that your business will make 

 you worth the sum in question." "I cannot," he replies, "positively 

 swear any such thing ; but I have enough not employed in business, 

 in land and mortgages, and in the funds, to pay twenty shillings in t Im- 

 pound five times over upon every risk which I am liable to." What 

 would be thought of counsel who should retort, " That is nothing to us ; 

 you are described as a merchant, and your solvency must be tried l>y 

 the state of that port of your property which \ now undergoing tho 

 fluctuations of trade ? " Such is and always must bo the statt 

 the amount which is actually realised is enormously greater than the 

 flatting balance which is being worked out. Those who ore engaged in 

 producing fixed capital from the latter, have a right to the credit which 

 arises from the interest of the former: their labours for the time 

 being are not to produce their return at the instant. 



\\ V have, in compliance with common notions, not adverted to the 

 consequences of theory upon the mind and thoughts of men, but have 

 treated it as if its solo object were to advance the mechanical arts and 

 better the physical condition of society. But this is under protest 

 that even if it could not bo proved that rational investigation of 

 nature had added one single atom to the physical comfort of life, there 

 would remain such an enormous .mass of social an. \\ -hi< -h 



can be traced to that source as would on; > the triumphs of 



steam. This is often forgotten by the highest men of the h Client and 

 most valuable practice, meaning the best application of the truest 

 theory. They confound practice with application t matter as opposed 

 to mind. On this ]x>iut we quote something we have printed else- 

 where. " There is a strong impression in the world of physical inquiry 

 that a mathematician is almost Kmnd. what.-vrr his pursuit may be, 

 to make his science the means of investigating or registering some 

 facts connected with the material world. A teaclier of mathematics 

 for example, whose business it is to study the mind and its discipline, 

 that he may make his teaching permanently useful to those who will 

 not, in nineteen cases out of twenty, over have any need to apply it 

 professionally, would be thought i|uite in the right way if he should 

 take to investigating the force of steam, or the M length of beams, or 



