THE 



337 



THE 



thing; of which they disapprove ; and as there never is any 

 fallacy which is not carried to a fool's-cap extent by the 

 lower order of users, it would not be difficult to make a 

 most amusing selection of instances of the manner in 

 which the distinction has been worked by the large number 

 who are at the bottom of the class, and in whose heads it runs 

 that their own ignorance is practical, and others' knowledge 

 theoretical. We remember seeing a theorist, as he was called, 

 endeavouring to make the managers of a certain under- 

 taking comprehend that their profits could not exceed the 

 excess of the gross returns over the outlay, after they had 

 been trying to cheat the equation by inventing names for 

 what they would have liked to have, but which the 

 theorist assured them they would not get, for the preceding 

 reason. The answer was, 'That is very true theoretically, 

 but now let us look at it practically.' We shall say no 

 more of the gross abuse of the terms, except to remark 

 that were it worth while really to make a contest between 

 theory and practice, it would be difficult to say on which 

 side the balance of absurdity would incline ; or whether 

 the man who is too confident in his theory, or too con- 

 fident in his experience, has done most mischief for the 

 time being. 



Coming now to the higher class of practical men, and 

 speaking as of the balance between two methods, the 

 value of both of which is admitted, we observe that there 

 are obvious faults to which both parties are subject, both 

 in conduct, and in argument respecting their pursuits. 

 Great care is necessary to secure the theorist from pushing 

 an imperfect theory too far, and neglecting causes of dis- 

 turbance ; but at least as much is necessary to prevent 

 the practical man from generalising into theory from im- 

 perfect 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 the 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. 



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 prac- 

 tice upon the general mass of understandings : minds the 

 superior calibre of which, and their power of adapting 

 themselves to circumstances, and making the most of 

 what they have, render them exceptions to all rules, and 

 no proper examples of the most advantageous 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 Newtons or the Galileos 

 of a higher sphere of intellectual existence, or the Ark- 

 wi ights 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 no- 

 thing of it, and I may do without it too.' The answer is, 

 '/'- Ijui-il. The opinion of Bacon was, that ' the root of all 

 the mitcXiefia the sciences is, that, falsely magnifying and 

 admiring the powers of the mind, we seek not its real 

 helps,' a maxim full of meaning, and a lesson to him 

 who rates theory too highly, and also to the 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 ara success- 

 ful in application as 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 black- 

 smith ? 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 success- 

 fully applied them, he is lice of both corporations; but 

 those who attend to application only, never fail to appro- 

 priate his merits. WATT is a striking instance ; he was a 

 P. C., No. 1530. 



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 illus- 

 trate theory applied to practice, as distinguished from 

 practice alone, however acute. It is impossible to con- 

 template the career of Telford without a feeling of high 

 interest, created by the comparison of his apparently in- 

 adequate education with his startling successes. Look- 

 ing at the individual himself, there is everything for 

 his age to admire ; and as long as his structures last, 

 each of them is the monumentum, but not cere peren- 

 nius. The time will come when his name shall be like 

 that of the builder of the old London bridge, who was no 

 doubt the Telford of the day, a stimulus to his contempo- 

 raries, 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 prac- 

 tical point of view, have the mind of the discoverer im- 

 pressed 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, and to the 

 conversion of principles into forms useful in art. Take 

 away the honourable qualities which enabled the two men 

 to outstrip their contemporaries, each in his line, qualities 

 which are the properties of the individual minds, and con- 

 sider what is left, namely, their modes of proceeding : con- 

 sider the effect of these two modes upon men in genera], 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 civilization and all the theoretical successes of 

 philosophy. 



This country has been long and happily distinguished 

 for the great attention which has been paid to application ; 

 but it is a mistake to suppose, as some do, that our su- 

 premacy in practical matters has been coordinate with, 

 still less owing to, neglect of theory. It would be easy to 

 show thai though the comparative neglect of theory alone, 

 as a pursuit, added to its diligent cultivation on the Con- 

 tinent, has given to foreign countries a decided prepon- 

 derance of theoretical inquirers and writers, yet that there 

 lias been no country in Europe in which a competent know- 

 ledge of the mathematics and their applications has been 

 spread over so large a mass, or raised to so high an average. 

 At any time since the beginning of the seventeenth cen- 

 :ury 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 know- 

 edge : the diffusion of education in Germany may have 

 altered our position, but of this we are not sure. For 

 jurselves 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 alluded. If those 

 -vho have become known for splendid achievements in the 

 brmer are few, the same may also be said of the latter ; 

 jut a country owes its excellence in either department, 

 lot to one or two of the highest, but to the mass of those 

 who have competent knowledge, producing good habits of 

 hought and action. It is a new thing to near one branch 

 set against the other, and would make our writers of a 

 century back think that posterity had lost its senses. The 

 only addition wanted has been some means of systematic- 

 ally nurturing the growth of theory, so that, well as we 

 mve done with what we have, 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 

 n this particular ; they will at least have the effect of 

 making it clear that, whatever the force of genius may do 

 or an isolated exception, the mass of mankind must place 

 .heir best hope of progress in the 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 true 

 conception of the value of their labours who employ their 

 time in its advancement. Watch the arguments of a per- 

 son who calls himself, distinctively, a practical man, and 

 t will be always found that a well-established theory, fifty 

 fears 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 

 ;o be sufficient, is practical, as opposed to one of which 



VOL. XXIV. 2 X 



