226 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 
tunately, in most cases, the very last man to see the occult 
sources from which useful results are derived. He admires 
the flower, but is ignorant of the conditions of its growth. 
The scientific man must approach Nature in his own way; 
for if you invade his freedom by your so-called practical 
considerations, it may be at the expense of those qualities 
on which his success as a discoverer depends. Let the self- 
styled practical man look to those from the fecundity of 
whose thoughts he, and thousands like him, have sprung 
into existence. Were they inspired in their first inquiries 
by the calculations of utility? Not one of them. They 
were often forced to live low and lie hard, and to seek 
compensation for their penury in the delight which their 
favorite pursuits afforded them. In the words of one well 
qualified to speak upon this subject, " I say not merely 
look at the pittance of men like John Dalton, or the volun- 
tary starvation of the late Graff; but compare what is con- 
sidered as competency or affluence by your Faradays, Lie- 
bigs, and Herschels, with the expected results of a life of 
successful commercial enterprise: then compare the amount 
of mind put forth, the work done for society in either case, 
and you will be constrained to allow that the former belong 
to a class of workers who, properly speaking, are not paid, 
and cannot be paid for their work, as indeed it is of a sort 
to which no payment could stimulate." 
But while the scientific investigator, standing upon the 
frontiers of human knowledge, and aiming at the conquest 
of fresh soil from the surrounding region of the unknown, 
makes the discovery of truth his exclusive object for the 
time, he cannot but feel the deepest interest in the practi- 
cal application of the truth discovered. There is some- 
thing ennobling in the triumph of Mind over Matter. 
Apart even from its uses to society, there is something ele- 
vating in the idea of Man having tamed that wild force 
which flashes through the telegraphic wire, and made it the 
minister of his will. Our attainments in these directions 
appear to be commensurate with our needs. We had already 
subdued horse and mule, and obtained from them all the 
service which it was in their power to render: we must 
either stand still, or find more potent agents to execute our 
purposes. At this point the steam-engine appears. These 
are still new things; it is not long since we struck into the 
scientific methods which have produced these results. We 
