xii.] PRACTICAL VALUE OF SCIENCE. 305 



healthful mind will, the more it contemplates the works 

 of God, re-echo St. Paul's great declaration that the 

 Invisible things of God are clearly seen from the foun- 

 dation of the world, being understood by the things 

 which are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. 

 And so trusting, I pass on to a lower view of the 

 subject, and yet not an unnecessary one. 



In an industrial country like this, the practical 

 utility of any study must needs be always thrown into 

 the scale ; and natural history seems at first sight 

 somewhat unpractical. What money will it earn for 

 a man in after life? is a question which will be 

 asked; and which it is folly to despise. For if the 

 only answer be : " None at all/' a man has a right to 

 rejoin : " Then let me take up some pursuit which will 

 train and refresh my mind as much as this one, and 

 yet be of pecuniary benefit to me some day." If you 

 can find such a study, by all means follow it : but I 

 say that this study too may be of great practical 

 benefit in after life. How much money have I, young 

 as I am, seen wasted for want of a little knowledge of 

 botany, geology, or chemistry. How many a clever 

 man becomes the dupe of empirics for want of a little 

 science. How many a mine is sought for where no 

 mine could be; or crop attempted to be grown, where 

 no such crop could grow. How many a hidden trea- 

 sure, on the other hand, do men walk over unheeding. 

 How many a new material, how many an improved 

 process in manufacture is possible, yet is passed over, 

 for want of a little science. And for the man who 

 emigrates, and comes in contact with rude nature 

 teeming with unsuspected wealth, of what incalculable 

 advantage to have if it be but the rudiments of those 



