OPPOSITION OF THE SCIENTIFIC CLASS. 175 



After discussing the whole arguments on both 

 sides in so ample a manner, it may be hardly 

 necessary to advert to the objection arising from 

 the mere fact, that nearly all the scientific men 

 are opposed to the theory of the Vestiges. As this _ 

 objection, however, is one likely to be of some 

 avail with many minds, it ought not to be entirely 

 passed over. If I did not think there were reasons 7 i^ 

 independent of judgment for the scientific class y ij 

 coming so generally to tliis conclusion, I might 

 feel the more embarrassed in presenting myself 

 in direct opposition to so many men possessing L^ 

 talents and information. As the case really stands, ^^j 

 the ability of this class to give at the j^resent time, -^^ 

 a true response upon such a subject, appears 

 extremely challengeable. It is no discredit to 

 them, that they are, almost veithout exception, en- 

 gaged, each in his own little department of 

 science, and able to give little or no attention to 

 other parts of that vast field. From year to year, , 

 and from age to age, we see them at work, adding 

 no doubt much to the known, and advancing 

 many important interests, but, at the same time, / 

 doing little for the establishment of comprehen- \ 

 sive views of nature. Experiments in however 

 narrow a walk, facts of whatever minuteness, make 

 reputations in scientific societies; all beyond is 



