282 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



may be regarded as the means by which this education 

 is accomplished. I think this expresses the state of 

 the case more clearly than if we were to call the songs 

 a branch of education. Regarding also the education 

 of the human mind as the improvement and develop- 

 ment of the mental faculties, I shall consider the study 

 of Physics as a means toward the attainment of this 

 end. From this point of view, I degrade Physics into 

 an implement of culture, and this is my deliberate 

 design. 



The term Physics, as made use of in the present 

 Lecture, refers to that portion of natural science which 

 lies midway between astronomy and chemistry. The 

 former, indeed, is Physics applied to ' masses of enor- 

 mous weight,' while the latter is Physics applied to 

 atoms and molecules. The subjects of Physics proper 

 are therefore those which lie nearest to human per- 

 ception: light and heat, colour, sound, motion, the 

 loadstone, electrical attractions and repulsions, thun- 

 der and lightning, rain, snow, dew, and so forth. Our 

 senses stand between these phenomena and the reason- 

 ing mind. "We observe the fact, but are not satisfied 

 with the mere act of observation: the fact must be ac- 

 counted for fitted into its position in the line of cause 

 and effect. Taking our facts from Nature we transfer 

 them to the domain of thought: look at them, compare 

 them, observe their mutual relations and connexions, 

 and bringing them ever clearer before the mental eye, 

 finally alight upon the cause which unites them. This 

 is the last act of the mind, in this centripetal direction 

 in its progress from the multiplicity of facts to the 

 central cause on which they depend. But, having 

 guessed the cause, we are not yet contented. We set 

 out from the centre and travel in the other direction. 

 If the guess be true, certain consequences must follow 



