292 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



vanity and to become Nature's organ his elevation is 

 the instant consequence of his humility. I should not 

 wonder if my remarks provoked a smile, for they seem 

 to indicate that I regard the man of science as a heroic, 

 if not indeed an angelic, character; and cases may 

 occur to you which indicate the reverse. You may 

 point to the quarrels of scientific men, to their strug- 

 gles for priority, to that unpleasant egotism which 

 screams around its little property of discovery like a 

 scared plover about its young. I will not deny all this; 

 but let it be set down to its proper account, to the 

 weakness or, if you will to the selfishness of Man, 

 but not to the charge of Physical Science. 



The second process in physical investigation is de- 

 duction, or the advance of the mind from fixed prin- 

 ciples to the conclusions which flow from them. The 

 rules of logic are the formal statement of this process, 

 which, however, was practised by every healthy mind 

 before ever such rules were written. In the study of 

 Physics, induction and deduction are perpetually 

 wedded to each other. The man observes, strips facts 

 of their peculiarities of form, and tries to unite them 

 by their essences; having effected this, he at once de- 

 duces, and thus checks his induction. Here the grand 

 difference between the methods at present followed, 

 and those of the ancients, becomes manifest. They 

 were one-sided in these matters: they omitted the 

 process of induction, and substituted conjecture for 

 observation. They could never, therefore,, fulfil the 

 mission of Man to ' replenish the earth, and subdue it.' 

 The subjugation of Nature is only to be accomplished 

 by the penetration of her secrets and the patient mas- 

 tery of her laws. This not only enables us to protect 

 ourselves from the hostile action of natural forces, but 

 makes them our slaves. By the study of Physics we 



