298 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



of these would be a point of force to protect him 

 against temptation. Besides this, our factories and our 

 foundries present an extensive field of observation, and 

 were those who work in them rendered capable, by 

 previous culture, of observing what they see, the results 

 might be incalculable. Who can say what intellectual 

 Samsons are at the present moment toiling with closed 

 eyes in the mills and forges of Manchester and Bir- 

 mingham? Grant these Samsons sight, and you multi- 

 ply the chances of discovery, and with them the pros- 

 pects of national advancement. In our multitudinous 

 technical operations we are constantly playing with 

 forces our ignorance of which is often the cause of 

 our destruction. There are agencies at work in a 

 loeomotive of which the maker of it probably never 

 dreamed, but which nevertheless may be sufficient 

 to convert it into an engine of death. When we reflect 

 on the intellectual condition of the people who work 

 in our coal mines, those terrific explosions which occur 

 from time to time need not astonish us. If these men 

 possessed sufficient physical knowledge, from the op- 

 eratives themselves would probably emanate a system 

 by which these shocking accidents might be avoided. 

 Possessed of the knowledge, their personal interests 

 would furnish the necessary stimulus to its practical 

 application, and thus two ends would be served at the 

 same time the elevation of the men and the diminu- 

 tion of the calamity. 



Before the present Course of Lectures was publicly 

 announced, I had many misgivings as to the propriety 

 of my taking a part in them, thinking that my place 

 might be better filled by an older and more experienced 

 man. To my experience, however, such as it was, I 

 resolved to adhere, and I have therefore described 

 things as they revealed themselves to my own eyes, and 



