26 APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS 



its waves wash the shores of the two worlds of 

 matter and of mind ; its tributary streams flow from 

 both ; through its waters, as yet unfurrowed by the 

 keel of any Columbus, lies the road, if such there be, 

 from the one to the other ; far away from that 

 North-west Passage of mere speculation, in which 

 so many brave souls have been hopelessly frozen 

 up. 



You know that among the Bees, it depends on the 

 kind of cell in which the egg is deposited, and the 

 quantity and quality of food which is supplied to the 

 grub, whether it shall turn out a busy little worker 

 or a big idle queen. And, in the human hive, the 

 cells of the endowed larvae are always tending to 

 enlarge, and their food to improve, until we get 

 queens, beautiful to behold, but which gather no 

 honey and build no comb. 



Examination, like fire, is a good servant, but a bad 

 master ; and there seems to me to be some danger of its 

 becoming our master. I by no means stand alone in 

 this opinion. Experienced friends of mine do not 

 hesitate to say that students whose career they 

 watch appear to them to become deteriorated by the 

 constant effort to pass this or that examination, just 

 as we hear of men's brains becoming affected by the 

 daily necessity of catching a train. They work to 

 pass, not to know ; and outraged Science takes 

 her revenge. They do pass, and they don't know. 



A man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to 

 do as he likes. 



