FAME IS THE NATURAL REWARD OF GENIUS. 289 



no motive for pursuing that from which we expect to 

 evolve no good effect, nor to receive recompense or plea- 

 sure. The little reward and encouragement accorded to 

 the higher kinds of scientific research in this country, 

 and the consequent great self-denial required in order to 

 pursue it, often compel even the most devoted of scientific 

 men to abandon such labour. The chief reward of original 

 scientific research is the pleasure of contemplating the 

 intrinsic worth, and consequent benefit to mankind, of the 

 new knowledge obtained ; and such a reward could only 

 be valued by a lover of truth and benevolence. Fame is 

 a less reward of research ; it affords no means of sub- 

 sistence, and comparatively little of it is accorded to a 

 discoverer during his lifetime, because the value of his 

 labours is then understood only by a few persons ; even 

 popularity can be obtained by much easier means, viz., by 

 delivering popular lectures on science, and writing popular 

 scientific books. 



Fame is the birthright of genius. The fame of a 

 scientific discoverer is largely 'dependent upon a combina- 

 tion of suitable circumstances ; that of Franklin was 

 mainly due to his being a public man, as well as to 

 the striking character of his experiments, as the drawing 

 electricity from the clouds, &c. The publicity enjoyed 

 by a popular lecturer enables him to obtain a larger 

 degree of repute from his discoveries than a private in- 

 vestigator. Some of the most important discoveries often 

 do not attract much notice at the time (for instance, 

 Dufay's discovery that there are two kinds of electricity ; 

 Young's discovery of the cause of polarization of light) ; 

 whilst the finding of a popular trifle makes a man famous 

 at once. 



The most fundamental personal motive and condition 

 of success in original scientific research is an intense and 



