LOVE OF FAME STIMULATES RESEARCH. 291 



able from physical and mental activity. A desire for 

 fame is also a powerful inducement in many cases. Pecu- 

 niary motives can act but feebly in original scientific 

 research, because but little money can be obtained directly 

 or indirectly by such means. A man who works at 

 science for money only, will gain but poor repute in it. 

 In consequence of these circumstances, those who follow 

 research through the whole of their lives are those only 

 who pursue it from the worthiest of motives. 



The love of power is also a stimulus to research. ' That 

 the study of the order of nature does add to man's power, 

 the history of the sciences has abundantly shown. But 

 though this hope of derivative advantages may stimulate 

 our exertions, it cannot govern our methods of seeking 

 knowledge without leading us away from the most general 

 and genuine form of knowledge. The nature of knowledge 

 must be studied in itself and for its own sake, before we 

 attempt to learn what external rewards it will bring us.' 1 



Properly viewed, i.e., in its widest aspect, original re- 

 search is to a certain extent a duty and a necessity attached 

 to the profession of science, because it is a most important 

 part, and the highest in kind, of scientific labour, and the 

 most praiseworthy means of attaining scientific repute ; 

 and it may be fairly compared with the time gratuitously 

 given by medical men in attendance at hospitals. Scien- 

 tific men of the present time also have been benefited by 

 the researches of men of the past, and it is only fair that 

 they should yield a similar return to men of the future. 



The circumstances most likely to damp the ardour, and 

 destroy the motives for research in an investigator, are to 

 find that after having made and published a long and 

 laborious investigation, the conclusions were all a mis- 



1 Whewell, Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, vol. i. p. xiv. 

 u 2 



