452 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



A final reflection is here suggested. We have 

 amongst us a small cohort of social regenerators men 

 of high thoughts and aspirations who would place the 

 operations of the scientific mind under the control of a 

 hierarchy which should dictate to the man of science 

 the course that he ought to pursue. How this hierarchy 

 is to get its wisdom they do not explain. They decry 

 and denounce scientific theories ; they scorn all re- 

 ference to ether, and atoms, and molecules, as subjects 

 lying far apart from the world's needs ; and yet such 

 ultra-sensible conceptions are often the spur to the 

 greatest discoveries. The source, in fact, from which 

 the true natural philosopher derives inspiration and 

 unifying power is essentially ideal. Faraday lived in 

 this ideal world. Nearly half a century ago, when he 

 first obtained a spark from the magnet, an Oxford don 

 expressed regret that such a discovery should have been 

 made, as it placed a new and facile implement in the 

 hands of the incendiary. To regret, a Comtist hier- 

 archy would have probably added repression, sending 

 Faraday back to his bookbinder's bench as a more 

 dignified and practical sphere of action than peddling 

 with a magnet. And yet it is Faraday's spark which 

 now shines upon our coasts, and promises to illuminate 

 our streets, halls, quays, squares, warehouses, and, per- 

 haps at no distant day, our homes. 



THE END. 



