294 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



of size which appeal to the poetic sense. It is a mis- 

 take to suppose, with Dr. Young, that 



An undevout astronomer is mad ; 



there being no necessary connexion between a devout 

 state of mind and the observations and calculations of 

 a practical astronomer. It is not until the man 

 withdraws from his calculation, as a painter from his 

 work, and thus realizes the great idea on which he has 

 been engaged, that imagination and wonder are excited. 

 There is, I admit, a possible danger here. If the arith- 

 metical processes of science be too exclusively pursued, 

 they may impair the imagination, and thus the study 

 of Physics is open to the same objection as philological, 

 theological, or political studies, when carried to excess. 

 Bat even in this case, the injury done is to the in- 

 vestigator himself: it does not reach the mass of 

 mankind. Indeed, the conceptions furnished by his 

 cold unimaginative reckonings may furnish themes for 

 the poet, and excite in the highest degree that senti- 

 ment of wonder which, notwithstanding all its foolish 

 vagaries, table-turning included, I, for my part, should 

 be sorry to see banished from the world. 



I have thus far dwelt upon the study of Physics as 

 an agent of intellectual culture ; but like other things 

 in Nature, this study subserves more than a single end. 

 The colon rs of the clouds delight the eye, and, no 

 doubt, accomplish moral purposes also, but the self- 

 same clouds hold within their fleeces the moisture by 

 which our fields are rendered fruitful. The sunbeams 

 excite our interest and invite our investigation; but 

 they also extend their beneficent influences to our fruits 

 and corn, and thus accomplish, not only intellectual 

 ends, but minister, at the same time, to our material 

 necessities. And so it is with scientific research. 



