32 LIFE AND HABIT. 



introspection — to be not under the law, but so utterly 

 and entirely under grace that every one who sees them 

 likes them. But such may, and perhaps more commonly 

 will, have very little inclination to extend the boundaries 

 of human knowledge ; their aim is in another direction 

 altogether. Of the pioneers, on the other hand, some 

 are agreeable people, well versed in the older sciences, 

 though still more eminent as pioneers, while others, 

 whose services in this last capacity have been of in- 

 estimable value, are noticeably ignorant of the sciences 

 which have already become current with the larger part 

 of mankind — in other words, they are ugly, rude, and 

 disagreeable people, very progressive, it may be, but 

 very aggressive to boot. 



The main difference between these two classes lies 

 in the fact that the knowledge of the one, so far as 

 it is new, is known consciously, while that of the 

 other is unconscious, consisting of sense and instinct 

 rather than of recognised knowledge. So long as a man 

 has these, and of the same kind as the more powerful 

 body of his fellow-countrymen, he is a true man of 

 science, though he can hardly read or write. As my 

 great namesake said so well, " He knows what's what, 

 and that's as high as metaphysic wit can fly." As usual, 

 these true and thorough knowers do not know that 

 they are scientific, and can seldom give a reason for the 

 faith that is in them. They believe themselves to be 

 ignorant, uncultured men, nor can even the professors 

 whom they sometimes outwit in their own professorial 

 domain perceive that they have been outwitted by men 

 of superior scientific attainments to their own. The 



