168 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



careful observation of detail, is tlie preparatory 

 step to a higher insight into the universe and 

 its laws.* 



The physicists who, like Thomas Young, 

 Arago, and Fresnel, investigate the irregular 

 long streams of light, which, according to 

 distance, either annihilate or else intensify 

 themselves ; the astronomer who, by the aid of 

 the telescope, investigates the moons of Uranus 

 on the extreme limits of our planetary system ; 

 or men who, like Herschel, South, and Struve, 

 in analyzing glimmering points of light, dis- 

 cover them to be coloured double stars ; the 

 botanist who discovers the circulating motion 

 of the tiny sap-balls, perceptible in the chara- 

 plant, in almost every vegetable cell, to all 

 such investigators, both the immeasurable 

 space of the heavens, and the aspect of our 

 earth in its varied phenomena, is certainly a 

 more sublime sight than to him who has not 

 yet obtained this higher insight into the abso- 

 lute and necessary connection of all natural 

 phenomena. 



* " There is a lesson in each flower, 

 A story in each stream and bower ; 

 On every herb o'er which we tread, 

 Are written words, which, rightly read, 

 Will lead us from earth's fragrant sod 

 To hope, and holiness, and God." 



