PROGRESS OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE. 17 



mate truths, and are so transmitted from one age to 

 another. 



One other indication, and that a striking one, of 

 the recent progress of natural science, is still to be 

 mentioned. I allude to the much closer connection 

 established, not merely among the labourers in this 

 great field, but also among the objects of their labour. 

 Sciences which, as we formerly comprehended and pur- 

 sued them, seemed to have no common kindred, are 

 now seen to be linked together by relations depending 

 on those higher laws of matter and force which govern 

 the natural world. These new relations (or correla- 

 tions^ to use an adopted term) are not only of deep 

 interest in themselves, but they open a way towards 

 that profound philosophy which seeks to give a certain 

 unity to the whole. To what extent the bold aspira- 

 tion of Laplace in this direction may hereafter be 

 realised, it would be hard to say. He has himself 

 used the pregnant phrase, 'Notre ignorance est im- 

 mense/ But that^e shall approach much .nearer to 

 this attainment than we have yet done, is testified by 

 the whole history of modern science a history which 

 continued half a century hence will, I feel assured, 

 embody results far beyond all present contemplation. 

 Electricity and Atomic Chemistry alone are volumes 

 leaving ample space for the records of future discovery. 



I may notice, before closing this paper, those bold 

 generalisations in science which occur from time to 

 time, marking the genius of the men propounding 

 them, and often serving a higher purpose as regards 

 science itself. Take, for instance, the expression of 



c 



