808 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



perience of the true votary of science. And if a man 

 be not capable of this self-renunciation — this loyal sur- 

 render of himself to Nature and to fact — he lacks, in my 

 opinion, the first mark of a true philosopher. Thus the 

 earnest prosecutor of science, who does not work with 

 the idea of producing a sensation in the world, who loves 

 the truth better than the transitory blaze of to-day's fame, 

 who comes to his task with a single eye, finds in that 

 task an indirect means of the highest moral culture. And 

 although the virtue of the act depends upon its privacy, 

 this sacrifice of self, this upright determination to accept 

 the truth, no matter how it may present itself — even at 

 the hands of a scientific foe, if necessary — carries with it 

 its own reward. When prejudice is put under foot and 

 the stains of personal bias have been washed away — when 

 a man consents to lay aside his vanity and to become Nat- 

 ure's organ — ^his elevation is the instant consequence of 

 his humility. I should not wonder if my remarks pro- 

 voked a smile, for they seem to indicate that I regard the 

 man of science as a heroic, if not indeed an angelic, char- 

 acter; and cases may occur to you which indicate the re- 

 verse. You may point to the quarrels of scientific men, 

 to their struggles for priority, to that unpleasant egotism 

 which screams around its little property of discovery like 

 a scared plover about its young. I will not deny all this; 

 but let it be set down to its proper account, to the weak- 

 ness — or, if you will — ^to the selfishness of Man, but not 

 to the charge of Physical Science. 



The second process in physical investigation is deduc- 

 tion^ or the advance of the mind from fixed principles to 

 the conclusions which flow from them. The rules of logic 

 are the formal statement of this process, which, however, 



