34 UTILITY OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF NATURE 



precautions are necessary, requiring chemical knowledge justly 

 to appreciate and provide for, and chemical skill effectually 

 to take. A demand for this glass will certainly be created, 

 eventually, giving new scope for the employment of capi- 

 tal, and new means for the acquisition of wealth ; but to the 

 profitable investment of this capital, and the secure acquisi- 

 tion of this wealth, some degree of scientific knowledge will 

 be indispensable. 



Many more instances might be pointed out, in which the 

 refinements of modern civilization are producing or tending ra- 

 pidly to produce, New Manufactures ; new applications of the 

 powers and materials of nature, suggested and first executed 

 by science, to the physical and intellectual wants of mankind. 

 The inventors or discoverers of these new articles, it is certain, 

 will in few cases become the manufacturers of them : their du- 

 ties in society are of a different kind ; when the means of pro- 

 ducing the desired articles have been attained, and the new facts 

 of science connected with the production of them developed, 

 and systematically united with the Knowledge of Nature previ- 

 ously existing, the subject will cease to be specifically interest- 

 ing to them, and will be regarded merely as a part of the sci- 

 ence which may have been concerned in it. Hence, in almost 

 all such cases, a new department of industry will be opened for 

 those destined to engage in business; to success in which, how- 

 ever, as just intimated, with respect to the manufacture of op- 

 tical glass, some portion of the philosophical knowledge of 

 Nature will be essential. 



I must now proceed to offer some arguments and illustra- 

 tions towards evincing the utility of a knowledge of Nature 

 in the conduct of the ordinary affairs of life, whether affecting 

 the welfare of individuals or that of society in general ; and 

 in which the tradesman, the merchant, the soldier, the agri- 

 culturist, and the nobleman, may possess either a common, or 

 a particular interest. 



The argument derived from the obvious supremacy over the 

 other subjects of creative benevolence and wisdom, which the 

 rational faculties of Man confer upon him, is nearly as avail- 

 able in the present case, as we have found it to be, in support- 

 ing the position of the intrinsic value of the Physical Sciences, 

 in strengthening and expanding the intellect. The world of 

 nature is manifestly designed to be subservient to human life, 

 in all its degrees and relations ; this is as much the case, or 

 even in a greater degree so, with respect to the requirements 

 of mere healthy existence and the innumerable minor con- 

 cerns of every-day life, than it is with respect to the articles 

 which man extracts from nature, and adapts by labour to his 



