IX THE LAST HALF-CEXTURY. 27 



on the subject ; no doubt truly. But to 

 equal his success one must have the mind 

 which he 'intended.' Forty lesser men 

 iniffht have intended their minds till they 

 cracked, without any like result. It 

 would be idle either to affirm or to deny 

 that the last half-century has produced 

 men of science of the calibre of Xewton. 

 It is sufficient that it can show a few ca- 

 pacities of the first rank, competent not 

 only to deal profitably with the inheritance 

 bequeathed by their scientific forefathers, 

 but to pass on to their successors physical 

 truths of a higher order than any yet 

 reached by the human race. And if they 

 have succeeded as Newton succeeded, it 

 is because they have sought truth as he 

 sought it, with no other object than the 

 finding it. 



I am conscious that in undertaking to Progress 



„ .. from 



give even the briefest sketch ot the prog- i837 to 

 ress of physical science, in all its branches, 



188 



