184 SATURDAY LECTURES. 



boasted of the numerous secrets wrested from nature's hidden 

 store-house of facts Iw the patient and persistent inquirers 

 in this department of scientific investigation. But true 

 science never exalts itself — is never puffed up. It is as dili- 

 gent in seeking out error as it is in finding a new fact. It 

 holds no opinion to be final. The mind of the true scientist 

 is always in a plastic condition, ready to take that form and 

 shape which well-founded data warrant, and is ever willing 

 to change it as the facts demand. The scientific gentlemen 

 who have preceded me in this cour.se of lectures have laid 

 before you knowledge gained from many widely-differ- 

 ing fields of research, but they have never insisted on the 

 acceptance of a single opinion that was not laid in facts, or 

 was not in strict accordance with well-demonstrated laws. 

 Theories and hj^potheses are, it is true, not to be discarded 

 because in the present imperfect state of human knowledge 

 positive ideas are often impossible, but only that one should be 

 accepted which comes nearest to the truth as we know it. Dog- 

 matism and bigotry should find no place in the intellectual 

 make up of the scientific mind. And if I understand aright 

 the purpose of these Saturday scientific lectures, it is not only 

 that you shall become acquainted with the discoveries and 

 advances of modern science — most of which you could learn 

 by a study of books and the reading of the scientific periodi- 

 cals of the day — but that you might feel and understand 

 t"he attitude of Science towards man and his intellectual and 

 moral advancement. The time was when .science was con- 

 sidered the greatest enemy of mankind, when scientists were 

 imprisoned and put to death, and to seek the truth as it was 

 to be found in Nature was considered blasphemy. But the 

 new era is dawning, and it is the scientist who has opened 

 up the way. The Avatchword of the hour is Truth ! and to 

 whom is this more dear than to the man of science. His 

 whole life is spent in an untiring search after it. The ob- 

 jective point of his every action and thought is the truth. 

 He never fears what effect any new fact may have upon 

 any preconceived opinion, however dear it may be to him. 

 He only asks, is it true ? The truth in nature is the idol of 



