LITERATURE AND SCIENCE 



of the universe circulate and pull together, he found 

 no similitude so true as that of the tree. "Beauti- 

 ful, altogether beautiful and great," said he. "The 

 Machine of the universe alas ! to think of that in 

 contrast!" 



Carlyle was a poet and a prophet and saw the 

 world through his moral and spiritual nature, and 

 not through his logical faculties. He revolted at the 

 conception of the mystery we name life being the 

 outcome of physical and chemical forces alone. 



Literature, art, and religion are not only not fos- 

 tered by the scientific spirit, but this spirit, it seems 

 to me, is almost fatal to them, at least so far as it 

 banishes mystery and illusion, and checks or inhibits 

 our anthropomorphic tendencies. Literature and 

 art have their genesis in love, joy, admiration, spec- 

 ulation, and not in the exact knowledge which is the 

 foundation of science. Our creative faculties may 

 profit by exact knowledge of material things, but 

 they can hardly be inspired by it. Inspiration is 

 from within, but scientific knowledge is from 

 without. 



There is no literature or art without love and con- 

 templation. We can make literature out of science 

 only when we descend upon it with love, or with 

 some degree of emotional enjoyment. Natural his- 

 tory, geology, biology, astronomy, yield literary ma- 

 terial only to the man of emotion and imagination. 

 Into the material gathered from outward nature 

 183 



