KNO\VLEDGE ♦ 



[Sept. 18, 1885. 



dust, of science, become the reflecting media of the light 

 of knowledge, and cause all nature to assume a new- 

 aspect. It is with the light of knowledge that we are 

 enabled to (mesliou iininrc tlivoiio-h direct experiment. 

 Th,- !,,Ni,ol,,M. ,,., I. .,,,.,- ,„!,;.■!, in. lures ns to put the 



•-■^1" '■"" ^1 T ■ ■"'' ' .■ 1 - ''i'-'iii or wrong; still, 



i"'"'- " ■ 7 '-' .•■ 'I ■ . .- .;,,.' ,.^l — it is half way to 

 knowledge wlicii _\<ui know uhuL you have to inquire. 

 Davy described hypothesis as the mere scaffolding of 

 science, useful to build up true knowledge, but capable 

 of being put up or taken down at pleasure. Undoubtedly 

 a' theory is only temporary, and the reason is, as Bacon has 

 said, that the man of science " loveth truth more than 

 his theory." The changing theories which the world 

 despises are the leaves of the tree of science, drawing 

 uutriiiient to the parent stems, and enabling it to put 

 fortli new l.iMiicli. s and to produce fruit; and though 

 the lra\(s fall and decay, the very products of decay 

 nouri.sh the roots of the tree, and reappear in the new 

 leaves or theories which succeed — Sir L. Plan/air. 



The coal which has hitherto been the chief source of 

 power probably represents the product of five or six 

 million years during which the sun shone upon the plants 

 of the carboniferous period, and stored up its energy in 

 this convenient form. But we are using this conserved 

 force wastefully and prodigally; for, although horse- 

 power in steam engines has so largely increased since 

 1864, two men only now produce what three men did at 

 that date. It is only 300 years since we became a 

 manufacturing country. According to Professor Dewar, 

 in less than 200 years more the coal of this country will 

 be wholly exhausted, and in half that time will be 

 difficult to procure. Our not very distant descendants 

 will have to face the problem— What will be the condi- 

 tion of England without coal ? The answer to that 

 question depends upon the intellectual development of 

 the nation at that time. The value of the intellectual 

 factor of production is continually increasing ; while the 

 values of raw material and fuel are lessenino- factors. — 

 Sir L. Play fair. 



Few would ask now, as was constantly done a few 

 years ago,^ " What is the use of an abstract discovery in 

 science ? " Faraday once answered this question by 

 another, " What is the use of a baby ? " Yet round that 

 baby centre all the hopes and sentiments of his parents, 

 and even the interests of the State, which interferes in 

 its upbringing so as to ensure it being, a capable citizen. 

 Sir L. Playfair. ^^ 



Let me take a single example of how even a petty 

 manufacture improved by the teachings of science affects 

 the comforts and enlarges the resources of mankind. 

 When I was a, boy, the only way of obtaining a light 

 was by the tinder-box, with its quadruple materials, 

 flint and steel, burnt rags or tinder, and a sulphur match. 

 If everything went well, if the box could be found and 

 the air was dry, a light could be obtained in two minutes; 

 but very often the time occupied was much longer, and 

 the process became a great trial to the serenity of 

 temper. The consequence of this was that a fire or a 

 burning lamp was kept alight through the day. Old 

 Gerard, in his herbal, tells us how certain fungi were 

 used to carry fire from one part of the country to the 

 other. The tinder-box long held its position as a 

 great discovery in the arts. The jjyxidicida igniaria 

 of the Romans aiipears to have been much the same 

 implement, though a little ruder tlian the flint 



and steel which Philip the Good put into the collar 

 of the Golden Fleece in 1429, as the represen- 

 tation of high knowledge in the progress of the arts. 

 It continued to prevail till 1833, when phosphorus 

 matches were introduced, though I have been amused to 

 find that there are a few venerable ancients in London 

 who still stick to the tinder-box, and for whom a few 

 shops keep a small supply. Phosjiborus was no new 

 discovery, for it had been obtained jjy an Arabian called 

 Bechel in the eighth century. However, it was forgotten, 

 and was rediscovered by Brandt, who made it out of 

 very stinking materials in 1GG9. Other discoveries had, 

 however, to be made before it could be used for lucifer- 

 matches. The science of combustion was only developed 

 on the discovery of oxygen a centui-y later. Time had to 

 elapse before chemical analysis showed the kind of bodies 

 which could be added to phosphorus so as to make it 

 ignite readily. So it was not till 1833 that matches 

 became a partial success. Intolerably bad they then 

 were, dangerously inflammable, horribly poisonous to the 

 makers, and injurious to the lungs of the consumers. It 

 required another discovery by Schrotter in 1845 to 

 change poisonous waxy into innocuous red-brick phos- 

 phorus in order that these defects might be remedied, and 

 to give us the safety-match of the present day. — Sir L. 

 Playfair. 



The true cultivators of the tree of science must seek 

 their own reward bj' seeing it flourish, and let others 

 devote their attention to the possible practical advan- 

 tages which may result from their labours. There is, 

 however, one intimate connection between science and 

 industry which I hope will be more intimate as scientific 

 education becomes more prevalent in our schools and 

 universities. Abstract science depends on the support of 

 men of leisure, either themselves possessing, or having 

 provided for them, the means of living without entering 

 into the pursuits of active industry. The pursuit of 

 science requires a superfluity of wealth in a community 

 beyond the needs of ordinary life. Such .superfluity is 

 also necessary for art, though a picture or a statue is 

 a saleable commodity, while an abstract discovery 

 in science has no immediate or, as regards the dis- 

 coverer, proximate commercial value. In Greece, when 

 philosophical and scientific speculation was at its 

 highest point, and when education was conducted in 

 its own vernacular and not throvigh dead languages, 

 science, industry, and commerce were actively prosperous. 

 Corinth carried on the manufactures of Birmingham and 

 Sheifield, while Athens combined those of Leeds, Stafford- 

 shire, and London, for it had woollen manufactures, 

 potteries, gold and silver work, as well as shipbuilding. 

 Their philosophers were the sons of burghers, and some- 

 times carried on the trades of their fathers. Thales was 

 a travelling oil merchant, who br^jught back science as 

 well as oil from Egypt. Solon and his great descendant 

 Plato, as well as Zeno, were men of commerce. Socrates 

 was a stonemason; Thucydides a gold-miner; Aristotle 

 kept a druggist's shop until Alexander endowed him with 

 the wealth of Asia. All but Socrates had a superfluity 

 of wealth, and he was supported by that of others. — 

 Sir L. Playfair. 



Science has in the last huudn .1 x . r. ,1: . ,-. ,1 altogether 

 the old conditions of industrial r ,, ,. .She has 



taught the rigid metals to con\ I , i ,r thoughts 



even to the most distant lands, ail, \. 1 !ii;i li^s limits, to 

 reproduce our speech. This marvellous application of 

 electricity has diminished the cares and responsibilities 



