IX 



of excited listeners, and the eager and inventive 

 minds of multitudes of ingenious youths have been 

 trained by this distribution of science, to the ca- 

 pacity to comprehend the compact and pointed 

 scientific essay, even though it taxes the attention 

 and suspends the breath for a half-hour by its close- 

 ness and severity. 



The fact is also worthy of notice, that many of 

 the ablest scientists of our times have made a special 

 study of the art of expounding and presenting scien- 

 tific truth. Some of them have schooled themselves 

 to that lucid and orderly method by which a science 

 seems to spring into being a second time, under 

 the creative hand of its skilful expositor. Others 

 have made a special study of philosophic diction. 

 Others have learned how to adorn scientific truth 

 with the embellishments of an affluent imagination. 

 Some of the ablest writers of our time are found 

 among the devotees of physical science. That a 

 few scientific writers and lecturers may have ex- 

 emplified some of the most offensive features of the 

 demagogue and the sophist cannot be denied, but 

 we may not forget that many have attained to the 

 consummate skill of the accomplished essayist and 

 impressive and eloquent orator. 



One advantage cannot be denied of this now 

 popular and established method of setting forth 

 scientific truth, viz., that it prescribes a convenient 

 method of bringing into contrast the arguments for 

 and against any disputed position in science. If 

 materialism can furnish its ready advocate with a 

 convenient vehicle for its ready diffusion, the an- 

 tagonist theory can avail itself of a similar vehicle 



