PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



CHAPTER I. 



EARLY KNOWLEDGE METHOD OF RESEARCH. 



If we imagine that into a gorgeously-decorated hall a rushlight is 

 brought, and, being held near to some part of the wall, makes visible the 

 pattern over a small area of it, while everything else remains in darkness ; 

 and if, instead of this, we imagine that electric lights turned on reveal 

 simultaneously the whole room with its varied contents, we may form some 

 idea of the different appearance under which Nature is contemplated by 

 the utterly-uncultured mind and by the highly-cultured mind. Whoever 

 duly appreciates this immense contrast will see that, rightly assimilated, 

 science brings exaltation of mental life. 



HERBERT SPENCER. 



No man visits a museum without being filled with deep 

 astonishment at the sight of the wonders of past ages. The 

 unsurpassable works of art of ancient Greece and Rome are 

 especially what strikes him most. His mind is at once 

 crowded with pregnant thoughts, and his bewilderment 

 deprives him of the power to express definite ideas, so varied, 

 so numerous, so beautiful are the objects presented to his 

 view. In the world of sensations he experiences, an 

 instinctive exclamation rushes to his lips : What people 

 those ancients were ! 



But whoever has entered a universal exhibition and seen 

 the products of modern arts and industries goes away with 

 feelings of a much more absorbing order. It is not that his 

 admiration is aroused by the beauty of the works only, but the 

 undreamt-of ingenuity and countless diversity, the far-reaching 

 utility and absolute perfection of these works awaken in him 



