42 Love of truth the best motive of discovery. 



would probably be impossible to find a subject of 

 such great magnitude so little understood. Com- 

 paratively few persons have clear ideas of the 

 essential differences between scientific instruction 

 and research. 



Scientific research can only be successfully pursued 

 by employing the highest motive viz., a love of 

 truth in preference to all things ; and this is a con- 

 dition which very few persons really understand, and 

 a principle which a still smaller number practise. 

 Men in this country are so accustomed to be actuated 

 by the less noble motive of immediate self-interest 

 or of some apparent practical result, that they cannot 

 perceive that in scientific investigation the most 

 valuable results can only be obtained by employing 

 the highest motive. However necessary and effective 

 the motive of immediate self-interest or of apparent 

 practical result may be in ordinary affairs of life, it 

 will not enable a man to make many discoveries, 

 because it leads him away from those which are 

 possible to search for others which may or may not 

 be possible. The beginning of discoveries are often 

 so very small, that it requires acute senses and 

 observation in order to perceive them ; and if the 

 mind is preoccupied with a desire to discover some 

 particular practical object, new phenomena are over- 

 looked. In discovery, man must follow where 

 Nature leads. 



Another cause of want of encouragement of 

 research, is the natural selfishness which exists, 



