FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



innately, in most cases, the very last man to see the occult 

 sources from which useful results are derived. He admires 

 the flower, but is ignorant of the conditions of its growth. 

 The scientific man must approach Nature in his own way; 

 for if you invade his freedom by your so-called practical 

 considerations, it may be at the expense of those qualities 

 on which his success as a discoverer depends. Let the self- 

 styled practical man look to those from the fecundity of 

 whose thoughts he, and thousands like him, have sprung 

 into existence. Were they inspired in their first inquiries 

 by the calculations of utility? Not one of them. They 

 were often forced to live low and lie hard, and to seek 

 compensation for their penury in the delight which their 

 favorite pursuits afforded them. In the words of one well 

 qualified to speak upon this subject, " I say not merely 

 look at the pittance of men like John Dallon, or the volun- 

 tary starvation of the late Graff; but compare what is con- 

 sidered as competency or affluence by your Faradays, Lie- 

 bigs, and Herschels, with the expected results of a life of 

 successful commercial enterprise: then compare the amount 

 of mind put forth, the work done for society in either case, 

 and you will be constrained to allow that the former belong 

 to a class of workers who, properly speaking, are not paid, 

 and cannot be paid for their work, as indeed it is of a sort 

 to which no payment could stimulate." 



But while the scientific investigator, standing upon the 

 frontiers of human knowledge, and aiming at the conquest 

 of fresh soil from the surrounding region of the unknown, 

 makes the discovery of truth his exclusive object for the 

 time, he cannot but feel the deepest interest in the practi- 

 cal application of the truth discovered. There is some- 

 thing ennobling in the triumph of Mind over Matter. 

 Apart even from its uses to society, there is something ele- 

 vating in the idea of Man having tamed that wild force 

 which flashes through the telegraphic wire, and made it the 

 minister of his will. Our attainments in these directions 

 appear to be commensurate with our needs. We had already 

 subdued horse and mule, and obtained from them all the 

 service which it was in their power to render: we must 

 either stand still, or find more potent agents to execute our 

 purposes. At this point the steam-engine appears. These 

 are still new things; it is not long since we struck into the 

 scientific methods which have produced these results. We 



