721 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Uplifting 

 Utility 



trum is of this kind, and also that of a great 

 number of fixed stars. The dark lines of 

 the solar spectrum, originally discovered by 

 Wollaston, were first investigated and meas- 

 ured by Fraunhofer, and are hence known 

 as Fraunhofer's lines. HELMHOLTZ Popular 

 Lectures, lect. 4, p. 153. (L. G. & Co., 1898.) 



3572. UTILITARIANISM COMMEND- 

 ABLE The End the Measure of the Utility. 

 What is a utilitarian? Simply one who 

 prefers the useful to the useless and who 

 does not? But what is the useful? That 

 which is prized, not on its own account, but 

 as conducive to the acquisition of something 

 else the useful is, in short, only another 

 word for a mean towards an end; for every 

 mean is useful, and whatever is useful is 

 a mean. Now the value of a mean is always 

 in proportion to the value of its end; and 

 the useful being a mean, it follows that, of 

 two utilities, the one which conduces to the 

 more valuable end will be itself the more 

 valuable utility. 



So far there is no difference of opinion. 

 All agree that the useful is a mean towards 

 an end; and that, cceteris parilus, a mean 

 towards a higher end constitutes a higher 

 utility than a mean towards a lower. The 

 only dispute that has arisen or can possibly 

 arise in regard to the utility of means ( sup- 

 posing always their relative efficiency) is 

 founded on the various views that may be 

 entertained in regard to the existence and 

 comparative importance of ends. HAMIL- 

 TON Metaphysics, lect. 1, p. 3. (G. & L., 

 1859.) 



3573. UTILITY AND INUTILITY OF 

 FEAR In fact, the teleology of fear, be- 

 yond a certain point, is very dubious. Pro- 

 fessor Mosso, in his interesting monograph, 

 "La Paura " (which has been translated 

 into French), concludes that many of its 

 manifestations must be considered patho- 

 logical rather than useful; Bain, in several 

 places, expresses the same opinion ; and this, 

 I think, is surely the view which any ob- 

 server without a priori prejudices must take. 

 A certain amount of timidity obviously 

 adapts us to the world we live in, but the 

 fear-paroxysm is surely altogether harmful 

 to him who is its prey. JAMES Psychology, 

 vol. ii, ch. 24, p. 419. (H. H. & Co., 1899.) 



3574. UTILITY AND PROGRESS 



Key of the Baconian Philosophy Ancient 

 Philosophy Despised the Practical. Two 

 words form the key of the Baconian doc- 

 trine utility and progress. The ancient 

 philosophy disdained to be useful, and was 

 content to be stationary. It dealt largely 

 in theories of moral perfection, which were 

 so sublime that they never could be more 

 than theories; in attempts to solve insolu- 

 ble enigmas; in exhortations to the attain- 

 ment of unattainable frames of mind. It 

 could not condescend to the humble office 

 of ministering to the comfort of human 

 beings. All the schools regarded that office 



as degrading; some censured it as immoral. 

 Once indeed Posidonius, a distinguished wri- 

 ter of the age of Cicero and Caesar, so far 

 forgot himself as to enumerate among the 

 humbler blessings which mankind owed to 

 philosophy the discovery of the principle 

 of the arch and the introduction of the 

 use of metals. This eulogy was considered 

 as an affront, and was taken up with proper 

 spirit. Seneca vehemently disclaims these 

 insulting compliments. Philosophy, accord- 

 ing to him, has nothing to do with teaching 

 men to rear arched roofs over their heads. 

 The true philosopher does not care whether 

 he has an arched roof or any roof. Philos- 

 ophy has nothing to do with teaching men 

 the 'use of metals. She teaches us to be 

 independent of all material substances, of 

 all mechanical contrivances. The wise man 

 lives according to Nature. Instead of at- 

 tempting to add to the physical comforts 

 of his species, he regrets that his lot was 

 not cast in that golden age when the human 

 race had no protection against the cold but 

 the skins of wild beasts, no screen from the 

 sun but a cavern. To impute to such a man 

 any share in the invention or improvement 

 of a plow, a ship, or a mill is an insult. 

 MACAULAY Essays (Lord Bacon), p. 271. 

 (A., 1876.) 



3575. UTILITY COMBINED WITH 

 BEAUTY Palms, Bananas, and Ferns. 

 Palms, bananas, and arborescent ferns con- 

 stitute three forms of especial beauty pe- 

 culiar to every portion of the tropical zone; 

 wherever heat and moisture cooperate, vege- 

 tation is most exuberant and vegetable forms 

 present the greatest diversity. Hence South 

 America is the most beautiful portion of 

 the palm world. ... In the basin of the 

 Orinoco whole tribes find the means of sub- 

 sistence for many months together in the 

 fruit of the palm. HUMBOLDT Views of Na- 

 ture, p. 303. (Bell, 1896.) 



3576. UTILITY COMPELS EXACT- 

 NESS Practical Results To Be Won or Lost 

 Mere Disputation Content with, Unproved 

 Premises. By stimulating men to the dis- 

 covery of new truth Bacon stimulated them 

 to employ the inductive method, the only 

 method even the ancient philosophers and 

 the schoolmen themselves being judges by 

 which new truth can be discovered. By 

 stimulating men to the discovery of useful 

 truth he furnished them with a motive to 

 perform the inductive process well and care- 

 fully. His predecessors had been anticipa- 

 tors of Nature. They had been content with 

 first principles, at which they had arrived 

 by the most scanty and slovenly induction. 

 And why was this? It was, we conceive, 

 because their philosophy proposed to itself 

 no practical end, because it was merely an 

 exercise of the mind. A man who wants to 

 contrive a new machine or a new medicine 

 has a strong motive to observe accurately 

 and patiently, and to try experiment after 

 experiment. But a man who merely wants 



