198 THE SCIENTIFIC RESULTS OF V 



from those wlio are reaping golden liarvests through 

 the science of a past generation. 



When we remember that science is really no more 

 nor less than such accurate and full knowledge of this 

 or that class of natural things as enables us actually 

 to understand " the causes of things," then it becomes 

 obvious that the distinction which is sometimes drawn 

 between the '^scientific" man and the "practical" 

 man is founded upon some kind of error. If there is 

 the antithesis which fashion causes many persons to 

 assert as existing, let us see what becomes of it when 

 we say, as we are justified in saying, that the scientific 

 man is the man who knows thoroughly and accurately. 

 The contrast insisted on between the scientific and 

 practical man becomes, then, simply the contrast 

 between the man who knows and the man who does 

 not know, but acts in ignorance. 



As a matter of fact there is no such antithesis. 

 Your man of science is, or should be from the nature 

 of his pursuits, more thoroughly practical than any 

 one who afi'ects to despise scientific knowledge, for he 

 is accustomed to ensure success in his experiments 

 and investigations by taking every means in his 

 power to that end ; above all, and chiefly, by guiding 

 himself by reasonings based on the most accurate 

 and extensive knowledge. So too, indeed, every 

 so-called practical man who is not a mere adventurer 

 — a happy-go-lucky tempter of Fortune — makes 

 use of accurate knowledge to aid him in his com- 

 mercial ventures and speculations ; so far as he can 

 get it, he makes use of science, though he often calls 



