INTRODUCTION. 5 



proves that the treasure of nature is yet far from 

 exhausted. 



But numerous and splendid as those inventions of 

 modern art are, and much as they have changed the 

 habits, and added to the possessions and comforts of 

 mankind, it is but too apparent that some sacrifice has 

 been made to them. Their number and their novelty, 

 the desire that people have to possess themselves of 

 them, and the labour which must be undergone in the 

 gratification of that desire, have drawn the attention of 

 a very large portion of the people from the objects 

 that are around them. The very splendour that has 

 rewarded the knowledge of the few, has tempted the 

 many from the path of original knowledge, just in the 

 same manner that the splendour of a pageant attracts 

 the populace to the neglect of their more useful avoca- 

 tions. The world of man's making has become so great 

 and so imposing, that it has tempted people to forget 

 the world of God's making, without which, and the 

 careful study and knowledge of it, the other could not 

 have existed. 



Perhaps that may have acted as a stimulus to the 

 few, though the tendency of it must have been to 

 make them seek after that which was novel, rather 

 than after that which was true ; and hence, though, 

 during the last half century, there have been many 

 more successful inventions than during any other 

 period of the same length, it is certainly not too much 

 to say that the failures have increased in a much 

 greater proportion. The reason is a very plain one : 

 the people do not see the scientific induction the 

 observation of nature, which must precede the suc- 

 B 3 



