218 THE PRINCIPLES OF SCIENCE. 



research. They can only mean that the greater the pecu- 

 niary and material assistance given to men of science, the 

 greater is the result which the available genius of the 

 country may be expected to produce. Money and oppor- 

 tunities of study can no more produce genius than sun- 

 shine and moisture can generate living beings ; the inex- 

 plicable germ is wanting in both cases. But, just as 

 when the germ is present, the plant will grow more or 

 less vigorously according to the circumstances in which 

 it is placed, so it may be allowed that pecuniary assist- 

 ance may favour the development of intellect. Public 

 opinion however is not discriminating, and is likely to 

 interpret the agitation for the endowment of science as 

 meaning that science can be evolved from money or 

 labour. 



All such notions are, I believe, radically erroneous. In 

 no branch of human affairs, neither in politics, war, 

 literature, industry, nor science, is the influence of genius 

 less considerable than it used to be. It is quite possible 

 that the extension and organization of scientific study, 

 assisted by the printing press and the accelerated means 

 of communication, has increased the rapidity with which 

 new discoveries are made known, and their details worked 

 out by many heads and hands. A Darwin now no sooner 

 propounds original ideas concerning the evolution of ani- 

 mated creatures, than those ideas are discussed and illus- 

 trated, and applied by other naturalists in every part of 

 the civilized world. In former days his labours and dis- 

 coveries would have been hidden for decades of years in 

 scarce manuscripts, and generations would have passed 

 away before his theory had enjoyed the same amount of 

 criticism and corroboration as it has already received in 

 fifteen years. But the general result is that the genius 

 of Darwin is more valuable, not less valuable, than it 

 would formerly have been. The advance of military 



