in THE SCIENTIFIC MIND 41 



physical science. They belong to another world, which 

 the describer of phenomena may contemplate but is 

 usually unqualified to enter. 



It is possible that absolute truth will come by intro- 

 spection rather than by studies of material conditions 

 and things, but this need not discourage the scientific 

 investigator fiom examining the facts of the physical 

 universe and expressing the results as phenomenal 

 knowledge whatever may be the ultimate Reality 

 behind them. We shall not be judged by what we 

 cannot know but by the use we make of the opportunity 

 given us to work and to understand. " If each of us," 

 said Berthollet, " adds something to the common domain 

 in the field of science, of art, of morality, it is because 

 a long series of generations have lived, worked, thought 

 and suffered before us." 



All labour that demands exactness, honest thought 

 and steady application is worth doing, and all these 

 things are required of a worker for science. Each stone 

 chiselled for the temple of science has the mason's mark 

 scribed upon it ; and if it is not fairly and squarely 

 fashioned it will be rejected by the builders. Remem- 

 bering this, the scientific mind cannot be content with 

 the perfunctory performance of any task before it ; the 

 work must be true if it is to stand the judgment of 

 to-morrow as well as to-day ; therefore it is sacred. 



Devotion to science is a tacit worship a tacit recognition of 

 worth in the things studied ; and by implication in their cause. 

 It is not a mere lip-homage, but a homage expressed in actions 

 not a mere professed respect, but a respect proved by the 

 sacrifice of time, thought, and labour. Herbert Spencer. 



The gospel of work is the gospel of science. Go into 

 the fields of Nature and labour if you would become a 

 disciple of science; for not otherwise can the kingdom 



