OF PLANTS. 235 



whole life thereto, before we shall obtain full knowledge of 

 the Whole. At present, we can scarcely do more than 

 multiply the separate pictures of those sportsmen, and 

 delineate them rather more minutely. 



A brewer's son, of Huntingdon, Oliver Cromwell, raised 

 himself in a few years to be absolute ruler of Great 

 Britain, and by the power of his mind gave law to half 

 Europe. Tradition tells of a speech of his, in early youth : 

 " He goes the farthest who knows not where he wants to 

 come to." This sayin'g may be thus expressed in less 

 paradoxical language, a man only attains to something 

 great, when he, from the beginning, takes the highest 

 object, the unattainable ideal, for his aim. In this manner, 

 we may take Cromwell's maxim as a guide in every 

 science, and we shall find that its power is here in no way 

 belied. At the first glance, a man may indeed fancy that 

 it is easy to satisfy such a demand. It is so difficult not 

 to bring forward and depict to oneself the ethical, or if 

 it be preferred, the Christian ideal, but it is, at the same 

 time, certain that nevertheless very little is attained to by 

 individual men in this respect. The conclusion drawn 

 from this is, that far less depends upon the accurate 

 knowledge of the aim than on the activity with which we 

 strive towards it. But two essentially different stand- 

 points are herein confounded, and unfortunately, this error 

 runs through a large portion of our scientific efforts, and 

 brings a considerable portion of misconception, obscurity 

 and error into our judgments. The matter lies thus. 

 On mankind, living on the earth, a double claim is made, 

 in mental activity and development. The first concerns 

 the ethico-religious element ; the second his scientific cul- 

 ture. The two interpenetrate and mutually support one 

 another; but their origin, their inner essence, is wholly 



