58 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



And yet the physical philosopher is a man of cultivated intel- 

 lect. The observation of facts forms the only foundation of 

 science; and a fact isolated and unexplained has no scientific 

 value. The fall of an apple, regarded as a fact, is extremely 

 commonplace. It was reserved for the mind of a Newton to elim- 

 inate from that simple fact the great doctrine of gravitation, and 

 its application to the explanation of the tides of the ocean as well 

 as to the orbital path of the planetary bodies. Every successive 

 step in the onward path of science has demanded the utter nega- 

 tion of that philosophy which formed the basis of all previous 

 enquiries. It has been sententiously and well remarked of the 

 inductive philosophy, which has formed the keystone upon which 

 Newton was content to build his imperishable conclusions, that 

 " two words form the key of the Baconian doctrine. Utility and 

 Progress." The ancient philosophy disdained to be useful, and 

 was content to be stationary. It dealt largely in theories of moral 

 perfection, which were so sublime that they never could be more 

 than theories; in attempts to solve insoluble enigmas; in exhorta- 

 tions to the attainment of unattainable stoicism. It could not con- 

 descend to the humble office of ministering to the comfort of human 

 beings. According to Liebig, the quantity of soap consumed by 

 a nation would be no bad or inaccurate measure of its progress in 

 civilization. The rich, in the middle ages, concealed a want of 

 cleanliness under a profusion of perfumes, a practice which, 

 unhappily, has descended to the fashion of the present day. The 

 manufacture of soda from common salt, as preliminary to the 

 cheap production of soap-, affords a striking illustration of the 

 processes of inductive modern science. Soap and glass, both 

 among the first necessaries of social life, depend for their manu- 

 facture upon the formation of sulphuric acid from sulphur. Thus 

 the chemist becomes the pioneer of civilizati m, opening a mutually ' 

 advantageous traffic with Sicily, exchanging our own productions, 

 and not indirectly promoting the extension of the highest bles- 

 sings of which our moral nature is susceptible. 



The connection between the modern and physical sciences, and 

 even between the realized comforts of practical commerce and 

 the great principles which underlie all scientific discoveries and 



