34 MYSTICISM AND LOGIC 



possibility of this invention is due to three men 

 Faraday, Maxwell, and Hertz. In alternating layers of 

 experiment and theory these three men built up the 

 modern theory of electromagnetism, and demonstrated 

 the identity of light with electromagnetic waves. The 

 system which they discovered is one of profound intel- 

 lectual interest, bringing together and unifying an end- 

 less variety of apparently detached phenomena, and 

 displaying a cumulative mental power which cannot but 

 afford delight to every generous spirit. The mechanical 

 details which remained to be adjusted in order to utilise 

 their discoveries for a practical system of telegraphy 

 demanded, no doubt, very considerable ingenuity, but 

 had not that broad sweep and that universality which 

 could give them intrinsic interest as an object of dis- 

 interested contemplation. 



From the point of view of training the mind, of giving 

 that well-informed, impersonal outlook which constitutes 

 culture in the good sense of this much-misused word, it 

 seems to be generally held indisputable that a literary 

 education is superior to one based on science. Even the 

 warmest advocates of science are apt to rest their claims 

 on the contention that culture ought to be sacrificed to 

 utility. Those men of science who respect culture, when 

 they associate with men learned in the classics, are apt 

 to admit, not merely politely, but sincerely, a certain 

 inferiority on their side, compensated doubtless by the 

 services which science renders to humanity, but none the 

 less real. And so long as this attitude exists among men 

 of science, it tends to verify itself : the intrinsically 

 valuable aspects of science tend to be sacrificed to the 

 merely useful, and little attempt is made to preserve that 

 leisurely, systematic survey by which the finer quality 

 of mind is formed and nourished. 



