LECTURES AND ESSA YS 



sliding body upon the brachystochrone 

 reaches its end sooner than by the 

 straighter road of the inclined plane, so, 

 through the swing of the ideal, we often 

 arrive at the naked truth more rapidly 

 than by the processes of the understand- 

 ing." Whewell speaks of enthusiasm of 

 temper as a hindrance to science ; but 

 he means the enthusiasm of weak heads. 

 There is a strong and resolute enthu- 

 siasm in which science finds an ally ; and 

 it is to the lowering of this fire, rather 

 than to the diminution of intellectual 

 insight, that the lessening productiveness 

 of men of science, in their mature years, 

 is to be ascribed. Mr. Buckle sought to 

 detach intellectual achievement from 

 moral force. He gravely erred ; for with- 

 out moral force to whip it into action 

 the achievement of the intellect would 

 be poor indeed. 



It has been said by its opponents that 

 science divorces itself from literature; 

 but the statement, like so many others, 

 arises from lack of knowledge. A glance 

 at the less technical writings of its leaders 

 of its Helmholtz, its Huxley, and its 

 Du Bois-Reymond would show what 

 breadth of literary culture they com- 

 mand. Where among modern writers 

 can you find their superiors in clearness 

 and vigour of literary style? Science 

 desires not isolation, but freely com bines 

 with every effort towards the bettering of 

 man's estate. Single-handed, and sup- 

 ported, not by outward sympathy, but by 

 inward force, it has built at least one 

 great wing of the many-mansioned home 

 which man in his totality demands. And 

 if rough walls and protruding rafter-ends 

 indicate that on one side the edifice is 

 still incomplete, it is only by wise com- 

 bination of the parts required, with those 

 already irrevocably built, that we can 

 hope for completeness. There is no 

 necessary incongruity between what has 

 been accomplished and what remains to 

 be done. The moral glow of Socrates, 

 which we all feel by ignition, has in it 

 nothing incompatible with the physics 

 of Anaxagoras which he so much 

 scorned, but which he would hardly 



scorn to-day. And here I am reminded 

 of one among us, hoary, but still strong, 

 whose prophet-voice some thirty years 

 ago, far more than any other of this age, 

 unlocked whatever of life and nobleness 

 lay latent in its most gifted minds one 

 fit to stand beside Socrates or the 

 Maccabean Eleazar, and to dare and 

 suffer all that they suffered and dared 

 fit, as he once said of Fichte, " to have 

 been the teacher of the Stoa, and to 

 have discoursed of Beauty and Virtue in 

 the groves of Academe." With a capacity 

 to grasp physical principles which his 

 friend Goethe did not possess, and which 

 even total lack of exercise has not been 

 able to reduce to atrophy, it is the 

 world's loss that he, in the vigour of his 

 years, did not open his mind and sym- 

 pathies to science, and make its conclu- 

 sions a portion of his message to mankind. 

 Marvellously endowed as he was equally 

 equipped on the side of the Heart and 

 of the Understanding he might have 

 done much towards teaching us how to 

 reconcile the claims of both, and to 

 enable them in coming times to dwell 

 together, in unity of spirit and in the 

 i bond of peace. 



And now the end is come. With 

 more time, or greater strength and know- 

 ! ledge, what has been here said might 

 I have been better said, while worthy 

 I matters, here omitted, might have re- 

 i ceived fit expression. But there would 

 j have been no material deviation from 

 the views set forth. As regards myself, 

 they are not the growth of a day ; and 

 as regards you, I thought you ought to 

 know the environment which, with or 

 without your consent, is rapidly surround- 

 | ing you, and in relation to which some 

 adjustment on your part may be neces- 

 sary. A hint of Hamlet's, however, 

 teaches us how the troubles of common 

 life may be ended ; and it is perfectly 

 possible for you and me to purchase 

 intellectual peace at the price of intel- 

 lectual death. The world is not without 

 refuges of this description; nor is it 

 wanting in persons who seek their 



