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FACTS AND FANCIES 



given them the idea that nothing is beyond 

 their reach. There is thus a vague notion that 

 science has overcome so many difficulties, and 

 explained so many mysteries, that it may ulti- 

 mately satisfy all the wants of man and leave 

 no scope for religious belief. Those who know 

 the limitations of our knowledge of material 

 things may not share this delusion; but there 

 is reason to fear that many, even of scientific 

 men, are carried away by it, and it widely af- 

 fects the minds of general readers. 



Again, science has in the course of its grow^th 

 become divided into a great number of sm^^^ 

 specialties, each pursued ardently by its own 

 votaries. This is beneficial in one respect ; for 

 much more can be gained by men digging down- 

 Ward, each on his own vein of valuable ore, 

 than by all merely scraping the surface. But 

 the specialist, as he descends fathom after fath- 

 om into his mine, however rich and rare the 

 gems and metals he may discover, becomes 

 more and more removed from the ordinary 

 ways of men, and more and more regardless 

 of the products of other veins as valuable as 

 his own. The specialist, however profound he 

 may become in the knowledge of his own lim- 

 ited subject, is on that very account less fitted 



