118 SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT SCIENCE AND LIFE. 



The report of the librarian was received and approved. 

 Mr. John Williams was nominated for membership. 

 The Chairman, Mr. Burgess, read the following paper on 



SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT SCIENCE AND LIFE. 



My subject I fear, is a pretentious one, but I could not 

 think of a better one for what I had or wished to say, 

 and so pretentious though it were, I had to take it. It 

 has this merit, however, that at least one word in it in- 

 dicates its fitness for this place. My subject is "Some 

 Thoughts about Science and Life." You will agree with 

 me that this is wide enough and vague enough, and these 

 qualities were among its special recommendations. 



What is the advantage of scientific or any other kind 

 of knowledge? Why do we seek after it and extol it so 

 highly? The mere acquisition of knowledge of any sort, 

 if it be simply put away in bottles and labeled, has no 

 especial merit or advantage, if, after it is attained, the 

 process of attainment and the thing itself may be entirely 

 eliminated from us. Of what advantage are studies in 

 geology, or chemistry, or natural philosophy, or biology, 

 unless this knowledge and the exertion by which it is 

 secured, are in some way useful to us ? 



We seek to know these things, it is true, from that 

 insatiable curiosity to Icnow, that seems to inhere in the 

 human mind. We wish to Tcnow, it is said, from the pure 

 love of knowledge, to gratify an irresistible longing, 

 quite apart from any apparent use that the knowledge 

 will be to us. This may all be true, and yet we come 

 back to the inquiry, why does this curiosity exist ? Why 

 is there within us such an impelling force that pushes us 

 into these unknown fields to search for hidden things, 

 that when found, can afford us no profit ? Surely, so 

 strong a desire would not exist if it were useless to us; 

 since if it were, its gratification could afford us no satis- 

 faction, and therefore it would not be sought. 



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