396 Necessity/ and Advantage of Scientific Enquiry 



great aversion to theorists ; and as it may be feared that, from 

 want of attention, many of them are apt to confound science 

 with theory, it may not be amiss, before we proceed farther, 

 to offer a brief explanation or definition of the terms, art, theory, 

 and science, and of their relation to each other ; and by thus 

 clearing the avenues, and exhibiting the object of pursuit in a 

 clear point of view, we may possibly prevent any obstructions 

 in our progress being raised by arrogance and self-intevest. 



It is an axiom, that " Every production of nature and of art 

 is the effect of some cause ; " that is to say, that all such objects 

 are produced by a combination of certain elementary substances, 

 brought together and upheld, or separated and kept apart, by 

 certain established principles or laws of nature ; and, conse- 

 quently, those elementary substances and the principles or 

 laws of nature are the cause, and the result of the combination 

 or separation, the effect. It is evident, then, that before any 

 effect can be produced, the cause must be established ; and 

 before any effect can be prevented, or made to cease, the cause 

 must be removed ; and that before we can undertake to esta- 

 blish or remove a cause, we must comprehend it. A discovery 

 of the cause must be the work of the mental faculties ; and a 

 notion of the cause, as it exists in the mind only, constitutes 

 theory. But when a theory has been submitted to practical 

 demonstration, and thus established as just and true, it con- 

 stitutes science. The act of selecting and combining or se- 

 parating the elementary principles, and of directing and con- 

 trolling the action and application of the principles or laws of 

 nature, or the making of the practical demonstration, consti- 

 tutes art. 



To establish science then, the united powers of the theorist 

 and the artist are required ; and, therefore, instead of being 

 kept at variance, it is obvious, that, for the extension of know- 

 ledge, the theorist and the artist should be brought to act in 

 friendly unison. The mind of man is ever ready to suggest 

 theories, but its conceptions are not always correct, and, there- 

 fore, the artist who suffers himself to be led into a too ready 

 adoption of all must, undoubtedly, often be misled, and morti- 

 fied and disappointed : but, on the other hand, the artist who 

 attains his art, merely by imitating the actions of another, 

 must always work in uncertainty and darkness. Whatever 

 reasons artists may have for despising theorists, those who 

 not only suggest the theory, but bestow the necessary trouble 

 and labour to make the practical demonstrations, and com- 

 municate the results to the public, must surely be con- 

 sidered as entitled to their respectful attention. To establish 

 truth, it must be necessary to attack and expose errors, where- 



