1867.] Louis Figuier. 167 



classes has its work to do, but unfortunately neither sufficiently 

 appreciates the efforts of the other. The originator or discoverer 

 of new facts and theories is too apt to regard the popular exponent 

 of those laws as a " hanger-on of Science," pilfering where he cannot 

 honourably gain ; whilst the accomplished litterateur, to whom the 

 patient investigator owes it that he and his newly discovered data 

 are not consigned to oblivion in the archives of some learned but 

 little known society, often entertains slight respect for the man who 

 has but one idol besides science, and that is himself. 



Of course there are many noble exceptions to this rule; and 

 every day we find the number increasing. Men of research are 

 beginning to culti\ate their literary powers, whilst clever writers 

 find it necessary to devote a larger amount of time to mastering the 

 tacts of science ; and thus we have in every branch men who com- 

 bine the rare talents of correct thought, careful investigation, and 

 poetic expression ; and the sooner all scientific men become sufficiently 

 modest to appreciate the fact that they can best serve their noble 

 calling by condescending to consult the tastes and feelings of the 

 masses, or by availing themselves of the services of those who can 

 gain the ear of the multitude, the sooner will science assume its 

 true rank amongst the various branches of human intelligence, and 

 its professors will cast away that stigma of vanity and self-conceit 

 which often attaches itself to them. 



Louis Figuier is one of those men whose ardour in the work of 

 popularizing Science seems to know no bounds. Nothing comes 

 amiss to him. He animates the dead and silent rocks, transports 

 his reader with equal facility to the mute age of extinct Saurians, 

 and to the tropical forests of to-day, alive with the songs of their 

 feathered denizens. 



Now, he conveys him on the wings of thought to the distant 

 Coal period, fighting the way with the bright facts of Science ; now, 

 he descends with him into the Coal regions of our own time, initiates 

 him into mysteries of the collier's craft, and relates in glowing terms 

 how the precious fuel has been utilized to conquer the elements, to 

 minister to man's tastes, desires, and necessities. To-day we may, 

 if we choose, speculate with him upon the appearance of primeval 

 man, whilst he was still struggling for supremacy with the hairy 

 elephant, the hyena, and the cave-bear,* to-morrow we may observe 

 with him how the hardy labourers of Spain or Algeria are engaged 

 in stripping the bark of the Cork-tree* 



Not, however, that his scenic representations always render his 

 scientific views quite comprehensible to us, or satisfy us that he is 

 quite clear on all debated points himself; the strange jumble of 

 Genesis and Geology, of the placid Garden of Eden and the wild 

 Flint-folk, point to an element of superstition which it is to be 



* See Plates. 



