﻿augustine's 
  definition. 
  13 
  

  

  Christianity 
  had 
  revealed 
  the 
  folly. 
  And 
  

   among 
  the 
  temptations 
  which 
  he 
  still 
  desires 
  

   to 
  overcome 
  is 
  the 
  appetite 
  of 
  knowledge 
  

   — 
  a 
  " 
  vain 
  and 
  curious 
  desire 
  hiding 
  under 
  

   the 
  name 
  of 
  science" 
  (lib. 
  x. 
  c. 
  35). 
  This 
  

   is 
  the 
  desire 
  which 
  pretends, 
  he 
  says, 
  to 
  

   reach 
  the 
  inmost 
  secrets 
  of 
  nature 
  — 
  secrets 
  

   which 
  when 
  discovered 
  could 
  have 
  no 
  value, 
  

   and 
  of 
  which 
  men 
  desire 
  and 
  expect 
  no- 
  

   thing 
  except 
  to 
  know. 
  Now, 
  here 
  we 
  have 
  

   an 
  exact 
  definition 
  of 
  the 
  true 
  scientific 
  spirit 
  

   — 
  a 
  spirit 
  which 
  has, 
  indeed, 
  in 
  its 
  results, 
  

   richly 
  "endowed 
  the 
  human 
  family 
  with 
  new 
  

   mercies," 
  but 
  which 
  never 
  has 
  had 
  this 
  dower 
  

   in 
  view 
  as 
  its 
  only, 
  or 
  even 
  as 
  its 
  chief, 
  

   inducement. 
  It 
  is 
  not 
  perhaps 
  exactly 
  relevant 
  

   to 
  observe 
  that 
  the 
  glorious 
  facts 
  of 
  Astro- 
  

  

  