28 IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE 



[ practical benefits on men, but, in so doing, has_effected 

 1 a revolution in their conceptions of the universe anoTof 

 themselves, and has profoundly altered their modes of 

 thinking and their views of right and wrong. I say 

 that natural knowledge, seeking to satisfy natural wants, 

 has found the ideas which can alone still spiritual crav- 

 ings. I say that natural knowledge, in desiring to ascer- 

 ' tain tHe laws of comfort, has been "driven to discover 

 i those of conduct, and to lay the foundations of a new 

 ; morality. 



Let us take these points separately; and first, what 

 great ideas has natural knowledge introduced into men's 

 minds? 



I cannot but think that the foundations of all natural 

 knowledge were laid when the reason of man first came 

 face to face with the facts of Nature; when the savage 

 first learned that the fingers of one hand are fewer than 

 those -of both ; that it is shorter to cross a stream than 

 to head it; that a stone stops where it is unless it be 

 moved, and that it drops from the hand which lets it go; 

 that light and heat come and go with the sun ; that sticks 

 burn away in a fire; that plants and animals grow and 

 die; that if he struck his fellow savage a blow he would 

 make him angry, and perhaps get a blow in return, while 

 if he offered him a fruit he would please him, and per- 

 haps receive a fish in exchange. When men had acquired 

 this much knowledge, the outlines, rude though they 

 were, of mathematics, of physics, of chemistry, of biology, 

 i of moral, economical, and political science, were sketched. 

 7 Nor did the germ of religion fail when science began to 

 ibud. Listen to words which, though new, are yet three 

 thousand years old: 



"... When in heaven the stars about the moon 

 Look beautiful, when all the winds are laid, 

 And every height comes out, and jutting peak 



