H4 SCIENCE AND CULTURE 



a miracle if any have escaped. But I have remarked that 

 your typical practical man has an unexpected resemblance 

 to one of Milton's angels. His spiritual wounds, such 

 as are inflicted by logical weapons, may be as deep as a 

 well and as wide as a church door, but beyond shedding a 

 few drops of ichor, celestial or otherwise, he is no whit 

 the worse. So, if any of these opponents be left, I will 

 not waste time in vain repetition of the demonstrative 

 evidence of the practical value of science; but knowing 

 that a parable will sometimes penetrate where syllogisms 

 fail to effect an entrance, I will offer a story for their 

 consideration. 



Once upon a time, a boy, with nothing to depend upon 

 but his own vigorous nature, was thrown into the thick 

 of the struggle for existence in the midst of a great manu- 

 facturing population. He seems to have had a hard 

 fight, inasmuch as, by the time he was thirty years of 

 age, his total disposable funds amounted to twenty 

 pounds. Nevertheless, middle life found him giving proof 

 of his comprehension of the practical problems he had 

 been roughly called upon to solve, by a career of remark- 

 able prosperity. 



Finally, having reached old age with its well-earned 

 surroundings of "honour, troops of friends," the hero of 

 my story bethought himself of those who were making a 

 like start in life, and how he could stretch out a helping 

 hand to them. 



After long and anxious reflection this successful practi- 

 cal man of business could devise nothing better than to 

 provide them with the means of obtaining "sound, exten- 

 sive, and practical scientific knowledge." And he devoted 

 a large part of his wealth and five years of incessant work 

 to this end. 



I need not point the moral of a tale which, as the 



