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Flighty Aspirations. 
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V. FLIGHTY ASPIRATIONS. 
By Fred. W. Brearey, Hon. Sec. to the A.S.G.B. 
DVENTITIOUS circumstances sometimes place men 
at the helm, who, being ignorant of all duties save 
one, assume the possession of all, upon the faith of 
having steered wisely in times past. So long as he retains 
the helm he will probably retain the confidence of his pas- 
sengers ; but let him aCt upon his assumption of knowledge 
in another sphere, and his ignorance may entail contempt. 
The human barnacles which fastened themselves upon the 
ship called “ Progress ” — sometimes the vehicle for the 
conveyance of such passengers as gas, lightning, steam on 
rail &c. — have, it must be acknowledged, been nearly 
rubbed off, so rapidly has the “ Progress ” rushed through 
the waves of success. 
So the helmsman has learned at last to stick to his tiller, 
and observe with respeCt, amongst other vessels, one 
freighted with such a cargo even as aerial navigation. 
I have preserved an old barnacle. It will be found in the 
t( Quarterly Review ” for the year 1819* It was stuck to a 
ship that was being freighted with ideas for a railway : 
“ We are not partisans of the fantastic projects relative 
to established institutions, and we cannot but laugh at an 
idea so impracticable as that of a road of iron upon which 
travel may be conducted by steam. Can anything be more 
utterly absurd or more laughable than a steam-propelled 
waggon, moving twice as fast as our mail coaches ? It is 
much more possible to travel from Woolwich to the Arsenal 
by the aid of a Congreve rocket.” 
Don’t you see that this barnacle was stuck upon a passing 
ship by the helmsman who quitted his tiller, and thereby 
manifested his intense ignorance. 
This greatly dead and much-stained editor — as we may 
call him— may now be pictured laughing uproariously in 
presence of an enlightened audience, who look upon him 
with grave pity that so intelligent a man should be making 
such a humiliating exhibition of himself. 
I am afraid that my remarks are not very respectful to- 
wards those editorial commentators who are apt to limit the 
aspirations of Science to their own conception of what is 
possible. What, then, can be said of a barnacle stuck on 
