76 PROCEEDINGS OE THE SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION. 
who among mankind would undergo the laborious study 
and the utter self-denial which characterize the patient 
seeker after Knowledge. For Use is secondary and deri- 
vative, the primary object is elucidation of the Truth. All 
Truth is beneficent ; but her seekers desire to behold the 
serene splendor of her face, and not themselves to reap the 
benefits which spring up on her track. ^ 
This attitude was first assumed by the Greeks. Their 
philosophers were content to seek wisdom as the one great 
object without directly subordinating their search to Reli- 
gion or to Use. In doing so they incurred serious peril. 
The bitter hostility of theologians has in all ages been di- 
rected against the scientific attitude as essentially irreligious, 
because it seems to exclude the constant agency of the gods, 
and apparently destroys the moral feelings connected with 
this agency. But that this is a mistaken view is shown to 
be the case by the fact that this hostility has gradually 
grown feebler and is now entirely restricted to narrow or 
imperfectly cultivated minds. The change has been effec- 
ted partly by the irresistible progress of Science with her 
triumphant demonstrations, and partly by a deeper philo- 
sophy which has disclosed that Science can only destroy 
false explanations which it is for our welfare to have des- 
troyed. No truth can be shaken by Science. If in her 
own path she detects certain truths, these must necessarily 
be harmonious with all other truths. "YVe must learn to 
welcome all and to prove all. 
Even those bigoted minds which still regard with alarm 
the steady advance of Science, must admit the fact of its 
advance, the greatness of its victories, the triumph of its 
* Lewes’ Aristotle, p. 42, 
