92 
JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
energetic action ; not as a passive principle, but as an active 
impulse, — it seems to me that it exercises great influence on the 
tone of mind now prevailing. 
If I am right in attributing Mr. Fronde's industrious investiga- 
tions of historical data to a doubt in his mind of the accuracy of 
history written previous to his time — that is, previous to the pre- 
sent time ; for we are proud to say that Mr. Froude is one of us, 
one of the contributions from Devonshire to the intellectual wealth 
of the day — it wonld appear that a state of doubt leads to a 
minute examination of detail. And I ask you, Is it not a promi- 
nent characteristic of the intellectual condition now evident to 
direct strict researches into the most minute details ? 
That principle may be observed to be at work in all the four 
divisions into which the subjects of our inquiries may be classified 
— in philosophy, in science, in art, and in literature. 
In philosophy the analysis of the human mind, and analysis is 
only another name for the examination of detail, is now carried 
further and further with a view to detect the slightest clue to a 
fact in that most interesting, most important, and most difficult of 
all studies. 
In science we may observe it in the employment of microscopes 
of ever-increasing power; in the molecular theories in chemistry 
and biology, exhibiting the objective world to us as a congregation 
of atoms; and in the brilliant results obtained by the spectrum 
analysis of the rays of light. The addresses recently delivered at 
the meeting of the British Association by Professor Huxley and 
Professor Tyndal eloquently affirm it. 
It may be observed in art. The arts quickly reflect the dis- 
coveries made in the corresponding sciences. They are the practical 
results of science, the application of science to our use ; and every 
specimen of art, whether a watch or a ship of war, gives evidence 
of the increasing importance attached to detail. In the fine arts 
every painter aff'ords us an example of careful attention to detail 
in his work. The prevailing influence may have carried the Pre- 
Raphaelite School into excesses ; but there is not a modern picture 
of merit that has not painstaking study of detail stamped upon 
every square inch of the canvas. 
To trace tlie same guiding spirit in literature requires a field of 
extended observation, embracing not only philosophy, science, and 
art, but also all other subjects which form matter of meditation for 
