6 THE FAIRY-LAND OF SCIENCE. 
sees the little goblins and imps dancing round him on 
the green sward, sitting on mushrooms, or in the 
heads of the flowers, drinking out of acorn-cups, 
fighting with blades of grass, and riding on grass- 
hoppers. 
So, too, the gallant knight, riding to save some poor 
oppressed maiden, dashes across the foaming torrent ; 
and just in the middle, as he is being swept away, 
his eyes are opened, and he sees fairy water-nymphs 
soothing his terrified horse and guiding him gently to 
the opposite shore. They are close at hand, these 
sprites, to the simple peasant or the gallant knight, or 
to anyone who has the gift of the fairies and can see 
them. But the man who scoffs at them, and does not 
believe in them or care for them, he never sees them. 
Only now and then they play him an ugly trick, 
leading him into some treacherous bog and leaving 
him to get out as he may. 
Now, exactly all this which is true of the fairies of 
our childhood is true too of the fairies of science. 
There are forces around us, and among us, which I 
shall ask you to allow me to call fairies, and these are 
ten thousand times more wonderful, more magical, 
and more beautiful in their work, than those of the old 
fairy tales. They, too, are invisible, and many people 
live and die without ever seeing them or caring to see 
them. These people go about with their eyes shut, 
either because they will not open them, or because no 
one has taught them how to see. They fret and worry 
over their own little work and their own petty troubles, 
and do not know how to rest and refresh themselves, 
by letting the fairies open their eyes and show them 
