losophic speculations in
which men have indulged in all ages without leading to any result which
he considers practical. That our knowledge of nature is increased by
its prosecution is a fact of which he is quite conscious, but he
considers it as terminating with a mere increase of knowledge, and not
as having in its method anything which a person devoted to material
interests can be expected to appreciate.

This view is strengthened by the spirit with which he sees scientific
investigation prosecuted. It is well understood on all sides that when
such investigations are pursued in a spirit really recognized as
scientific, no merely utilitarian object is had in view. Indeed, it is
easy to see how the very fact of pursuing such an object would detract
from that thoroughness of examination which is the first condition of a
real advance. True science demands in its every research a completeness
far beyond what is apparently necessary for its practical applications.
The precision with which the astronomer seeks to measure the heavens
and the chemist to determine the relations of the ultimate molecules of
matter has no limit, except that set by the imperfections of the
instruments of research. There is no such division recognized as that
of useful and useless knowledge. The ultimate aim is nothing less than
that of bringing all the phenomena of nature under laws as exact as
those which govern the planetary motions.

Now the pursuit of any high object in this spirit commands from men of
wide views that respect which is felt towards all exertion having in
view more elevated objects than the pursuit of gain. Accordingly, it is
very natural to classify scientists and philosophers with the men who
in all ages have sought after learning instead of utility. But there is
another aspect of the question which will show the relations of
scientific advance to the practical affairs of life in a different
light. I make bold to say that the greatest want of the day, from a
purely practical point of view, is the more general introduction of the
scientific method and the scientific spirit into the discussion of
those political and social problems which we encounter on our road to a
higher plane of public well being. Far from using methods too refined
for practical purposes, what most distinguishes scientific from other
thought is the introduction of the methods of practical life into the
discussion of abstract general problems. A single inst