of attempting to substitute for that simple love with which the votary
of science pursues his task, the calculations of what he is pleased to
call utility. The professed utilitarian is unfortunately, in most
cases, the very last man to see the occult sources from which useful
results are derived. He admires the flower, but is ignorant of the
conditions of its growth. The scientific man must approach Nature in
his own way; for if you invade his freedom by your so-called practical
considerations, it may be at the expense of those qualities on which
his success as a discoverer depends. Let the self-styled practical
man look to those from the fecundity of whose thought be, and
thousands like him, have sprung into existence. Were they inspired in
their first enquiries by the calculations of utility? Not one of
them. They were often forced to live low and lie hard, and to seek
compensation for their penury in the delight which their favourite
pursuits afforded them.

In the words of one well qualified to speak upon this subject, 'I say
not merely look at the pittance of men like John Dalton, or the
voluntary starvation of the late Graff; but compare what is considered
as competency or affluence by your Faradays, Liebigs, and Herschels,
with the expected results of a life of successful commercial
enterprise: then compare the amount of mind put forth, the work done
for society in either case, and you will be constrained to allow that
the former belong to a class of workers who, properly speaking, are
not paid, and cannot be paid for their work, as indeed it is of a sort
to which no payment could stimulate.'

But while the scientific investigator, standing upon the frontiers of
human knowledge, and aiming at the conquest of fresh soil from the
surrounding region of the unknown, makes the discovery of truth his
exclusive object for the time, he cannot but feel the deepest interest
in the practical application of the truth discovered. There is
something ennobling in the triumph of Mind over Matter. Apart even
from its uses to society, there is something elevating in the idea of
Man having tamed that wild force which flashes through the telegraphic
wire, and made it the minister of his will. Our attainments in these
directions appear to be commensurate with our needs. We had already
subdued horse and mule, and obtained from them all the service which
it was in their power to render: we must either stand still, or find