t not to omit noticing,
more particularly, because the whole of them appear to hold out
additional evidence of the little value which Nature attaches to
knowledge for its own sake, and of her decided approval of its
acquisition, only, or at least chiefly, when it is reduced to practice.

The first of these circumstances is, that Nature, in all cases, teaches
popularly--not philosophically; that is, she does not refuse to teach
one part of a connected series of phenomena, because the whole is not
yet perceived; nor does she neglect the use of the legitimate
application of an ascertained truth, because the principle or law by
which it acts remains as yet undiscovered. Her object evidently is, the
attainment of the most _useful_ part of the knowledge presented to her
pupil, and the _practical use_ of that part; leaving the investigation
of the other parts to the will or convenience of the person afterwards.
The infant accordingly made use of its knowledge, although it knew
nothing about the nature of flame; and the man and the mariner would
have done as they did, although they had known nothing at all about the
science of meteorology.

The second remark which we would here make is, that Nature, in most
cases, appears to put much more value on the inferences, or lessons,
drawn from the knowledge we have acquired, than she does upon the
knowledge itself. For example, in the case of the infant burning its
finger, the circumstance itself will soon be forgotten; but the
inference, or the impression acquired by its means, will remain. And
when at any subsequent period it avoids fire or flame, its mind is not
so much occupied by the abstract truth that flame will burn, as by the
lesson learned from that truth, that it should not meddle with it. This
inference it now practically applies to its present situation. That the
abstract truth,--the knowledge originally derived from the fact,--is
included in the lesson, may be quite true; but what we wish at present
more particularly to point out is, that _it is seldom adverted to by the
infant_. The inference,--the lesson which the truth suggested,--is all
that the child thought of. That alone is the fabric which Nature has
been employed in rearing; and the original truth has been used merely as
scaffolding for the purpose. The edifice itself, accordingly, having
been completed, the scaffolding is allowed to fall, as having answered
its design.

The same conclusion may be come to, by