{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_34771/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_34771","id":"gutenberg_34771","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34771","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Science - Physics","Ethics","Progress","Science"],"text":"Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Keith Edkins and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPage numbers enclosed by curly braces (example: {25}) have been\nincorporated to facilitate the use of the Table of Contents.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nTHE SCIENTIFIC BASIS\n\nOF\n\nNATIONAL PROGRESS,\n\nINCLUDING THAT OF MORALITY.\n\n\n\nG. GORE, L.L.D., F.R.S.,\n\n_Author of \"The Art of Scientific Discovery;\"\n\"The Principles and Practice of Electro-deposition;\"\n\"The Art of Electro-metallurgy;\" &c._\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNATIONS ADVANCE BY NEW KNOWLEDGE.\n\n\n\nWILLIAMS AND NORGATE,\n\n14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON;\nAND 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH.\n1882.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nTo the President (the Rev. N. Watson, F.R.S.), the Vice Presidents, the\nCouncil and Members of the Birmingham Philosophical Society, I dedicate the\nfollowing small treatise, in appreciation of the fact, that although only a\nyoung Society, they have certified in a substantial manner the views\npersistently advocated by me respecting the National importance of\nScientific Investigation, and have shown so intelligent an example of\ndevotion to public welfare by establishing a Fund for the Endowment of\noriginal Scientific Research.\n\n  GEORGE GORE.\n\n  _The Institute of Scientific Research,_\n  _Birmingham._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nTHE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF NATIONAL PROGRESS.\n\n------\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n------\n\n  PREFACE.\n\n  CHAPTER I.                                                PAGE\n\n  THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF MATERIAL PROGRESS                    1\n\n  CHAPTER II.\n\n  THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF MENTAL AND MORAL PROGRESS           83\n\n  CHAPTER III.\n\n  NEW TRUTH, AND ITS GENERAL RELATION TO HUMAN PROGRESS      157\n\n  CHAPTER IV.\n\n  THE PROMOTION OF ORIGINAL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH              170\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nTHE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF NATIONAL PROGRESS.\n\n------\n\nNEW KNOWLEDGE IMPARTS NEW POWER.\n\n------\n\nPREFACE.\n\nAs there exists at the present time in this country a considerable degree\nof uneasiness in the public mind respecting our ability to maintain our\nposition in the race of progress, and as our future success as a nation\ndepends largely upon science, it is desirable to call attention to the\ngreat public importance of _new_ scientific knowledge, and to the means of\npromoting its development.\n\nAlthough the illustrations given in this book of the importance of such\nknowledge to mankind, constitute but a small fraction of the number which\nmight be adduced, they are sufficient to show that by the neglect of\nscientific investigation, we are sacrificing our welfare as a nation to an\nenormous extent.\n\nThe greatest obstacle to the discovery of new knowledge in this country,\nlies in a wide spread ignorance of the dependence of human welfare upon\nscientific research. I propose therefore to show in a brief manner, that\nthe essential starting-point of human progress, lies in scientific\ndiscovery; also that new truths are evolved by original research made in\naccordance with scientific methods; and to illustrate these statements by\nexamples; also to point out how such research can be encouraged.\n\nThe book is divided into four chapters, viz.: _1st._ The Scientific basis\nof Material progress: _2nd._ The Scientific basis of Mental and Moral\nprogress: _3rd._ New truth and its relation to Human progress: and _4th._\nThe Promotion of original Scientific Research. As the object of the book is\nonly to call attention to the vast importance of _new_ truth, as as a\nfundamental source of advance, and how to promote the discovery of it, the\nessay is written as briefly as possible, and is not offered in any sense as\na complete exposition of the subject, especially the section relating to\nthe Scientific basis of Morality.\n\nThe leading idea of the Book is that present knowledge only enables us to\nmaintain our present state, that national _progress_ is the result of _new_\nideas, and that the chief source of new ideas is original research.[1] That\nas _advance_ has its origin in _new_ knowledge; unless new discoveries are\nmade, new inventions and improvements must sooner or later cease. Another\nprominent idea is, that truth is essentially the same in all divisions of\nknowledge, and that the mental powers and processes employed in detecting\nit are the same in all subjects.\n\nFor reasons stated in the text, the influence of scientific discovery upon\nmental and moral progress are treated together. Notwithstanding the far\ngreater importance of the mental and moral advantages of new truths, the\nbook treats chiefly of the pecuniary and material gains to mankind; mainly\nbecause the latter are more easily understood and appreciated, the chapter\nhowever on \"The Scientific Basis of Mental and Moral progress,\" indicates\nin a very brief and imperfect manner, the vast importance of new scientific\nknowledge to mankind, as a source of mental and moral advancement.\n\nThe chief object of this book is to disseminate more correct ideas\nrespecting the importance of _new_ positive knowledge, and the duties of\nsociety in relation to it; and a further object is to assist in maintaining\nBirmingham in the front rank of intellectual, social and moral advance, in\naccordance with its motto \"Forward.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n{1}\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n------\n\nTHE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF MATERIAL PROGRESS.\n\nDuring the last one hundred years this nation has advanced with unexampled\nspeed. More wealth has been accumulated by Englishmen since the\ncommencement of the present century, than in all preceding time since the\nperiod of Julius Caesar; one of the causes of this has been the discovery of\nnew truths of science, and their subservience to useful purposes by means\nof invention. The great manufacturing success of this country has been\nlargely due to those applications of science, which have enabled us to\nutilise our abundant stores of coal and iron-ore, in steam engines,\nmachinery, and a multitude of mechanical, physical, and chemical processes;\nalso to the discovery of electro-magnetism and its application in the\nelectric-telegraph, etc. And had it not been for these and other\nadaptations of scientific knowledge, we should have competed in vain with\nthe cheaper labour and longer days of toil of continental nations. Other\ngreat causes, such as our insular position, suitable climate, freedom, {2}\ngeographical position, etc., etc. have, however, also contributed to the\nresult. Commerce also in its turn has done vast things for mankind.\n\nThe purely scientific knowledge we possess was discovered almost entirely\nby means of original research, and to only a small extent by persons\nengaged in industrial occupations. Probably not two per cent. of all the\nimportant discoveries in pure science were made in manufactories; the\nscientific experiments which are made in such establishments are usually of\nthe nature of invention, not of discovery, and are not often published,\nbecause it is a usual object with men of business to retain as much as\npossible of the pecuniary benefit of their labours to themselves. Whilst it\nis the object of a business man to monopolise special knowledge; that of\nthe scientific man is to diffuse it, in order that all mankind may be\nbenefited and helped to improve.\n\nDiscoveries in science are, however, occasionally made by practical men\nengaged in technical employments. The hydro-electric machine originated in\nthis way, a man at Newcastle was attending to a steam boiler, and found\nthat he received electric shocks when he touched the boiler. This\ncircumstance was investigated by his employer, Mr. Armstrong, a scientific\nman, and led him to construct the hydro-electric machine. The accumulation\nof electricity in submarine telegraph cables was first observed at the\nGutta-Percha Company's works {3} London. It was noticed on testing a cable\nby means of a voltaic battery (the cable being submerged in water) that\ndischarges of electricity flowed from the cable after the battery was\nremoved; this circumstance was investigated by Faraday, and led to\nimprovements in submarine telegraphy. In each of these instances the same\ngeneral method as that used by scientific discoverers was however employed,\nviz., new experiments were made (though not intentionally) by putting\nmatter and its forces under new conditions, and new results were observed.\n\nNearly all great modern scientific discoveries have been made by teachers\nof science and others, who spend a large portion of their lives in\nexperimental investigation, searching for new truths, and not by persons\nwho have hit upon them by accident. The greatest discoveries in physics and\nchemistry in modern times, were made chiefly by such men as Newton,\nCavendish, Scheele, Priestley, Oersted, Volta, Davy and Faraday: all great\nworkers in science.\n\nIt is either by observing matter and its forces under new conditions or\nfrom a new aspect, that nearly all discoveries are made; thus Priestley\nplaced some oxide of mercury in an inverted glass vessel, and heated it by\nmeans of the Sun's rays and a lens, and discovered Oxygen. This substance\nwas nearly discovered by Eck de Sulsbach three hundred years before; he\nheated six pounds of an amalgam {4} of silver and mercury, and converted\nthe latter metal into a red oxide like cinnabar, and he remarked, \"a spirit\nis united with the metal, and what proves it is this, that this artificial\ncinnabar submitted to distillation, disengages that spirit.\" The \"spirit\"\nwas evidently oxygen.\n\nSome discoveries are made by observing the phenomena of bodies placed under\nspecial conditions by those operations of nature over which we have little\nor no control. All our knowledge of Astronomy, and much of that of geology\nand physiology, was acquired in this way.\n\nNearly all modern discoveries of importance in physics or chemistry require\nlong and difficult investigations to be made in order to completely\nestablish their truth. When Crookes discovered Thallium, he saw the first\nsign of its existence in a momentary flash of green light in a\nspectroscope, but he had to expend upon the subject several years of most\ndifficult labour, and a considerable sum of money, in order to prove the\ncorrectness of his suspicion that he had discovered a new metal. M. Lecocq\nde Boisbaudran discovered the metal Gallium and Bunsen discovered Rubidium\nand Caesium in a similar manner.\n\nDiscoveries in science, are usually made, not by trying to obtain some\nvaluable commercial or technical result, but by making new, reliable, and\nsystematic investigations. By investigating the chemical action of\nelectricity upon saline bodies, {5} Sir Humphrey Davy isolated sodium and\nmagnesium, which has led to the establishment at Patricroft near\nManchester, of the manufactures of those metals. By the abstract researches\nof Hofmann and others upon Coal-tar, many new compounds were discovered,\nand the extremely profitable manufacture of the splendid coal-tar dyes was\noriginated.\n\nScientific discovery is the most valuable in its ultimate practical results\nwhen it is pursued from a love of truth as the ruling motive, and any\nattempt to make it more directly and quickly remunerative by trying to\ndirect it to immediately practical objects, decreases the importance of its\nresults, diminishes the spirit of inquiry, and sooner or later reduces it\nto the character of invention. The greatest practical realities of this age\nhad their origin in a search after important truths entirely irrespective\nof what utilities they might lead to.\n\nI do not intend by these remarks to imply that any new trades or\nimprovements in manufactures have been or can be effected without the\nlabours of inventors and practical men, but that there should be a more\njudicious division of labour: one man to discover new truths, another to\nput them into the form of practical inventions, and the business man to\nwork them; because it is proved by experience, that in nearly all cases\nthese different kinds of labour require men of widely different habits of\nmind, and {6} that the faculties of discovery, invention, and practical\nworking are very rarely united in one man.\n\nScientific investigations however, made in a manufactory, for the purpose\nof ascertaining the various sources of loss of materials, the circumstances\nwhich affect the amount or quality of the product; or made with the object\nof substituting cheaper or more suitable materials, or for varying their\nproportions, or for many other kindred objects, have in many cases resulted\nin great benefit to the manufacturer, and have formed the basis of\nsuccessful patents. Some of the large brewers, chemical manufacturers,\ncandle companies, and many others, constantly employ scientific men in this\nway to examine their materials, processes and products, and keep them\nacquainted with the progress of discovery and invention in relation to\ntheir own particular trades.\n\nNo art or manufacture is so perfect as to be exempt from the influence of\ndiscovery and invention, and no man can produce so perfect an article but\nthat, by the aid of science, a better may be produced. Science and trade\nare mutually dependent, without the assistance of science, trade would be\nunable to supply our daily increasing wants, and without the pecuniary\nsupport of trade, science would languish and decay.\n\n\"As long as arts and manufactures are left to be directed and improved by\nsimple experience, their progress is extremely slow, but directly\nscientific knowledge is successfully applied to them, they {7} bound\nforward with astonishing speed.\" Look at the art of taking portraits; for\nhundreds of years it remained entirely in the hands of oil and water-colour\npainters with but little progress in rapidity of production, but directly\nscience was applied to it in the form of photography, its advance in this\nrespect became amazing. Fifty years ago photography was almost unknown, but\nimmediately Messrs. Daguerre and Talbot, in 1844, made known their\nprocesses, the new art began to advance, and so rapid has been its\nprogress, that at the present time many thousand persons are employed in\nits exercise, and millions of portraits have been taken with an accuracy\nand at a cost quite beyond the reach of the old method.\n\nMany persons hardly know the difference between science and art; a still\ngreater number cannot readily distinguish between a concrete science and a\npure one; and nearly all persons confound discovery with invention. A\nscience may be conveniently defined as a collection of facts and general\nprinciples which are to be learned; an art as a collection of rules which\nare to be followed:--Art therefore is applied science; and every art also\nhas a basis in science, whether that basis has been discovered or not.\nScientific principles underlie not only manufacturing processes, but also\nsculpture, music, poetry and painting.\n\nDiscoveries differ also from inventions: a scientific discovery is a newly\nfound truth in science, which in the great majority of cases is not in the\nform of {8} applied knowledge. An invention is usually a combination and\napplication to some desired purpose, of scientific truths which have been\npreviously discovered. When Oersted first observed a magnetic needle move\nby means of a current of electricity, he made a scientific discovery; but\nwhen Wheatstone and Cooke applied Oersted's discovery in their telegraph\nfrom Paddington to Slough, they made an invention. The success of the\nelectro-plating process was dependent upon knowledge previously discovered.\nMr. Wright, a surgeon in Birmingham, was led to the invention of the use of\ncyanide of potassium in electro-plating and gilding, by reading in\nScheele's \"Chemical Essay\" (p.p. 405 and 406), that \"if after these calces\"\n(_i.e._, the cyanides of gold and silver) \"have been precipitated, a\nsufficient quantity of precipitating liquor be added, in order to\nredissolve them, the solution remains clear in the open air, and in this\nstate the aerial acid\" (_i.e._, carbonic acid of the air) \"does not\nreprecipitate the metallic calx.\"\n\nImmediately a discovery is effected it is made public, and is afterwards\nincorporated in the ordinary text books of science, ready for the use of\ninventors; and in this way such books have become filled with valuable\nknowledge acquired by researches in past times. All this knowledge (which\nhas cost millions of pounds and a vast amount of intellect and labour) has\nbeen given by its discoverers freely to the nation. Some idea of the number\nof scientific {9} researches which have been made since the year 1800, may\nbe obtained from the fact, that a mere list of their titles, with the names\nof the authors, occupies eight large quarto volumes, of about one thousand\npages each, compiled and published at a cost of about ten thousand pounds,\nby the British Government and the Royal Society.\n\nIn discovery we search for new phenomena, their causes and relations; in\ninvention we seek to produce new effects, or to produce known effects in an\nimproved manner. The objects of the scientific discoverer are, new truth\nand greater accuracy; whereas those of the inventor, are increased\nusefulness and economy of results. The ancients classed inventors with the\ngods, because they considered them great benefactors to the human race.\nDiscoverers may properly be viewed as priests and prophets of truth,\nbecause they both reveal new knowledge to mankind, and predict with\ncertainty coming events.\n\nA man cannot usually invent an improvement unless he possesses scientific\nknowledge, and, for that knowledge he must in nearly all cases resort to a\nscientific book or teacher. The great practical value of new scientific\nknowledge is proved by the fact, that when scientific discoveries are\npublished, there are numerous inventors and practical men, who immediately\nendeavour to apply them to useful purposes. Since the first application of\ncoal-tar to the production of dyes, every discovery in that {10} branch of\nchemistry has been closely watched for a similar purpose.\n\nA complete account of the growth and development of scientific discoveries\nand inventions would form an extensive history, and would include numerous\ninstances of experiments attended by results which, sooner or later,\naffected all mankind. Take that of phosphorus, for example. The first\nevidence of the existence of that substance was obtained by the Saracens in\nthe eighth century. Achild Bechil distilled a powdered mixture of charcoal,\nclay, lime, and dried extract of urine, and obtained a substance which\nshone in the dark \"like a good moon;\" that substance was phosphorus. The\ndiscovery contained in the results of that little dirty and stinking\nexperiment was the germ or seed of all the subsequent developments and\napplications of phosphorus. About the year 1669 Bechil's experiment was\nfurther developed by Brandt, a merchant of Hamburg, and the publication of\nthe wonderful properties of the substance produced a great sensation in his\nfellow-citizens. \"There was then cried nothing but triumph and victory\namong the chymists. Those good people erected already in their thoughts so\nmany hospitals and poor-houses that no beggar should more molest any man in\nthe streets, made great legacies, and pious causes, and what not else.\"\n\"Besides, the other alchymists did encourage him yet more, and desisted not\nto make him believe how this was the same fiery ghost of {11} Moses that in\nthe beginning moved upon the water, yea, his splendid shining face: the\nfiery pillar in the desert, that secret fire of the altar wherewith Moses\nburned the golden calf before he strewed it upon the fire and made it\npotable.\"\n\nThe experiment of Brandt was repeated by Kunckel before the courts of\nSaxony and Brandenburg, although it was not a very delicate or agreeable\nexhibition, \"because the anctuous and daubing oyliness was not yet\naccurately separated from it, and without doubt it was very stinking.\"\nBrandt's process was further developed by Boyle, and published in the\nPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, in the year 1692-3; and\nphosphorus was afterwards obtained in larger quantity and in a purer state\nby Hanckwitz, a chemist in Southampton Street, Strand, and sold by him at\nthree pounds sterling per ounce. Its price at present is less than three\nshillings per pound.\n\nMargraaf, Fourcroy, Vauquelin, and Dr. Slare also extended our knowledge of\nthe substance; Gahn, in 1769, made the important discovery of phosphorus in\nbones, and Scheele immediately devised the process now in use by our\nmanufacturers for extracting it from that substance. The commencement of\nthe use of phosphorus for the purpose of getting a light occurred about the\nyear 1803, but it was not until the year 1833 that the invention of\nphosphorus matches became commercially successful. The use of such matches\nis now universal, and it has {12} been estimated that the daily consumption\nof them in Great Britain alone amounts to two hundred and fifty millions,\nor more than eight matches per day for each individual in the kingdom.\n\n\"There is nothing on the Earth so small that it may not produce great\nthings.\" The most abstract and apparently trivial experiments in original\nresearch have in some cases led to inventions and results of national and\neven world-wide importance. The contractions of a frog's leg in the\nexperiments of Galvani, and the movements of a magnetic needle in those of\nOersted, have already led to the expenditure of hundreds of millions of\npounds in laying telegraph wires all over the earth, and to an immense\nextension of international intercourse. But the original experiment of\nOersted was not discovered without labour, it was only arrived at after\nmany years of research.\n\nThe saying that \"all great things have had small beginnings,\" is true, not\nonly of electric telegraphs, but also of the great trade of\nelectro-plating, and of the magneto-electric machine which is now largely\nused instead of the voltaic battery. After Volta had made his small and\napparently unimportant experiments on the electricity produced by metals\nand liquids, various persons tried the effect of that electricity upon\nmetallic solutions. Brugnatelli, in 1805, found that two silver medals\nbecame gilded in a solution of gold by passing the electricity through\nthem. Mr. Henry Bessemer, in 1834, coated various {13} lead ornaments with\ncopper by using a solution of copper in a similar manner. And in 1836 Mr.\nDe la Rue found that copies might be taken in copper of engraved\ncopper-plates by the electro-depositing process. Faraday discovered\nmagneto-electricity in the year 1831, by rotating a disc of copper between\nthe poles of a magnet, and he has stated that the first successful result\nhe obtained was so small that he could hardly detect it. This simple\nexperiment was the origin of the magneto-electric machine, and many of\nthese machines are now used for producing the electric light, and for\ndepositing nickel, copper, silver, and gold, instead of by the voltaic\nbattery. These, and other engines, thermic, magnetic, electric, &c, will\nprobably, ere long, be constructed on as large a scale, and as many in\nnumber, as the present steam engine.\n\nThe discovery in olden times of the attractive properties of a fragment of\niron ore, was the basis of the invention of the mariner's compass, which\ngreatly improved navigation, and led to nearly all the chief maritime\ndiscoveries which have since been made. The sciences of magnetism and\ngeometry form the basis of the art of navigation, and have thus made our\ngreat foreign commerce possible. The discovery of magnetism enabled sailing\nvessels to venture freely out of sight of land, and to traverse the wide\nocean with even greater safety than to sail near the shore. By its means\nColumbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean and discovered America. By its {14}\nmeans also, Vasco de Gama sailed round the Cape of Good Hope and discovered\na new route to India; and in the year 1500, another Portuguese Captain,\nCabral, was driven across the Atlantic, discovered Brazil, and was enabled\nby the aid of the magnet, to send back a ship to Lisbon with news of the\ndiscovery. By its assistance also Magellan discovered Patagonia and the\nSouth Pacific Ocean; and by the completion of that voyage the Earth was\nfirst circumnavigated and proved to be a globe.\n\nThe geographical discoveries of the Portuguese, made by means of the\nmagnet, produced great national results; they profoundly changed the\nbalance of power and wealth among European nations, by changing the\ndirection of navigation and of the great streams of commerce between Europe\nand the East. They gave a mortal blow to Italy and the cities of the\nMediterranean, by transferring Eastern commerce to Spain and Portugal: and\nEgypt ceased to be the greatest route of commerce from Europe to India.\n\nA singular contract relating to geographical research was made in the\nfifteenth century, between King Alphonso, of Portugal, and Ferdinand Gomez,\nof Lisbon, by which the latter engaged to navigate a ship and explore the\ncoast of Africa, and to discover not less than three hundred miles of coast\nevery year, the measurement to be made from Sierra Leone. {15}\n\nScientific discovery has in all ages been a most powerful agent of\ncivilization and human progress. The discovery of the black liquid which a\nsolution of nutgalls produces when mixed with green vitriol, led to the\ninvention of writing ink; and a knowledge of the properties of ink and\npaper prepared the way for the invention of printing, by means of which\ntruth and learning have spread all over the earth.\n\nThe apparently insignificant property possessed by amber, of attracting\nfeathers immediately after it has been rubbed, was known twenty-four\nhundred years ago, and afterwards led to the discovery of electricity. In\nlater times, Dr. Franklin, by means of a kite, charged a bottle with\nlightning, examined it, and proved lightning and electricity to be\nidentical. This knowledge, joined to the further discovery, that\nelectricity would pass freely through metals, led to the modern invention\nof the lightning conductor, by means of which all our great buildings,\nships, lighthouses, arsenals, and powder magazines are protected from\nlightning.\n\n\"Coming events cast their shadows before them:\" the discovery of the\ninstant transmission of electricity along wires by Stephen Gray and\nWheeler, about the year 1729, fore-shadowed the invention of the electric\ntelegraph. About the year 1819, Oersted, a Danish philosopher, after\nfifteen years of study and experiment, to ascertain the relation of\nelectricity to magnetism, discovered that if a freely suspended magnetic\nneedle was supported parallel and near to {16} a wire, and an electric\ncurrent then passed through the wire, the needle moved and placed itself at\nright angles to the current. This discovery, coupled with the previous one\nof the electric conductivity of metals, formed the indispensable basis of\nall our electric telegraphs.\n\nOriginal research is very productive of new industries and inventions. The\ndiscoveries made by Volta, Faraday, and many other investigators, have led\nto the process of electro-plating, the use of electric lights for\nlighthouses, and for ocean steamships, and the great system of telegraphs.\nThose of Davy, Wedgwood, and others, respecting the action of light upon\nsalts of silver, have resulted in the modern processes of photography,\nwhich are now in use almost everywhere. The discovery of zinc, by\nParacelsus, has been followed by the use of that metal in galvanic\nbatteries, and the great use of \"galvanized\" iron for telegraph wires, for\nroofing, and many other purposes. The discovery of nickel, by Cronstedt,\nhas led to the great modern use of that metal in electro-plating, and to\nthat of German silver in the construction of electro-plated and other\narticles. The discovery of chlorine, by Scheele, formed the basis of nearly\nall our modern processes of bleaching cotton and other fabrics. The\ndiscovery of gun-cotton and nitro-glycerine has led to the use of those\nsubstances in blasting rocks and in warfare. The discovery of oxygen, by\nPriestley, has enabled us to understand and improve in a great number of\n{17} ways the numerous manufacturing, agricultural, and other processes in\nwhich that substance operates. Priestley made many experiments also on the\nabsorption of gases by water, and proposed the resulting liquids as\nbeverages; and those apparently trifling experiments have since expanded\ninto the large manufactures of aerated waters. The discoveries of\ngutta-percha and india-rubber were indispensible to the great applications\nof those substances in telegraph cables, and in a multitude of useful\narticles. The discovery of chloroform and anaesthetics has led to their use\nfor the purpose of alleviating human suffering. The discovery, by Sir Isaac\nNewton, of the decomposition of light by means of a prism, has led in\nrecent times to the invention of the spectroscope; to the use of that\ninstrument in the Bessemer steel process; to the discovery of a number of\nnew metals, thallium, rubidium, caesium, indium, and several others, and to\nthe most wonderful discovery of the composition of the Sun and distant\nheavenly bodies.\n\nEven the invention of the steam-engine was partly a consequence of previous\nresearches made by scientific discoverers. Watt, himself, stated in his\npamphlet, entitled \"A plain Story,\" that he could not have perfected his\nengine had not Dr. Black and others previously discovered what amount of\nheat was rendered latent by the conversion of water into steam. \"Each\nmechanical advance in the steam-engine has been preceded by and the result\nof the {18} discovery of some physical law or property of steam.\" \"The\nfirst step in the invention of the steam-engine was the experimental\nresearch and the discoveries of the properties of steam by Hooke, Boyle,\nand Papin.\"[2] Had not the steam-engine been developed, it is clear that\nrailways, steamships, machinery, and all the other numerous uses to which\nthat instrument is now applied, would have been almost unknown. The\nintroduction of the steam-engine enabled abandoned Cornish mines to be\nrelieved of water, and to be worked to much greater depths. The discoveries\nof nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, oil of vitriol, and washing soda, by the\nalchemists and early chemists in their researches, led to the erection of\nthe numerous great manufactories of those substances which now exist in\nEngland and in other civilized countries. There is probably not an art,\nmanufacture, or process, which is not largely due to scientific discovery,\nand if we trace them back to their source we nearly always find them\noriginate in scientific research.\n\nSo far has scientific discovery, and its practical applications to human\nbenefit by invention, now progressed, that every one considers this to be,\n_par excellence_, the scientific age. And as discovery and invention\ncontinue to progress with accelerated speed, we are encouraged to hope, not\nonly that scientific principles will ultimately be universally recognised\nas {19} the regulators of all technical industry, but also as a fundamental\nbasis of morality.[3]\n\n\"It is true that some processes of manufacture have not been consequences\nof abstract scientific discovery--that they originally resulted from\nalterations made in the rudest appliances, and that they have been directed\nand improved by the results of simple experience. For ages past we derived\nthe benefit of scientific principles without a knowledge of their\nexistence. We trod in the beaten paths of experience ignorant of the truth\nthat we were acting in unison with fixed and certain laws. Numerous arts\nand processes were in extensive operation long before the principles\ninvolved in them were at all understood. The arts of enamelling and of iron\nsmelting were known hundreds of years before we were acquainted with the\nprinciples of chemistry. In some rare instances also the recorded results\nof daily experience in practical matters, tabulated and studied, have\nultimately led to the discovery of scientific laws; but all this is merely\nthe making use of our ordinary experience for the advancement of knowledge,\ninstead of making _special experiments_ for the purpose.\"\n\nMany of our processes and manufactures, those of glass and copper for\nexample, are of such great antiquity, it is impossible to ascertain with\ncertainty the special circumstances under which they originated; but after\nwe have fully considered the ways in which {20} various modern trades and\nmanufactures have first arisen, we shall come to the conclusion that all\nmanufactures and improvements in manufacturing processes, must have been\nfirst produced by the same general means, viz., new observations, although\nthe special circumstances connected with the origin of each were different.\n\nLet us consider German-silver and its manufacture. That substance is an\nalloy of copper, zinc, and nickel; it owes its peculiar whiteness or\n\"silver-like\" appearance to the latter metal, and cannot be made without\nit; it is certain, therefore, that by whatever means that metal or the\nalloy was discovered, the discovery was the origin of the German-silver\nmanufacture, and was essential to all manufactures, processes, or\nappliances in which German-silver, nickel, or any of its compounds are\nused. Nickel was discovered by Cronstedt during the year 1751, and its\ncompounds were chiefly investigated by English and foreign chemists.\nCronstedt found it as a peculiar metal in the mineral called kupfernickel,\nwhilst chemically examining the properties of that substance. The general\nmethod by which he discovered it was careful experiment, observation, and\nstudy of the properties of matter.\n\nIt is stated that the Chinese and other nations made alloys of nickel long\nbefore nickel itself was known to be a distinct metal; they had found, by\nexperiment, that when ores of copper and zinc were mixed with a particular\nkind of mineral and smelted, {21} a white alloy was obtained; but this also\nproves the general statement already made, that the German-silver\nmanufacture was originated by means of new observations. It was by a more\nskilful, but similar mode of procedure that Cronstedt isolated the metal\nitself, and thus laid a definite basis of improvements in the manufacture\nof its alloys.\n\nNo art is probably more antique, or remained longer exempt from the\ninfluence of science, than that of match making and obtaining a light. Many\nadult persons can remember the primitive and old-fashioned tinder-box,\nwhich had passed, with its flint and steel, from one generation to another\nwithout any material improvement. Phosphorus, it is true, was definitely\ndiscovered at least as early as the year 1669, but it was not applied to\nmatch making till about 1833. Since then the progress of invention has been\nso rapid that there are now numerous manufactories which produce many\nmillions per day of phosphorus matches; for instance, those of M. Pollak,\nat Vienna, and of M. Fuerth, in Bohemia, consume together more than 20 tons\nof phosphorus annually, and give employment to about 6,000 persons, and as\none pound of phosphorus suffices for about one million German matches (or\n600,000 English ones), those two makers alone produce the astonishing\nnumber of 44,800 millions of matches yearly.\n\nJudging by means of the experience already acquired, we cannot reasonably\nexpect that {22} discoveries fraught with such momentous consequences as\nthose of magnetism or of galvanism and electro-magnetism, will be made very\noften. The progress of scientific discovery is gradual; we have at present\nbut mere glimpses of the new world of truth which is being revealed to us\nby means of research; we are only at the very commencement of a knowledge\nof the inherent properties of matter and its forces, and consequently the\nmethods we employ to utilize them are extremely imperfect. Matter has a\ngeneral property of subdividing and transmuting forces; if we apply one\nforce to a substance or machine, it produces many effects, not only those\nwe want, but those also we do not want; when we heat a piece of iron, the\nheat produces a number of changes, mechanical, electric, magnetic, and\nchemical, and it is partly by means of what is termed the \"internal\nresistance\" of bodies that these effects are produced, and we know but\nlittle of that property. The explosive action in a gas engine produces not\nonly the mechanical force we desire, but also a quantity of heat we do not\nwant, and at a cost of a portion of the gas. In a similar manner, in the\nsteam-engine the largest portion of the heat of the coal is converted into\nforces which are lost; a large amount of it is uselessly expended in\nwarming the machine itself and the surrounding atmosphere; much also is\nlost by friction.\n\nThat \"knowledge is power\" is an old maxim, but that _new knowledge is new\npower_ is a new maxim {23} which scientific discovery has impressed upon\nus. By means of discoveries we have acquired new powers; by those of\nelectricity we have acquired the ability of conversing with each other at\nunlimited distances, and by means of those in optics we are enabled to\nanalyse the composition, and perceive some of the physical changes of the\nmost distant heavenly bodies. As our ignorance is probably much greater\nthan our knowledge, more inventions also, and extensions of human power,\nmust ultimately result from discovering new qualities of bodies, than by\napplying to useful purposes their already known properties.\n\nExperience in science has already shown that it is by means of invention\nbased upon _new_ discoveries that the greatest utilities are obtained,\nrather than by the exercise of invention upon knowledge acquired long ago.\nThe information obtained by research in former times has been largely\nexhausted for the purposes of invention by modern inventors, and what we\nvery greatly require now is _new_ knowledge. Experience in science also\nleads us to believe that the extent of possible discovery is as boundless\nas Nature, and that an immense amount of new knowledge may yet be\ndiscovered. Every discoverer of repute could supply a copious list of\ninvestigations yet to be made.\n\nAn infinite number of questions in pure science remain to be decided by\nmeans of research. Is Electricity decomposible like radiant heat or light?\n{24} Are the \"elementary substances\" really compound bodies? Are they all\ncompounds of Hydrogen? Are they all decomposed by very high temperatures,\nas compound substances are \"disassociated\" by less elevated temperatures?\nUnder what conditions is Fluorine isolated? Do gases transmit heat by\nconduction? Under what circumstances is Light converted into Electricity?\nand into Magnetism? What is the actual size of an atom of Hydrogen? Does\nLight (without heat) expand bodies? What is the actual molecular\narrangement of the atoms of Hydrogen at 60 Fahrenheit? What is the cause of\nthe absence of metalloids in the Sun? What are the properties of Fluorine?\nWhat is the vapour density of Caesium? Under what circumstances is heat\nwholly converted into mechanical power? &c., &c. All these discoveries when\nmade, will probably, sooner or later, be productive of practical benefits\nto mankind.\n\nNearly every manufacturer in this country is deriving, from scientific\ndiscoveries, advantages for which there has been little or no payment made\nto the discoverers. The makers of coal-tar-dyes, and dyers of wool and\nsilk, are using Mitscherlich's discovery of nitro-benzine. Manufacturers of\npicric acid and \"French purple\" have enjoyed the fruits of the labours of\nDr. Stenhouse. Makers of chlorate of potash and cyanide of potassium are\nprofiting largely by the discoveries of Scheele, Gay-Lussac, and others.\nAll the percussion cap makers {25} are indebted to Howard and Brugnatelli\nfor fulminating silver. Railway-contractors, quarry-proprietors, and\nothers, use nitro-glycerine discovered by Sobrero. Iron smelters are\nbenefiting by the discovery of Bunsen, that 42 per cent. of the heat of the\nfuel was lost as combustible gases--these gases are now utilized.\nTelegraphists and electro-platers are also indebted to him for his voltaic\nbattery. The producers of metallic magnesium owe the origin of their\nprocess to him as being the first to convert it into wire and make known\nits great light giving power. Multitudes of persons now use his well-known\n\"Bunsen's burner\" for heating, cooking, and other operations. The various\ntelegraph companies, copper smelters, and makers of copper telegraph wire,\nare using Dr. Matthiessen's discovery of the influence of impurities on the\nelectric conducting power of copper. Phosphorus-makers are reaping the\nreward of the labours of Gahn and Scheele. The makers of electro-plate and\nGerman silver are deriving profits from the labours of Faraday, who\ninvestigated electrolysis; of Gay Lussac, who discovered cyanogen; and of\nCronstedt, who discovered nickel. Makers of Bessemer steel enjoy advantages\nderived from the spectrum discoveries of Kirchoff. Iron and copper\nsmelters, metallurgists in general, dyers, calico printers, bleachers,\nbrewers, makers of vinegar, red lead, varnishes, colours, soaps, green\nvitriol, phosphorus, oil-of-vitriol, and many others, are deriving benefit\nfrom the discoveries of Priestley and {26} Scheele. Physicians and their\npatients are receiving the reward of the labours of Soubeiran, Liebig, and\nDumas, in the discovery of chloroform; of the researches of Fourcroy,\nVauquelin, Pelletier, and others, in the discovery of quinine; and of many\nother chemists who discovered numerous remedial substances. By means of the\ndiscoveries of Oersted and others, embodied in the telegraph, manufacturers\nare enabled to anticipate the state of the markets and of the weather, and\neditors are enabled to obtain the earliest news.\n\nSuppose that Gay Lussac, in 1815, had not discovered cyanide of potassium,\nand that it had never been discovered, it is highly probable that the\nmanufacturing returns of Birmingham and Sheffield would be much less in\namount at the present time than they are, simply because there is no other\nknown substance with which the electro-plating of base metals with gold and\nsilver can be satisfactorily effected. Or suppose that sal-ammoniac,\nchloride of zinc, or other soldering agents had not been discovered, the\nextensive and so-called \"galvanizing\" process could not have been effected,\nbecause without those substances the iron articles immersed in the melted\nzinc would not have received an adhesive metallic coating.\n\nOn the other hand, science has in various cases rendered obsolete some\nmanufactures and superseded old customs, comforts and conveniences. We have\nceased, or almost so, to use tinder-boxes, snuffers, {27} sulphur matches,\nrush-lights, tallow candles, sedan chairs, stage coaches, the ancient\nwater-bucket and well, and even the comparatively modern pump; coal fires\nalso are gradually being superseded by fires of gas, and articles formed of\nsolid silver are now being replaced by those of electro-plate; canals have\nalso to some extent been supplanted by railways. But in all these cases\nscience has supplied us either with something better or more suited to our\npresent wants.\n\nThe great pecuniary benefits arising from the applications of science are\ngenerally reaped in the first instance by the great manufacturers,\nagriculturists, merchants, and capitalists. Countless fortunes have been\nmade by means of processes and manufactures based upon scientific\ndiscovery. The pecuniary benefits of calico printing, bleaching, dyeing; of\nthe great manufactures of cotton, iron, pottery, beer, sugar, glass,\nspirits, vinegar, gutta-percha, india-rubber, gun cotton, the numerous\nmetals, machinery, electro-plate, washing soda, German silver, brass,\nphosphorus, manures, the common acids, numerous chemicals, and a multitude\nof other substances and articles, have been extremely great. More than\neighteen hundred million pounds of sulphuric acid alone are manufactured in\nEurope yearly. The pecuniary advantages of the use of the electric\ntelegraph and railways to merchants, the gains of capitalists by monies\ninvested in railways, telegraphs, steam-ships, cotton-mills, gas-works,\n{28} iron shipbuilding, engineering, and other great applications of\nscience, have been enormous. The annual gas rental of London alone amounts\nto more than two millions sterling; and even in Birmingham the produce of\ngas is more than twenty-five hundred millions of cubic feet yearly. The\namount of capital expended in the construction of railways only in this\ncountry, has been estimated at more than seven hundred millions of pounds,\nand the total receipts upon British railways has reached forty-three\nmillions per annum. In the year 1875 our railways carried 200 million tons\nof goods, and consumed ten million tons of coal; the Great Northern Railway\nalone consumes 5,000 tons of coal each week. In the year 1877 there existed\nin the entire world about 198,000 miles of railway, the whole having been\nconstructed since the year 1825. In the year 1880 six hundred millions of\njourneys were made by passengers on British railways; and the stock of\nthose railways included 13,174 locomotives; 369,694 waggons, 28,717\npassenger carriages, and 22,712 other vehicles. The London and\nNorth-Western Railway Company alone possessed, in the year 1873, no less\nthan 1,900 locomotive engines, each of a value of nearly two thousand\npounds; 4,000 carriages and 36,000 waggons; and it has been estimated by\ncompetent authorities, that there are in the world 200,000 steam-engines,\nhaving a total power of twelve million horses, or 100 million men. The\nnumber of cotton spindles on the whole Earth is {29} estimated at about 711/4\nmillions. In the United States of America there are about five thousand\ntelegraph stations, and 75,000 miles of line, which transmit yearly about\n11,500,000 messages.--The telegrams of Great Britain number about\none-fourth of a million per week. The world's telegrams during the year\n1877 numbered nearly 130 millions; and the world's letters about 3,300\nmillions, or 91/4 millions each day. Even the little phosphorus match is\nbeing manufactured and consumed at a rate estimated at more than ten\nthousand millions daily.\n\nMuch of the wealth of this country, resulting from science, has been very\neasily obtained by its possessors. That acquired by means of our coal has\nespecially been obtained without commensurate effort. The amount of that\nsubstance raised in Great Britain during the year 1876 was 734 millions of\ntons. To draw upon a great stock of that mineral is like drawing money from\na bank, because coal, unlike any other abundant substance (except wood and\npetroline), contains in itself an immense store of energy, which is evolved\nas heat during combustion, and may be utilized. Each piece of coal contains\nsufficient energy to lift its own weight twenty-three hundred miles, but it\ncosts only a small proportion of that power to extract and raise it from\nthe mine. I do not mean by these remarks to imply that the wealth accruing\nfrom this great store of power in coal is derived chiefly by the owners of\ncoal mines. {30}\n\nThis acquisition of wealth without commensurate sacrifice is not an\nunqualified advantage; it constitutes a debt to nature, which upon the\ngreat principle of causation, and of equivalency of action and reaction,\nmust sooner or later be repaid. Judging from the infallibility of the\naction of those laws, and the signs of the times, this nation is now\nbeginning to repay in the form of emigration of trade to other lands, and\nof relatively less rapid national advance, the debt incurred by undue\npecuniary success. An excess of money or power obtained without equivalent\neffort, fails to properly develop the intelligence of its possessors, and\nnations have been hastened to ruin in this way. Our great success in\ngetting money has attracted many from the pursuit of knowledge, and our\nlove of knowledge has not increased as fast as our wealth. The wealth of\nthe upper classes has, by decoying from study undisciplined young men at\nour old Universities, kept down the general standard of scientific\ninstruction throughout the country, and, by leading to neglect of\nscientific research, is now retarding our progress in arts, manufactures,\ncommerce, and civilization. The consequent relative poverty of the working\nclasses is also producing similar effects by retarding education, and\ncontributing towards the great deficiency of skilled labour, of which our\ninventors, manufacturers, and others so strongly complain in the working of\ntheir scientific processes. Had a just share of the great amount of money,\ngained by the application of science to useful {31} purposes, been applied\nto the payment and maintenance of scientific discoverers and inventors, as\nit should have been, the general standard of scientific education would\nhave been higher, the poor would have had more employment and money, and\nthe happiness and civilization of all would have been greater.\n\nIn a usual way the greatest pecuniary benefits, arising from science,\nsooner or later go to enrich the possessors of land. The demand created for\ncoal, iron, lime, building-stone, and all the metals, by the industrial\napplications of science, has greatly increased the value of land under\nwhich those substances lie. The value of cultivated land has been\neverywhere increased by the discoveries of agricultural chemistry. Land has\nalso been required for railways in nearly all parts of the kingdom, and has\nthereby been considerably raised in value. Discoveries produce inventions,\ninventions give rise to processes and manufactures, the employment of\nworkmen and others, and the erection of workshops and dwellings, and these\nhave rapidly increased the value of building ground. In Lancashire the\nvalue of such ground has been greatly increased by the inventions of the\nsteam-engine and machinery, the discovery of chlorine, and their\napplication to cotton manufacture. In all the great manufacturing\ndistricts, and in all the chief centres of industry, a similar result has\noccurred. Wherever a railway has been constructed, the value of land has\nalso increased in {32} consequence of the increased facilities of\ncommunication. All these great additions to the value of land are largely\ndue to the unpaid labours of scientific discoverers, and it may be said\nthat this nation has largely gained its wealth, and is still living in a\ngreat degree on the products of those labours. Those great additions to the\nvalue of land are also permanent, are continually increasing, and are\nlargely independent of any exertions on the part of the owners. That many\nother influences, besides that of science, have contributed to the\ndevelopment of our manufacturing and commercial prosperity is also true,\nbut it would be foreign to the subject of the present chapter to point them\nout.\n\nIt is a fallacious argument to say that scientific discovery and increased\nvalue of land are only remotely connected together, a cause as certainly\nproduces its effect, however many connections lie between them, provided\nthe connections are certain--the number of links in a chain makes no\ndifference in the transmission of motion from one end of it to the other.\nGreat causes are frequently distant and wide-spread in their effects.\nPersons in general can easily understand that an acorn planted in the\nground will in the course of time become an oak, because it is a palpable\nand visible effect; but they cannot so readily perceive that the benefits\nresulting from a knowledge of science ramify through all our manufacturing,\nartistic, and commercial occupations, our social and moral {33} relations,\nand our every-day life, not because the dependence of our welfare upon\nscience is less real, but partly because the connection between the two is\nless understood.\n\nNot only has science benefited manufacturers, but also operatives, because\nthe extension of science to manufacturing purposes has compelled them to\nmake themselves acquainted with intellectual subjects. \"Instead of\nremaining mere machines, mechanically performing the work set before them,\nthey are obliged to exercise the faculties of observation and judgment in\nwatching the results and directing the action of mechanical, physical, and\nchemical powers. Instead of following the blind path of experience, using\nunknown forces to accomplish some definite result, they pursue their\nlabours with the aid of known and certain laws.\" It is true that in many\ncases artisans who have acquired a little knowledge of science have thereby\nbeen rendered conceited and unfit for their special employment, and this\nhas made many manufacturers object to technical scientific education for\ntheir servants; but this would not be so much the case if scientific\nknowledge were more generally and equally diffused. Arguments are not\nunfrequently adduced to support the opinion that ignorance has its\nadvantages; but, however great the advantages of ignorance may be, those of\nknowledge are greater.\n\nIn consequence of the labours of scientific discoverers and inventors, the\nprogress of science is {34} such that in a very few years a knowledge of it\nwill be indispensible to all persons engaged in superintending or carrying\nout manufacturing operations, and in all arts, occupations and appointments\nin which man is dealing with matter. Science is fast penetrating into all\nour manufactures and occupations, and \"those who are unscientific will have\nmuch less employment and will be left behind in the race of life.\" England\nalso will be compelled, by the necessities of human progress and the\nadvance of foreign intellect, to determine and recognize the proper value\nof scientific research as a basis of progress. National superiority can\nonly be maintained by being first in the race, and not by buying inventions\nof other nations.\n\nThe philosophy of matter is the foundation of all manufacturing arts and\nartistic processes; technical education, or the relation of science to\nmanufactures, &c., can only be properly imparted upon the basis of a\nsufficient knowledge of theoretical science. Science tends to abbreviate\nmental and bodily labour. The use of our reason saves us the labour of\nusing our senses, because it enables us to know that under certain\nconditions a certain effect must occur. The use of our reason and senses\nalso saves us using our hands.\n\nThe properties of a single substance are so numerous that if a workman was\nto thoroughly study the whole of them, he would become a scientific\nauthority in the subjects of heat, light, electricity, {35} magnetism, and\nchemistry. A blacksmith who knew all the physical and chemical properties\nand relations of iron and steel would be quite a scientific philosopher.\n\nNo man has more occasion to bless the introduction of the steam-engine,\nmachinery, the galvanic battery, and science in general, than the working\nmechanic, because it has mitigated his physical toil by giving him the duty\nof simply directing the labour instead of actually performing it; whilst it\nhas deprived him of one kind of employment it has provided him with\nsomething better. But a few years ago the operatives in the silver-plating\ntrade had to lay the silver on the articles with their hands, with the aid\nof a soldering iron; now they have simply to set their batteries in action\nand watch the electricity doing it for them. In a similar manner the\nworking engineer at his metal-turning lathe has merely to direct the action\nof his tools whilst the steam-engine performs the heavy labour of turning.\n\nThere is not a man in this kingdom who has not derived some advantage, in\none way or another, from scientific research. The advantages of gas light,\nelectric light, rapid postal service and transmission of goods, railway\ntravelling, steam-ships for navigation, cotton apparel, photography, cheap\npottery, improved medicine and surgery, telegraphic forecasts of weather,\nAustralian preserved meats, &c., &c., have been reaped more or less by\neveryone, even the very paupers. Not only has travelling been {36}\nconsiderably cheapened and immensely increased, but also rendered more\nsafe:--in travelling by diligence in France the average number of persons\ninjured was 1 to every 30,000 carried; and killed, 1 in every 335,000; but\nby railway, notwithstanding the average length of the journey has greatly\nincreased, the former has been diminished to 1 in 580,000, and the latter\nto one in five millions; safety in travelling by sea has also been greatly\nincreased by means of improved lighthouses. By the rapid transmission of\nmessages by telegraphs and of commodities by steam-ships and railways, the\nhorrors of famine have been largely diminished; the health of this nation\nhas also been improved by greater variety of foods, and the increasing cost\nof meat has been restrained. It is well known that in periods of famine,\nthe great loss of life has arisen, not from universal scarcity of food, but\nfrom the loss of time in ordering and conveying it. Whilst also the\nsteam-engine has been the means of relieving hundreds of thousands of men\nfrom mere animal toil; it has, with the aid of the printing-press, supplied\nthem with cheap daily intelligence.\n\nScience has also proved itself to be a great source of employment, as well\nas wealth. By developing new processes it has given employment to whole\narmies of workmen in numerous arts, manufactures, and occupations. Some of\nthose employments necessitating scientific training. About 300,000 persons\nare employed on railways alone in Great {37} Britain, besides those who\nwere engaged in their construction; and in the postal department alone of\nthe telegraph service of this country more than fifteen thousand operatives\nare employed. Chemical works also find employment for twenty-six thousand,\nand gasworks for ten thousand work people. The telegraphs of the United\nStates of America alone, provide employment for about 7,000 persons; and\nthe railways of the world employ about 1,900,000 men.\n\nIt may be objected that the extension of science in this country, instead\nof increasing employment for workmen has produced an opposite effect, by so\nincreasing the production of goods by machinery, and by physical and\nchemical processes, that we have glutted the markets of the world in years\ngone by, and are now suffering the results of over-production. This is a\nvery limited view of the case; over-production is only true of particular\nmanufactures, and is a result of ill-directed commercial energy, to which\nmanufacturing skill is only a servant. The objection also contains its own\nreply;--that it is certainly much greater to our advantage to have supplied\nother nations with manufactured commodities, than that other nations should\nhave supplied us, as they would have done had they the manufacturing skill.\nAt present, however, continental nations are gradually supplanting us in\nmanufactures; and gradually supplying us with the goods which we {38}\nformerly supplied them, and our fear is that this is largely a result of\nour neglect of science.\n\nIn many cases instead of superseding labour, science has changed its kind,\nor its mode of distribution;--in the case of steam-ships, instead of\nnavigation being conducted entirely by nautical ability, it is partly\neffected by the skill of the engineer; conveyance of goods by road and\ncanal has not been entirely supplanted, but partly supplemented by\nconveyance by railways. The diminution of labour which sometimes occurs in\nconsequence of the progress of science is extremely small compared with its\nincrease. The number of waggoners and horses now employed, merely to\ncollect and deliver all the goods for railways, is actually much greater\nthan the whole of those employed for conveying all the goods of the country\nbefore railways were constructed.\n\nIt would be altogether a false argument to say that the practical benefits\nderived from the labour of scientific discoverers by the different classes\nof the community are uncertain or imaginary, because the discoveries and\nthe practical benefits are not in all cases immediately connected. We know\nthat the consumers of tea in this country derive benefit from the grower of\nthat herb in China through the hands of a series of intervening agents, as\ncertainly as if they received the tea direct from his hands. Cause and\neffect are inseparable, and the remote effect of a {39} series of connected\ncauses is not less certain than the immediate ones.\n\nIt is a remarkable fact, that of the multitude of rich manufacturers,\nmerchants, capitalists, and land-owners in this country, who have derived\nsuch great pecuniary benefits from original scientific research, there is\nscarcely one who has ever given to a scientific society, institution, or\ninvestigator, a single thousand pounds for the aid of pure research in\nexperimental physics or chemistry;[4] the nearest approach to exceptions\nare a very few wealthy persons who have devoted themselves personally to\nscientific discovery. Manufacturers have willingly reaped the advantages of\nthe labours of unpaid discoverers, but have not adequately sowed the means\nof future progress. Many of those manufacturers and others would, however,\nwillingly give money towards such an object if they understood the value\nand the necessity of scientific research.\n\nWhilst also many millions of pounds are annually expended in this country\nupon religious, philanthropic and other good objects, there is scarcely a\nscientific society or institution (with the exception of the Royal Society\nand the British Association) which expends even the small sum of five\nhundred pounds a year on pure experimental research in physics or {40}\nchemistry. In the Royal Institution of Great Britain, the average annual\nexpenses relating to experimental research, including salaries to\nassistants for research in the laboratory, from the year 1867 to 1871, did\nnot amount to two hundred and fifty pounds. On the other hand, the \"total\nnet receipts\" of the British and Foreign Bible Society alone, amount to\nabout L213,000 a year. These circumstances strongly indicate extreme\nignorance of the value and necessity of new scientific knowledge, and an\nequally strong desire to aid any good object which is understood. The money\ngiven to charitable and religious objects is largely a result of the unpaid\nlabours of scientific investigators in the manner already described. The\nfact that verifiable truth is seriously neglected, whilst millions of\npounds are annually devoted in this country to the support of dogmas and\ndoctrines, proves that the English nation is even now in a very imperfectly\ncivilized state.\n\nConsidering the multiplicity and variety of philanthropic institutions and\nbequests in this country, and the great effect original scientific research\nhas in ameliorating the condition of mankind, and reducing the amount of\nhuman misery, it is surprising that no wealthy philanthropic individual has\nbequeathed funds for the endowment of an institution for pure research in\nphysics or chemistry.[5] In {41} America, the Smithsonian Institution was\nfounded at Washington by benevolent and patriotic persons,[6] \"for the\nincrease and diffusion of knowledge among men,\" and one of the objects of\nthat institution is \"to enlarge the existing stock of knowledge by the\naddition of new truths,\" and a portion of its plan is \"to stimulate men of\ntalent to make original researches by offering suitable rewards for memoirs\ncontaining new truths,\" and \"to appropriate annually a portion of the\nincome for particular researches.\"\n\nWhat is the reason that scientific research is not sufficiently encouraged\nin England? It is chiefly ignorance. There are very few good and important\nsubjects, understood by the public, which are not in this country greatly\nassisted, nor many valuable public servants, whose labours are understood,\nwho do not receive liberal payment and reward; and scientific research and\ndiscoverers therefore are neglected, not wilfully, nor because persons are\nunwilling to encourage good objects, but because scientific discovery and\nits great value to the nation are so little known. Scarcely a member of our\nlegislature, or of our Universities, is fully acquainted with the national\nimportance of scientific discovery,[7] and it {42} would probably be\nimpossible to find a subject of such great magnitude so little understood.\nComparatively few persons have clear ideas of the essential differences\nbetween scientific instruction and research.\n\nScientific research can only be successfully pursued by employing the\nhighest motive--viz., a love of truth in preference to all things; and this\nis a condition which very few persons really understand, and a principle\nwhich a still smaller number practise. Men in this country are so\naccustomed to be actuated by the less noble motive of immediate\nself-interest or of some apparent practical result, that they cannot\nperceive that in scientific investigation the most valuable results can\nonly be obtained by employing the highest motive. However necessary and\neffective the motive of immediate self-interest or of apparent practical\nresult may be in ordinary affairs of life, it will not enable a man to make\nmany discoveries, because it leads him away from those which are possible\nto search for others which may or may not be possible. The beginning of\ndiscoveries are often so very small, that it requires acute senses and\nobservation in order to perceive them; and if the mind is preoccupied with\na desire to discover some particular practical object, new phenomena are\noverlooked. In discovery, man must follow where Nature leads.\n\nAnother cause of want of encouragement of research, is the natural\nselfishness which exists, {43} though in very different degrees, in all\nmen. Many wealthy persons wish things to remain as they are. Some\nmanufacturers would not aid research unless they could monopolize its\nadvantages. Students also generally prefer those subjects which are best\nrewarded, and do not sufficiently consider their intrinsic value. The love\nof truth for truth's sake alone is very weak in most men, and but few men\nmake the greatest good their chief object in life.\n\nThe extreme ignorance in this country of the value of scientific research,\nis also largely due to the narrowness of the \"practical\" character of the\nEnglish mind; men cannot perceive the deep-seated and universal sources of\ntheir wealth, and they prefer those occupations which yield the most\nobviously remunerative results. It is also partly due to scientific\ninvestigators themselves not having pleaded their own cause; such men have\nbeen so absorbed in the more important occupation of discovery, that they\nhave, probably more than any other class of persons, neglected to enforce\nthe just claims of their own subject. It is, however, chiefly caused by the\ninfluence of misapplied wealth, operating through the old Universities and\nlarge public schools. The sons of the wealthy are most of them educated at\nthose institutions, and according to evidence supplied by University\nauthorities to Royal Commissioners, many persons send their sons to those\nplaces for other purposes than to acquire learning, and allow them too much\nmoney. The considerable wealth of {44} these young men supplies them with\nattractions which decoy them from industrious study, and the wishes of the\nparents and students have been largely acquiesced in by the tutors and\ncollege authorities. At our old Universities also, physical and chemical\nknowledge is very much less rewarded than some other subjects, though\nlatterly a considerable improvement has been made in this respect, but even\nnow there is not a University in the kingdom in which a knowledge in\nscientific research is necessary in order to obtain the highest scientific\nhonour.[8] In these various ways physical and chemical science has been\nkept very low in our chief seats of learning; and scientific research is\ngreatly neglected by the governing authorities.\n\nIt is reasonable to suppose that Universities should be fountains of new\ntheoretical scientific knowledge, as well as be the disseminators of it,\nand that they (especially the old ones with their rich endowments) would be\ncertain to promote scientific research, as being especially a part of their\nfunctions; but such is not the case. Our old Universities have not\nestablished any professorships of original research; they make no payment\nfor such labour, nor reimburse any expenditure incurred in such occupation,\nand afford but little facility for the prosecution of pure scientific\ninquiry. Further, they discourage scientific discovery by giving the\ngreatest emoluments, and the {45} highest honours in science they have to\nbestow, to young men who have never made a single original research, or\ndiscovered a new fact in science. The money paid in the form of\ncomparatively sinecure fellowships, or retiring pensions to young men in\nOxford alone, \"now amounts to about eighty or ninety thousand pounds a\nyear.\" It may be objected that young men are not capable of doing original\nresearch, but as they do it in German Universities, they can also do it in\nEngland, if they are properly disciplined, and are not decoyed from\nindustry by the possession or expectation of wealth. A man who has never\nmade a scientific research is not the most worthy recipient of the highest\nscientific honours, and in Germany it would not be given to him; he is not\nproperly disciplined in the detection of error or the discernment of truth\nin matters of science; he is deficient in accuracy of scientific judgment,\nand in the true spirit of scientific inquiry.\n\nIt is unnecessary to speak of what has been done during the last few years\nat our old Universities and great public schools, in the erection of\nlaboratories, and in other ways for the promotion of science, because it\nhas been for the purposes of instruction, and not of original research. No\namount of ordinary instruction in science will remedy the evils caused by\nwant of original inquiry, because such instruction does not produce new\nknowledge, but only disseminates that already possessed. {46}\n\nMany persons in this country think that all scientific men are\ninvestigators, and that a portion of the funds of scientific institutions\ngenerally are expended upon investigation, but such is rarely the case.\nMany also consider that those scientific men who are applying new knowledge\nare discovering new truths. And nearly all persons look upon inventors as\nthe only really practical scientific men, and upon discoverers as\nunpractical enthusiasts who spend their lives in pursuit of vague theories.\nBut whilst the inventor is a great and useful agent of civilization, there\nis one behind him who is greater than he, viz., the man who provides him\nwith the new knowledge upon which all his inventions must be based.\n\nThe general aspect in which scientific research is viewed by many persons\nin this country, is that of a refined intellectual pursuit, which may be\nencouraged and honoured for the purpose of maintaining the tone of society.\nThe question, however, is not whether this nation shall encourage research\nas a refined intellectual occupation, but whether it will contribute\ntowards its own welfare by aiding scientific discovery.\n\nMany persons also look upon scientific research as a hobby or as\nunpractical, and upon discoverers as mere accumulators of knowledge, but\nthis is simply in consequence of their ignorance of the subject; if\ndiscoveries were commercial commodities, the practical character of\nresearch would be within their {47} comprehension. A man who discovers\nknowledge for the use of invention is quite as practical a person as he who\nconverts that knowledge into inventions fit for practical uses. The men who\nthus lead practical men must be practical themselves. Scientific\ndiscoverers may be considered the most practical men in existence, because\ntheir labours give rise to greater and more numerous practical results than\nthose of any other persons. The discovery of a single substance, such as\noil-of-vitriol, or washing-soda, has led to the formation of many valuable\ninventions, patented or otherwise, and to the establishment of thousands of\nmanufactories. It is well known also that scientific discoverers are ardent\nlovers of truth, and are therefore very willing to communicate their\nknowledge for the good of mankind, and that manufacturers, men of business,\nand others, not unfrequently obtain from them and from their published\nresearches, information of great value to themselves without even expecting\nto pay for it; forgetting that a scientific man may communicate in a\npassing remark, information which cost him years of labour to obtain.\n\nSome persons also think that science is changeable and uncertain--that the\ndiscoveries of one generation are disproved by those of another, because\nthey occasionally see scientific theories altered and superseded. But the\nreal truth of the case is that the changes in the aspect of science which\nwe continually witness do not often result from _alterations_ in our {48}\nstock of positive knowledge, but from _additions_ made to it. Demonstrable\ntruth is imperishable. It is true that many theories have been invented and\nentertained for a while in the minds of scientific men, and have then\npassed away, but we must remember that these are only the scaffolding of\nscience, and no part of its real fabric. They consist of ideas which,\nwhilst they assist us in understanding science, and in making discoveries,\nform no real part of our positive knowledge.\n\nOther persons seem to think that the laws of matter are different in the\nlaboratory from what they are in the workshop; that the principles which\nregulate a scientific experiment are different from those which govern a\nlarge manufacturing process; but this is a wrong idea. The laws of matter\nare universal, substances have nearly the same properties in all places and\nin the hands of all men; water boils at the same temperature whether in the\nretort of a chemist, the saucepan of a kitchenmaid, or the pan of a\nsoap-boiler; iron wire is as readily deprived of its rust in a chemist's\nacid bottle as in a wire-drawer's pickling tub; a piece of phosphorus will\nas readily ignite in the hands of a chemist as in those of a match maker; a\ngalvanic battery yields the same quantity of electricity whether it be in\nthe hands of an experimentalist or in those of a working electro-plater.\n\nIt is true that many things which have appeared very promising in theory or\nin experiment, have {49} failed altogether in practice, but why is this? it\nis not that the principles of nature operated in the one case and did not\noperate in the other, but that we have imperfectly understood them, that\nfrom some unforeseen circumstances we have been unable to apply them; or\nthat we have indolently abandoned them without sufficient or proper trial.\nIn many cases we are unable to obtain the same conditions of success upon\nthe large scale that we have upon the small one. In other cases a process\nfails because of its too great expense; many attempts have been made to\nsupersede steam as a motive power by means of electro-magnetism, and\nengines driven by that force have been constructed of five or ten\nhorse-power, but the cost of driving them has been found to be at least ten\ntimes the amount of that of the steam-engine of equal strength. And in\nother cases we fail because we attempt _at once_ to carry out upon a large\nscale that which has only been the subject of limited experiment, instead\nof enlarging the process by small degrees, and adapting the apparatus, the\nmaterials and the treatment, to the size of the operation.\n\nThat also which appears very simple in the hands of an experimentalist,\nalmost invariably becomes much more complex when carried into practice in a\nmanufactory, simply because there is then a greater number of conditions to\nbe fulfilled. Electro-plating a piece of steel with silver is to a chemist\na very simple matter, because it is of no importance to him {50} whether\nthe silver adheres firmly, is of good colour, or is deposited at a certain\ncost; but with a _manufacturer_ unless _all_ these conditions are\nfulfilled, the process is a failure. These matters, however, belong to\ninvention and not to original discovery.\n\nWe should not condemn theoretical science because we are not able, even\nwith fair and persevering trial, to apply it to any useful purpose, but\nwait patiently until circumstances ripen for its application. Many\ninventions which are inapplicable in one state of knowledge become\napplicable by the progress of scientific research. The idea of an electric\ntelegraph, attempted by Mr. Ronalds, in the year 1816, with the aid of\nfrictional electricity, had to wait the development of the galvanic battery\nand the discovery of electro-magnetism before it could be successfully\napplied.\n\nMany manufacturers seem to think that because some of their operations are\ncompletely routine, and have been handed down to them by their predecessors\nin nearly their present state, they are not at all indebted to science; but\nthere is no manufacture, especially among metals, which has not in some\ndegree been aided by scientific discovery.\n\nIn addition to the great benefits accruing from original research to all\nclasses of society, our Governments have also derived immense advantages\nfrom the same source. The revenues have been greatly increased by the\nuniversal advantages conferred upon all kinds of industry and commerce by\n{51} scientific knowledge. The additional taxes upon increased incomes from\nagriculture, arts, manufactures, mines; increased value of land and rents;\ninvestments in railway, telegraph, steam-ship and other companies, have\nbeen extremely great. From the sale of patents alone, a surplus sum of\nnearly six hundred thousand pounds has already accumulated. Our Governments\nare also indebted to original research for the use of percussion-powder,\ngun-cotton, improvements in cannon, projectiles, rifles, armour-plated\nships, the ocean telegraph, field telegraph, the telephone, rapid postal\ncommunication, the speedy transport of troops and war-material, and a\nmultitude of other advantages. The value of science to Governments in the\nprevention of war by means of more ready correspondence through telegraph\nis incalculable. Mr. Sumner, of America, at the period when the Atlantic\ntelegraph was first employed, stated that the use of that telegraph averted\na probable rupture between Great Britain and America. There was a period\nwhen we did not possess such evidence of the great value of science; but\nthat time has now passed away, and our governing men have had abundant\nproof of the national importance of scientific discovery, and of the\nessential dependence of the welfare of this country upon scientific\nresearch.\n\nWhilst vast sums of money are spent upon the applications of science in\nmilitary and naval affairs, research itself is neglected; the\nsuperstructure is {52} attended to, but the foundations are left to decay.\nA very small proportion of the money which is expended upon military\naffairs would, if devoted to research, save a great deal of expense in\nwarfare:--\n\n \"Were half the power, that fills the world with terror,--\n    Were half the wealth, bestowed on camps and courts,\n  Given to redeem the human mind from error,\n    There were no need of arsenals nor forts.\"--LONGFELLOW.\n\nOur Government has as yet made but little payment for the labour of pure\nresearch in experimental physics or chemistry; it has, however, given four\nthousand pounds a year for five years to be distributed by the Royal\nSociety among scientific investigators, partly as personal payment. Income\ntax is deducted from these grants.\n\nWant of recognition of the value of science has been so general in this\ncountry, that it is quite pleasing to quote a somewhat different case from\nthe _Illustrated London News_, January 4th, 1873, viz., that of the late\nArchibald Smith, L.L.D., F.R.S. That gentleman was an investigator in pure\nmathematical science, and devoted the latter part of his life to the\n_application_ of mathematics in the computation, reduction, and discussion\nof the deviation of the mariners' compass in wooden and in iron ships, and\nmade practical deductions therefrom in the construction of those vessels.\nHe published those practical applications of his scientific knowledge in\nthe form of an Admiralty Manual, which was afterwards reprinted in various\nlanguages. Her Majesty's Government {53} subsequently \"requested his\nacceptance of a gift of two thousand pounds, not as a reward, but as a mark\nof appreciation of the value of his researches, and of the influence they\nwere exercising on the maritime interests of England and the world at\nlarge.\" The kind of labour rewarded in this case was not scientific\ndiscovery, but the practical application of previously existing scientific\nknowledge.\n\nThe case of the late Dr. Stenhouse, F.R.S., is one of rather an opposite\nkind. That gentleman devoted his life throughout to pure investigations in\norganic chemistry, and published several of his researches in the\nPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.[9] His discoveries are\nvery numerous, and although not much applied to practical uses by himself,\nthe result of his researches on Lichens, and the yellow gum of Botany Bay,\nhave been applied extensively by other persons in the manufacture of\n\"French purple\" and picric acid, and will doubtless continue to be applied\nto valuable uses. He held the Government appointment of Assayer to the\nRoyal Mint, London, an office for several years unprofitable to him, but of\nincreasing remunerative value, and which would have been subsequently worth\nL1,200 a year; but after the decease of his colleague, Dr. Miller, in 1870,\nthat office, which was then worth to him about L600 a year, was abolished\nby the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and he lost the {54} appointment,\nreceiving, however, L500 as compensation. An application was therefore made\nto the Government, and a partial recompense to him was obtained, by Her\nMajesty granting him one hundred pounds a year \"for eminence in chemical\nattainments, and on account of loss by suppression of office in the Mint.\"\nThe only difference in these two instances, was, that in the second there\nwas a very much greater amount of pure research and discovery, and a much\nsmaller degree of applied knowledge.\n\nThese instances illustrate the statement, that however great an amount of\nvaluable knowledge in pure science a man may discover and publish, or\nhowever freely he may provide others with the materials of invention and\nwealth, if he never invents anything, nor applies his knowledge to useful\npurposes, he is usually less rewarded even than an inventor. \"The more\nintrinsically valuable the labour, and the greater the degree of profound\noriginal thought required to direct it, the less is it usually appreciated\nby the governing men of a nation.\" Absorbed in exciting questions relating\nto political emergencies, and national matters requiring immediate\nattention, even men of great administrative ability fail to appreciate the\nless direct though more fundamental sources of a nation's happiness and\nwealth. In harmony with these instances also, we find that it is not the\npure sciences, but the concrete and applied ones, such as meteorology,\ngeology, natural history, &c., in the Meteorological Department, the {55}\nGeological Survey, the British and South Kensington Museums, the Geological\nMuseum, &c., and the National Gallery of Art, which have received the\ngreatest degree of support from our Governments.\n\nThat discoverers are not treated by us as we treat other valuable members\nof the community is quite clear; either a physician, a judge, divine,\nlawyer, or railway superintendent of high ability, obtain from one to many\nthousand pounds a year, but a discoverer in pure physics or chemistry is,\nin scarcely any case, paid anything for his labour. That most eminent\ndiscoverer, Faraday, received for his scientific lectures at the Royal\nInstitution of Great Britain, only L200 a year and apartments, during many\nyears, and absolutely nothing for his great discoveries; and during the\nremainder of his life he only received a few hundred pounds per annum,\nincluding a pension of L300 pounds a year from Government. In contrast with\nthis, the general manager of the Midland Railway has L4,000 a year. A\nGeneral of our army receives L2,000, and a Field Marshal L4,000 a year (See\n\"Whitaker's Almanack,\" 1873, pp. 121 and 138). A Head Master of either of\nthe great public schools obtains from L3,000 a year upwards. An Archbishop\nof Canterbury receives L15,000 a year, besides a great amount of influence\nand power in the form of patronage to 183 livings, a palatial residence,\nand a seat in the House of Peers. A Bishop of London has L10,000, the\npatronage of 98 livings, and a seat in the House of Lords. I do not, {56}\nhowever, mean to imply that these large emoluments are not deserved. Whilst\nalso there are nearly 13,000 church benefices in England (See the \"Clergy\nList,\" also \"Whitaker's Almanack,\" 1873, pp. 153 and 155, and \"Walford's\nCounty Families,\" 1872, pp. 173 and 610), there is scarcely a single\nappointment entirely devoted to scientific discovery, nor a single\nprofessorship in original research in science. I leave my readers to judge\nto what extent these instances illustrate the statement that discoverers\nare not treated by us as we treat other valuable members of the community.\nPartly in consequence of the foregoing neglect, the proportion of persons\nwholly devoted to scientific research in this country probably does not\nmuch exceed one in one million of the population.\n\nIt is scarcely credible that in a wealthy and civilized country, whilst the\nnon-productive classes are protected in the enjoyment of titles and\nmaterial wealth which in many cases they have not earned, the greatest\nscientific benefactors of the nation are constrained to live in straitened\ncircumstances whilst working for the pecuniary and other advantages of\nthose classes, and of manufacturers, capitalists, land-owners, and the\nnation in general. By these remarks it is not intended to imply that\ndiscoverers are intentionally neglected; but that the injustice they suffer\nis a disgrace to this country, and reflects discredit upon the governing\nclasses, and especially upon those who reap the greatest advantage. {57}\n\nThe men who are rewarded highly in this country are not always those who\nyield the greatest service to the nation, but frequently those who render\nthe most immediate or most apparent benefit; to stop short at this cannot\nproduce the greatest degree of success. The national services of a great\ndiscoverer are probably not equalled by those of any man. Who can estimate\nthe value of the commercial, social, moral, political, and other great\nadvantages to the world, of Oersted's discovery of the principle of\nelectro-magnetism, which enabled the invention of the electric telegraph to\nbe made? The men we reward the highest are not those who discover\nknowledge, but those who use or apply it; physicians, judges, bishops,\nlawyers, railway managers, military and naval officers, and head masters of\nschools, all of them gentlemen who render great services to the nation, by\nusing, diffusing, and applying knowledge already possessed.\n\nIt requires less rare ability to apply knowledge to new purposes by means\nof invention, than to discover it; it is still less difficult to diffuse it\nby means of tuition and lectures, because the labours of a teacher consist\nlargely of a repitition of other men's discoveries and inventions; and to\nuse scientific knowledge in the ordinary business of every-day life,\nrequires a still more common degree of ability.\n\nA chief reason why ordinary business capacity is paid for whilst original\nresearch is not, is the fact that research is not considered a necessity;\nmany {58} persons do not perceive its immense future value. Men perform\nthose duties first which they feel they must: they are also willing to pay\nfor the performance of those duties which press most urgently upon them,\nand defer all other kinds of labour that they consider will bear\npostponement. Most men act upon this rule, until they acquire a habit of\nsacrificing the future to the present, of neglecting more important matters\nin order to attend to less, and of living too much for money, without\nsufficient regard for the more valuable condition, viz., individual and\nnational improvement. These circumstances also largely explain the fact\nthat it requires more pressure to induce individuals or governing bodies to\naid original research than to assist any other good object. Other chief\nreasons why persons in general cannot perceive the great practical value of\nnew scientific truth are, because the perception of it requires a\nscientifically trained mind. The greatest truths are frequently the least\nobvious, and are therefore valued the least.\n\nIt may be objected that research is not aided, because it sometimes takes a\nlong time to acquire a practical shape and make it pay. We do not omit to\nplant an acorn because it requires many years to become an oak; we do not\nneglect to rear a child because he may not live to become a man; but we\nleave scientific discovery to take care of itself. The intense desire which\nexists in this country for \"quick returns\" has shewn itself in the much\ngreater readiness to aid technical education than to promote {59} permanent\nprogress by means of original research. But the discoveries made in such a\nplace as the Royal Institution of Great Britain have had a vastly greater\nbeneficial effect upon civilization than that of any technical institution\nwhich has ever existed.\n\nIn a letter received by me from the Duke of Somerset, and which I have\npermission to publish, the true state of things in this country in relation\nto pure research is stated with remarkable accuracy and brevity:--\n\n\"The hindrances to scientific studies in this country are very many. The\ngentry are almost invariably educated by the clergy, and the clergy have\nseldom had time or opportunities for any scientific study. They usually\ntake pupils or become tutors as soon as they have taken their degrees, and\ncan only teach the Latin and Greek which they have themselves learned. The\ncommercial classes value what they call practical science; this means some\napplication of science for the purpose of making money. Competitive\nexaminations may promote a superficial acquaintance with the elements of\nscience, but are unfavourable to the development of scientific culture. The\nscientific associations tend to degrade science by exhibiting scientific\nmen as candidates for applause from assemblies which seek amusement and\nstartling results from lectures and experiments. The advancement of\nscience, is therefore, left to comparatively few men, who are unregarded\nand unrewarded.\" {60}\n\nTo remedy this state of things we require a general encouragement of pure\nscientific inquiry by the State and Universities. It is thought by some\npersons who have given special attention to the subject, that the State\nought to encourage such research and science in general, by appointing a\nMinister of Science possessing scientific knowledge and good administrative\nability; a Scientific Council to advise our Governments in all important\nmatters relating to science; and by establishing State laboratories for\npure scientific inquiry, with discoverers of repute in them wholly engaged\nin research in their respective subjects.\n\nThere are also many new experiments, investigations, and explorations,\nwhich neither private individuals, nor even corporate bodies, such as the\nRoyal Society, the British Association, Geographical Society, can\neffectually make, and which only a Government can carry out, such as Arctic\nexpeditions, trigonometrical surveys, deep sea dredging operations,\nmagnetic observations, determinations of longitude, meteorological and\nastronomical observations, researches on tides, observations of\nearthquakes, determinations of the height of mountains and the density of\nthe crust of the earth, experiments on the best form of ships, geographical\nexplorations, and many others.\n\nIt is clear from the enormous advantages which this nation has already\nderived from scientific discovery in physics and chemistry, pursued with\nonly {61} the aid of the very limited means of private persons, that had\nresearch in those subjects been sufficiently supported, the manufactures,\narts, commerce, wealth, and civilization of this country would have been\nmuch greater than they are; emigration also of the industrious classes,\ndisease, pauperism, crime, the evil effects of famine, etc., would have\nbeen much less. The amount of knowledge and riches obtainable by means of\nresearch and invention is practically unlimited, and it is astonishing that\nthis immense source of industry and wealth in a nation should have been so\nneglected by our Governments. The practical value of new scientific\nknowledge is vastly greater than that of all our goldfields or even of our\ncoal supply, because it would not only enable us to obtain from coal\nseveral times the amount of available heat and mechanical power we now\nsecure, but also to apply to our wants the numerous other materials\ncomposing the crust of our globe and the contents of our oceans; also all\nterrestrial forces, the internal heat, the tidal energy and atmospheric\ncurrents, and the immense amount of power this Earth is continually\nreceiving from the Sun. Whilst at present vast amounts of materials and\nenergy remain unutilized, nearly all those terrestrial substances and\nforces might probably be rendered of service to us if we possessed\nsufficient knowledge.\n\nThat scientific research is a far greater source of wealth and wellbeing\nthan our stores of coal is easily proved. At present we obtain in our best\n{62} steam-engines only about one-seventh (or less) of the mechanical power\nproducible by the combustion of the coal, the remainder being lost in\nvarious ways. And this occurs simply because we have not yet discovered a\nmethod of wholly converting heat into mechanical power. In some other\ninstances we are able to convert one force wholly into another without\nloss, as for example: the chemical action of a voltaic cell into\nelectricity; and by means of research we shall probably be enabled to\neffect a similar complete conversion of other powers into each other. The\neffect of converting heat wholly into mechanical power would be equal to\nincreasing our stock of coals for that purpose to seven times its present\namount. This instance is only one of the many thousand possible ways in\nwhich research may yet prove of value to mankind.\n\nIt is true that a very large amount of original research in physics and\nchemistry has been done in this country; the contents of our scientific\njournals and of the publications of our various Learned Societies prove\nthis. It is also true that the English nation has been pre-eminently active\nin applying scientific knowledge to practical uses by means of inventions,\nand has been generally the first in carrying out inventions on a large\nscale. We have been either the first, or nearly so, in developing\nsteam-engines, railways, locomotives, rapid trains, gas works, flour mills,\nblast-furnaces, cotton machinery, cheap postage, light-houses,\nelectro-plating, lucifer-matches, {63} electric-telegraphs, submarine\nelectric cables, great engineering establishments, iron ship-building, and\nmany other important enterprises. Three out of four of all the great ocean\nsteamers, and three-fourths of all the locomotives of the world were\nconstructed in this country.[10] By means of our enterprise and capital\nalso, the first railways, telegraphs, gas works, cotton mills, modern water\nworks, suspension bridges, water wheels, harbours, lighthouses, &c., &c.,\nin nearly all parts of the world were constructed; and foreign nations have\nbeen inducted into the practical methods of working our great manufacturing\nand technical applications of science.\n\nBy means of English enterprise and skill the cities of Aix-la-Chapelle,\nAltona, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Berlin, Bordeaux, Brussels, Cologne,\nFrankfort-on-Maine, Ghent, Haarlem, Hanover, Lille, Rotterdam, Stolberg,\nToulouse, Vienna, and others were lighted with gas. We formed Water\nCompanies or Waterworks in Amsterdam, Berlin, and other cities, and drained\nNaples. We utilized the falls of the Rhone at Bellegarde, and thus obtained\n10,000 horse-power for the use of the French manufacturers. We also sent\nthe first steam-boat to Coblentz in 1817, and the first to America. We laid\nthe first Atlantic cables. And as a general truth, we have been foremost in\ninvention, application and enterprise.\n\n{64}\n\nRecent International Exhibitions however, and the migration of various\nbranches of our trade to the Continent and America, have shown that the\ndegree of our relative superiority in manufacturing skill is diminishing.\nOther nations, especially the German and American, perceiving the\ndependence of invention upon research, and the enormous pecuniary and other\nadvantages gained by us, by the application of scientific knowledge to\nmanufacturing and other purposes, have within the last few years aroused\nthemselves, and are now pursuing pure science much more energetically than\nourselves. A few years ago the relative number of original researches made\nper annum in England, France, and Germany were in the proportion 127, 245,\nand 777. Many of those made in Germany were valuable ones, and were made by\nStudents in order to obtain a degree. Other nations are rapidly gaining\nupon us in the application of science to industrial purposes, and have even\nsurpassed us in the extent of some of their manufacturing and technical\noperations. Many persons who have visited Europe and America at intervals\nduring the last twenty years have testified to this.\n\nThe Vielle Montagne Zinc Company in Belgium employ 6,500 workmen, and\nproduce annually 32,000 tons of zinc. The John Cockerill Company,\nengine-builders, Seraing, near Liege, employ nearly 8,000 men. Krupp, the\ngreat engineer at Essen, near Dusseldorf, employs about 10,000 workmen; his\nworks at Essen alone cover 450 acres, and 1,000 tons {65} of coal are\nconsumed in them daily. The Anzin Company (Valenciennes) \"is the largest\ncoal company in the world, producing no less than 1,200,000 tons per annum,\nand employs 8,000 hands.\" The Chatillon and Commentry Iron and Coal Company\n(France), produce annually from 300,000 to 350,000 tons of coal and coke,\nnearly 70,000 tons of iron and steel, and employ nearly 9,000 workmen. At\nthe Creuzot Ironworks (France), \"the mineral concessions cover an area of\nnearly six square miles, the coal-fields nearly twenty-five square miles,\nthe building 296 acres. There are nearly forty-five miles of railway\nbetween various parts of the works, upon which are generally running\nsixteen locomotives. The galleries in the mines are more than twenty miles\nlong.\" 10,000 persons are employed in the works and the annual amount of\nwages paid equals L400,000.[11]\n\nOur practice with regard to original science has been very different from\nthe plan carried out in Germany. Within the last few years great\nlaboratories have been erected in Berlin, Leipzig, Aix la Chapelle, Bonn,\nCarlsruhe, Stuttgardt, and other places, at the expense of the State, and\nspecial provision has been made in them for original scientific research. A\nglance at the frequently published list of scientific investigations made\nin different countries will shew us that the Germans have been making a far\ngreater number of discoveries in science than ourselves.\n\nSir R. B. C. Brodie, Professor of Chemistry at {66} Oxford, speaking of his\nexperience when a student at Geissen, in Germany, states: \"I say that the\nenthusiasm and earnestness of the young men in the laboratory was quite\nunparalleled in my experience at Oxford. The dilettante sort of way in\nwhich things go on there is very inferior indeed to the way the German\nstudents study. At Heidelberg, I have been told, there are about eighty\nprofessors, and amongst those professors are some of the most eminent men\nin Europe, so that they have a staff quite unsurpassed.\"\n\nThe industry of the Germans in scientific research is quite remarkable,\nthey are availing themselves of the great fountain of knowledge to a much\ngreater extent than ourselves, and are already beginning to reap the\nreward. Within the last few years they have succeeded, by means of\nresearches, in making alizarine, the colouring principle of madder.\n\"England produces immense quantities of benzene, the greatest part of which\ngoes to Germany, there to be converted into aniline dyes, a considerable\nquantity of which goes back to England. No other country is so far advanced\nin the manufacture of the coal-tar colours as Germany. The quantity of\nalizarine manufactured by the German makers far surpasses the English\nproduction.\" (See \"Alizarine, Natural and Artificial,\" by F. Versmann, New\nYork, 1873). Statements of this kind are frequently published, and made by\nour manufacturers and others, of the departure of branch after branch of\nour manufactures to the Continent, and of continually increasing\nimportation of foreign-made articles. {67}\n\nSome persons, having become aware of the cosmopolitan nature of scientific\nresearch, have suggested that it is a matter of no importance to us as a\nnation whether we make researches or not, as foreigners would make them,\nand we could apply them. But no honourable man would, after reflection,\nseriously maintain such a proposition, because it implies a willingness to\nobtain from the labours of other persons, advantages without paying for\nthem. It is partly this absence of a desire to pay for the labour of\ninvestigation, which is now damaging the manufacturing and commercial\nprosperity of this country. It is also certain that however much we may\nhave hitherto succeeded commercially, without making payment for research,\nwe should have succeeded much better had we properly assisted investigators\nin pure science. Our success has hitherto been obtained, not in\nconsequence, but in spite of the disadvantageous circumstances under which\ndiscoverers have laboured.\n\nThe commercial argument in favour of encouraging research, although the\nmost effective with the great mass of persons, and therefore much dwelt\nupon in this chapter, is however quite a secondary one; the encouragement\nof truth for the sake of its own intrinsic worth, in preference to the\nmaterial or extrinsic value of its results, should be the foundation of all\naid to discovery. Justice, also, ought to come before all minor\nconsiderations, and no upright man would wish for a moment that anyone, and\nmuch less the greatest scientific intellects in the country, should work\nfor his benefit without being remunerated. {68}\n\nIt has been objected that Continental nations, the Germans in particular,\nhave pirated our patents, infringed our designs, imitated our labels, used\nour names, and taken our improvements wholesale, and this may be true. But\nwe still have had by far the largest portion of the reward of our greater\nenergy and inventive skill; we have had the great advantage of being first\nin the markets of the world; and that advantage can only be retained by our\nbeing the first in the pursuit of original research, as we have so long\nbeen in the application of science to industrial arts, and not by\npurchasing foreign inventions, nor by accepting gifts of unrecompensed\nresearches.\n\nNations as well as individuals are apt to push to an extreme the means by\nwhich they have succeeded in gaining either riches or power. We have\ndevoted ourselves relatively too much to the pursuit of money and too\nlittle to the pursuit of knowledge. The desire for wealth is in this\ncountry so great, that probably nothing but a loss of that wealth will ever\nmake us properly encourage the pursuit of new knowledge.\n\nWhilst research is being neglected, manufacturers and others in all\ndirections are asking for improvements in their machines and processes;\nemployers of steam engines want to obtain more power from the coals; makers\nof washing soda wish to recover their lost sulphur; copper smelters, want\nto utilize the copper smoke; glass makers wish to prevent bad colour in\ntheir glass; iron puddlers want to economise heat; gas companies are\ndesirous of diminishing the {69} leakage of gas; iron smelters wish to\navoid the evil effects of impurities in the iron; manufacturers in general\nwant to utilise their waste products and prevent their polluting our\nstreams and atmosphere; and so on without end. And inventors are\ncontinually trying to supply these demands, by exercising their skill in\nevery possible way, with the aid of scientific information contained in\nbooks; but after putting manufacturers and themselves to great expense,\nthey very frequently fail, not always through want of inventive skill, but\noften through want of _new_ knowledge attainable only by means of pure\nresearch. Judging from the vast amount of inventive skill already expended\nupon the steam engine, and the small proportion of available mechanical\npower yet obtained from the coals consumed in it, it is highly probable\nthat a machine for completely converting heat into mechanical force cannot\nbe invented until more scientific knowledge is discovered.\n\nIt must not be supposed from these remarks, that discoveries which will\nenable a man to make any particular invention, can be produced to order;\nthat is only true to a very limited extent. Men are beggars of nature, and\nmust not expect to be permitted to choose her gifts, or dictate what\nsecrets shall be disclosed. We may however be certain that if we acquire a\nvery much greater supply of new scientific knowledge, we shall then be able\nto perfect many good inventions, though not always of the kind we wish, or\nin the way we expect. The great sewage question {70} may perhaps be solved\nin quite an unexpected way, possibly by the discovery of some substance\ncapable of precipitating ammonia and organic matter from their solutions.\n\nNearly all our manufacturing processes are full of imperfections; thus the\nloss of gas by a single large provincial gas company, after that substance\nhas left the works, amounts to nearly one hundred and fifty millions of\ncubic feet per annum, and to a value of about L18,000; and the soil of all\nour large cities and towns is permeated and rendered foetid by coal gas.\nAnd it has been stated by an eminent authority in such matters that we\nmight save 500,000 tons of coal a year by economizing the waste heat of\nfurnaces, by purifying the coal, coking it, etc. In a single chemical\nmanufactory, out of about two thousand tons of hydrochloric acid used per\nannum, about eight hundred tons have been allowed to flow away as a\npolluting substance, because it was not possible to utilise it. The loss of\nmaterial from a single large glass works equals fourteen hundred tons per\nannum, and a value of L8,000. Similar grave defects might be pointed out in\nnearly all our large manufactures, by those acquainted with the subject.\n\nInventions are wanted for quickening the process of vinegar making, and\ndiminishing the percentage of loss of the acid. For bleaching discoloured\nfats. For quickening the process of converting cast iron into malleable\niron. To easily separate nitrogen from the oxygen of the atmosphere. To\neconomically convert {71} the nitrogen of the air into valuable products,\nsuch as nitric acid and ammonia. To find uses for the immense quantities of\nminerals which abound all over the earth; to utilise wolfram and find\napplications for tungstic acid; to apply titanic acid to great industrial\npurposes; to produce aluminium on the large scale, as we now produce iron.\nTo tan leather more quickly, and without detriment to its quality. To\nprevent the rusting of iron. To more perfectly prevent smoke. To collect\nand use the sulphuric acid of the salt cake consumed in the glass\nmanufacture. To make window glass by means of common salt. To deodorise\noffensive substances. To find larger uses for phosphorus, sodium,\nmagnesium, and common salt. To remove phosphorus and sulphur from iron\nores, and sulphur from coal and coke. To obtain a good white alloy as a\ncheaper substitute for German silver. To convert white phosphorus into the\nred variety by a less dangerous process than the present one. To prevent\nthe putrefaction of \"peltries\" in glue making. To obtain better and cheaper\nmaterials for colouring glass. To more perfectly prevent animal food from\nchange. To obviate or prevent explosions in mines. To perfectly purify\nordinary red lead for making flint glass. A cheaper process for converting\ncommon salt into washing soda; and so on without end.\n\nWe also very badly require a method of recording our thoughts in readable\nforms upon paper, without the slow and laborious process of writing. An\nincalculable amount of brains and of intellect, especially of {72} the\ngreatest thinkers, would be saved by such a discovery. The curative arts\nalso are permeated with empiricism, and thousands of lives of persons of\nall classes of society, are annually lost in this country through want of a\nmore perfect scientific basis of medicine, attainable only by means of\nexperiment and observation.\n\nIn this country, such great practical results have been obtained by means\nof invention, that many persons suppose a sufficiency of inventive skill\nwill enable us to effect every possible scientific object, and are\nsurprised that no one can invent a plan of utilising the entire heat of\ncoals, or a mode of overcoming the sewage difficulty, or prevent the great\nleakage of coal gas, or arrest epidemics, or produce a steam engine which\nshall work without waste of power. The progress of invention however\ndepends upon that of discovery, and these various inventions, etc., wanted\nby manufacturers and others probably cannot be perfected until suitable\n_new_ knowledge is found. Every new invention has its own appropriate\ndiscoveries, by means of which alone it can be perfected; it was not\npossible to perfect the idea of an electric telegraph before the\ndiscoveries of Volta and Oersted were made. According to scientific laws,\nout of everything proceeds everything, and out of nothing, nothing can\ncome, even ideas are not created. An unlimited number of inventions cannot\nbe made by means of a limited amount of scientific knowledge; and our\npresent stock of such information applicable to {73} invention, is very\ninsufficient. One great reason why only a small portion of patents are of\npractical value; and so many useless ones are taken out is, that in\nconsequence of our so-called \"practical\" spirit, we overestimate the power\nof invention and under-value the discovery of new abstract truths; because\nalso invention has done so much, we think it will continue to do so, but\nthe latter depends upon a continued supply of discoveries.\n\nNearly every manufacturer is aware by painful experience of the great and\nalmost incessant variation that occurs in the quality and properties of the\nmaterials used in his trade, and the frequent risk of failure of his\nprocess. In the manufacture of iron, for example, the presence of much\nphosphorus, sulphur, or silicon in the ore is liable to be very detrimental\nto the quality of the iron produced from it; in the manufacture of glass,\nthe least quantity of iron in the materials will seriously injure the\ncolour of the product; in the selection of copper for telegraph wire, if it\ncontains the least trace of arsenic, the wire will not conduct the\nelectricity properly. The difficulties experienced in procuring suitable\nmaterials for a manufacturing process are in some cases very great; and\nwhen they are procured, additional difficulties arise from the inability of\nthe manufacturer or his manager to analyse them.\n\nEvery manufacturer is also aware that the difficulties encountered in\nmanufactures are not limited to the substances employed, but extend to all\nthe different {74} processes and stages of processes through which these\nsubstances have to pass, and to all the forces, tools, machinery, and\nappliances employed in those processes; in the manufacture of glass, for\nexample, the greatest care has to be exercised in the making and gradual\nheating of the pots in which the glass is melted, the proportions of the\nmaterials, the construction of the furnaces, the management of the heat,\nand a whole host of minor conditions too numerous to mention, all of which\nmust be attended to with the greatest care. In the manufacture of iron and\nsteel, the smelting of copper, the refining of nickel, the preparation and\nbaking of porcelain, and in many other trades, innumerable difficulties,\nall having their origin in the properties of matter and forces, continually\nbeset the manufacturers. In some cases difficulties occur which perplex\nboth the workman and the scientific man called in to his aid, and so far\nfrom an unscientific workman being able to overcome them, even with the aid\nof the scientific man, he is unable to do so.\n\nThe hidden difficulties which beset a manufacturer are not unfrequently so\ninscrutable that the present state of knowledge in science fails to explain\nthem. Who can tell why it is that wire-work of brass or German silver\nbecomes gradually brittle by lapse of time? Or why varnish made in the open\ncountry has different properties from that made in a town? Or why silk dyed\nin Lyons should possess a finer colour than the same silk dyed by the same\nprocess in Coventry? {75} With our present extremely imperfect knowledge of\nPhysical and Chemical science, we can perhaps hardly form an idea of the\namount of knowledge yet to be discovered respecting the phenomena which\nmanufactures present.\n\nOne of the inevitable results of these difficulties in manufacturing\nprocesses and of deficiency of knowledge, is the production of a large\namount of goods of an inferior quality; and useless goods, technically\ncalled \"wasters,\" the cost of which has to be laid upon the saleable ones,\nand thus the price of the latter is enhanced to the consumer. For instance,\nflint glass discoloured by iron has sometimes to be sold at a loss for\nmaking common enamel; waste window glass has to be sold as \"rockery\" for\nornamenting gardens, and defective articles of glass or metal have to be\nre-melted.\n\nIn consequence of this want of new knowledge, manufacturers continue to\nsuffer losses which might be avoided; high prices of useful articles are\nmaintained; defects in their quality are not improved; preventable\naccidents still continue to happen; the health of workmen continues to\nsuffer; many means of curing diseases remain unknown; medical practice\nremains full of empiricism, &c., &c.\n\nThe great sewage question is apparently in this predicament; we are\nprobably trying to solve it without first discovering the requisite\nknowledge; inventors, engineers, and consulting chemists have racked their\nbrains, and have not been able to devise a satisfactory {76} remedy, and\nmeanwhile the health of the entire population of this country is suffering.\nIf we so neglect the fundamental means of ameliorating our condition we\ndeserve to suffer. One would suppose that cholera, contagious diseases,\ncolliery accidents, pollution of air and water, enormous waste of heat from\nfires, and a multitude of other evils which depend upon physical and\nchemical conditions, are of but little importance, that we should so\nneglect one of the most effectual means of preventing them; and it is\nperfectly clear that by neglecting to aid research, those who gain so much\nmoney and advantage from original science, and render no return, are\nunwittingly sacrificing national interests upon a large scale to personal\nbenefit.\n\nThe practice of some manufacturers using and deriving great profit from new\nknowledge evolved by research, without recompensing the discoverers,\nsometimes causes injury to the public welfare by preventing the publication\nof discoveries which have an immediate practical application. Experience of\nthis kind has constrained me to postpone the publication of a method I have\nfound of readily and quickly converting lumps of white phosphorus into the\nred variety in a state of powder without protracted heat or grinding.\n\n\"What will be the next chapter of British enterprise and invention, and who\nand where the men to perform the chief part in it? As to the work to be\ndone, there can be no doubt or mystery, for not a day passes {77} without\nloud complaints, indignant remonstrances, fatal oversights, sad\nmis-calculations, terrible shortcomings, social or material evils to be\nremedied if possible, whole masses of people, indeed whole classes to be\nsuccoured and lifted out of the slough, and enormous difficulties placed by\nnature in our way evidently that we may exercise our wit and our virtues in\nthe attempt to overcome them. Here, from all these Isles, there arises a\ndespairing cry from agriculture, as if it had really reached the end of its\ntether, and had found itself landed in utter helplessness and insolvency--a\nbad speculation altogether. Here are countless problems, and at the same\ntime countless discoveries, which if they lead to nothing else, prove the\ninexhaustible nature of our dominion over the elements. Then, for the sea,\nwith its terrible average of wreck and total loss running on without\nintermission and with but rare abatement, who shall say there is here no\nwork for the discoverer and inventor who will give his heart and soul and\nmind to it?\"\n\nIt is indeed high time, that by means of discoveries which will enable us\nto predict with certainty the nature of coming seasons, we shall be better\nenabled to cope with adversities in agriculture; also, that the numerous\nwrecks, and the thousands of lives lost with them every year on our coasts,\nshould be diminished. But these desirable results cannot be effected by\ninvention based upon insufficient knowledge; invention must be preceded by\ngeneral as well as special research, because the former often discloses\nimportant {78} truths which we cannot predict. Our present electric lights\nin light-houses and on large ocean steamers, had their origin, not in\ndirect inventions or special researches for the purpose, but in abstract\nresearches on apparently remote subjects.\n\nIt is nothing less than a national crime that proper provision has not yet\nbeen made for investigating scientifically the causes of famine and\npestilence, also physiology and pathology, and the discovery of the laws\nwhich regulate diseases and epidemics. What can be more painful to behold\nthan a mother and father deprived of a whole family of five or six children\nin rapid succession by scarlatina or other contagious disease, and both the\nparents and medical men utterly unable to save them; and this is a common\noccurrence. Persons who are ignorant of science look with an abject feeling\nof helplessness upon great national calamities, and even upon private\nafflictions, such as a local epidemic, as if there was absolutely no\nremedy, whilst scientific men believe that by extension of knowledge, such\nevils might be largely avoided or prevented.\n\nMany persons however, actuated by the very kindest of motives, but\ninsufficiently acquainted with the necessity, conditions, results, and\nadvantages of experiments, unwittingly obstruct the discovery of new\nknowledge in physiology and pathology, by attempting to prevent experiments\nbeing made upon animals.\n\nWe should not strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Nearly every step in\nlife involves a choice {79} between two alternatives, and this is the case\nwith experiments upon living creatures, either such experiments must be\nmade, or the wholesale slaughter of men and other animals, by pestilences,\nepidemics, small-pox, foot and mouth disease, &c., must continue. Many of\nthe properties of living bodies, like those of dead ones, can only be\nascertained by means of experiments, no other course is possible; and the\nknowledge so obtained enables us not only to prolong the lives but also to\nalleviate the sufferings of all kinds of living creatures. Nearly all our\nmedical and surgical knowledge has been obtained by observation and study,\neither of the results of experiments made by ourselves, or by the course of\nnature for us; and the former is often attended by immeasurably less pain\nand expence than the latter. No one who has ever made in a proper manner\nnew experiments, would venture to assert that valuable knowledge is not\ngained by them; and this statement is as correct of experiments in\nphysiology as in all the other sciences.\n\nThe total amount of pain inflicted upon animals by vivisection experiments\nin this country is infinitesimally small--because, firstly, the proportion\nof experimentalists in so-called \"vivisection,\" does not amount to one\nperson in one million of our inhabitants:--secondly, students cannot be\ninduced to enter upon scientific research in physiology, because such\nlabour is unrewarded, either by enabling them to obtain certificates,\ndegrees, or money. Whatever pain also, {80} is inflicted in such\nexperiments, is by men of the highest eminence in physiology, and therefore\nby the most competent persons.\n\nExperimental research is an occupation requiring an exceptional kind of\nability and experience; and persons who have never made experiments, nor\nstudied their relation to human welfare, are largely incompetent to\ndetermine when and how they should be made, the real effects of them, or\nthe value of the knowledge they afford. To persons inexperienced in\nscientific research, many experiments appear useless, which have great\npractical value, either immediately or at a later period. Our greatest\ncurse is ignorance; and knowledge, by enabling us to avoid the fatal\neffects of pestilences, and epidemics, is as necessary as food to mankind.\nThe \"Anti-vivisection\" movement however is but one of the phases of the\never-existing conflict between the advancing and retarding sections of\nmankind.\n\nGreater sympathy with suffering accompanies greater civilization. The\nincreased humanity of the present age over that of previous ones, is\nlargely due to the discovery and extension of new scientific knowledge.\nScience, by showing more clearly to man his true position in nature and in\nrelation to his fellow-men and other animals, has rendered more evident the\nconcrete fact, that the happiness of each depends upon the happiness of\nall, and the happiness and welfare of all upon that of each individual. It\nhas also operated in a more apparent, though less {81} important way, by\ninculcating better systems of hygiene, improved sanitary arrangements, &c,\n&c. It is not to the zeal of \"anti-vivisectionists,\" but to the\nwell-directed labours of experimental medical men, that mankind are\nindebted for the discovery and invention of nearly every known method of\npreventing and alleviating animal suffering and of prolonging human life.\nThis statement is true of vaccination, the use of chloroform in general\nsurgery, dentistry, and midwifery, of carbolic acid spray in surgical\noperations; the abolition of the practice of searing amputated limbs with a\nred-hot iron; and many other improvements. Ferrier's comparatively recent\nvivisection experiments have already enabled medical men to treat more\nsuccessfully those formidable diseases, epilepsy and abcess of the brain.\n\nWhat this nation badly requires, is not less experimental research, but\nmore. When famines result from insufficiency of Solar heat, instead of\ninvestigating the conditions of the Sun's surface to enable us to predict\ntheir occurrence and provide accordingly, we allow them to come upon us in\nour unprepared state and produce their fearful effects. When contagious\ndisease overtakes us, what do we do? Instead of previously employing and\npaying scientific investigators to make experiments in physiological and\nchemical science, to enable us to combat it successfully, we vainly attempt\nto apply our present stock of chemical and physiological knowledge to ward\noff the difficulty. When high price of fuel intervenes, instead {82} of\npreviously giving discoverers the means of finding new principles relating\nto heat, and to chemical, and electrical action, we ineffectually endeavour\nby means of invention, to economise fuel. These are the pottering,\nshort-sighted, and ignorant ways in which \"the great English nation\"\ntemporises with great evils, and permits national welfare to be sacrificed\nto private gain, instead of employing for the discovery of new knowledge\nsome of that superfluous wealth which in many instances is a curse to its\npossessors.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n{83}\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n------\n\nTHE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF MENTAL AND MORAL PROGRESS.[12]\n\nIt is not highly necessary after what has been already said in these pages,\nto adduce much evidence to show that scientific discoveries, either\ndirectly or through the medium of the inventions based upon them, have been\na great cause of mental and moral progress. As however there are many\npersons who do not perceive the dependence of such progress, and especially\nof moral advance, upon science, a few of the chief relations of those\nsubjects to each other may be pointed out.\n\nThe dependence of mental progress upon science may be rendered manifest in\nseveral ways:--1st. By showing that new scientific knowledge is continually\nextending and modifying our views of existing things. 2nd. That inventions\nbased upon scientific discoveries have aided and extended our mental\npowers:--3rd. That mental phenomena may be made the subject of experiment,\nobservation, analysis, and {84} inference:--4th. That the criteria of\ntruth, and the mental powers and processes employed for discovering and\ndetecting truth, are the same in mental as in physical science, and, 5th.\nThat mental action is subject to the great principles and laws of science.\nAnd moral progress may be proved to have a scientific basis:--1st. By\nshewing that moral actions are a class of mental actions, and therefore\nsubject to the same fundamental laws and influences:--2nd. That the\ndiscovery of new scientific knowledge, and the use of inventions based upon\nit, often conduce to morality:--3rd. That moral phenomena may be made the\nsubject of experiment, observation, analysis, and inference:--4th. That the\ncriteria of truth, and the mental faculties and processes employed, in\ndiscovering truth, are the same in moral as in physical science:--5th. That\nthe fundamental rules of morality are subject to the great principles of\nscience:--6th. That moral improvement follows in the wake of scientific\nadvance:--and 7th. By showing the moral influence of experimental research\nin imparting \"the scientific spirit;\" promoting a love of truth; dispelling\nignorance and superstition; detecting error; imparting certainty and\naccuracy to our knowledge; inculcating obedience to law; producing\nuniformity of belief; aiding economy and cleanliness, promoting humanity,\n&c, &c. Each of these will be treated with extreme brevity.\n\nMENTAL PROGRESS.\n\nThe chief object of this chapter is only to shew {85} that mental action is\nlargely consistent with the great principles of science; not that in our\npresent state of knowledge, mental phenomena can be entirely explained by\nthem, or that mental actions involve nothing more than physical and\nchemical processes.\n\nThat mental progress is advanced by scientific discovery is a common\ncircumstance. Our ideas of facts, our knowledge of general principles, our\nviews of man, of nature, and of the Universe; and even our modes of\nthought, have been gradually and profoundly changed by the new knowledge\nacquired by means of scientific research. This truth is capable of being\nmost extensively illustrated by a multitude of facts in the whole of the\nsciences, and in the arts, manufactures, and other subjects dependent upon\nscience. For example, in astronomy, great changes, produced by the results\nof scientific discovery have taken place in our ideas respecting the\nmagnitude of Space and of the Heavenly bodies, the constitution, form, and\nmotion of the Earth, the functions of the Sun and Moon, the distances of\nthe Sun and fixed Stars, the nature of eclipses and comets; and a great\nmany other matters. In terrestrial physics, the mental advances have been\nequally great in our ideas respecting the causes of tides and of winds, the\npressure of the atmosphere, the existence and course of the Gulf Stream,\nthe physical conditions of the Equator and Poles, the conditions upon which\nday and night, summer and winter depend, the depth of the ocean, the height\nof the atmosphere, the cause of rainbows, of {86} rain, hail, snow, mist\nand dew, of thunder and lightning, the composition of air, water, mineral,\nand organic substances, and other most numerous and varied phenomena. In\nthe subjects of heat, light, electricity, magnetism, chemistry, vegetable\nand animal physiology, psychology and morality, and the more concrete\nsubjects depending upon them, such as politics, trade, commerce,\ngovernment, &c., our ideas have equally advanced, in consequence of\nscientific research; and to fully describe the mental progress resulting\nfrom discovery in nearly all branches of human knowledge would require a\nseries of books to be written on the History of all the Sciences.\n\nOther causes also, which I need hardly mention, besides scientific\ndiscovery, have of course contributed to the mental progress of mankind. We\narrive at true ideas, not only by the more certain and systematic process\nemployed in scientific research, but largely also by the uncertain method\nof trusting to instinct and habit, by adopting dogmatic opinions, and by\nthe semi-scientific plan of following empirical rules.\n\nDogma and empiricism, in nearly all subjects, has rendered immense service\nto mankind. Contemporaneously with the progress produced by new knowledge,\nthe mental condition of man has been maintained and prevented from\nreceding, by the combined influence of hereditary mental proclivity,\nacquired habit, promulgation of dogmatic opinions and empirical rules, and\nby previously known verified truth. Religious {87} belief has thus been the\nforerunner of Science. Dogma and empiricism are indispensable agents of\ncivilization; they cannot be dispensed with by the great mass of mankind,\nwho have not the time at command, nor possess the other means, necessary\nfor acquiring verified knowledge. They afford rough and ready guides and\nuseful \"rule of thumb\" methods, though less certain and less accurate than\nthose afforded by verified and definite science.\n\nThat various inventions, based upon scientific discoveries, have greatly\naided and extended our mental powers is quite certain. The discovery of the\nproperties of a mixture of solution of nutgalls and green vitriol, has,\nthrough the invention of ink, exercised an immense influence in promoting\nthe mental developement of mankind; and the discovery of the properties of\nesparto grass and other materials for making paper has contributed to this\nresult. Every discovery also resulting in inventions which facilitated the\ntransmission of intelligence has had a similar effect. Amongst these are\nmagnetism, which, in the mariner's compass greatly assisted navigation and\nthe conveyance of letters by sea; and the steam engine which facilitated\nthe transmission of letters by land and by water; the electric telegraph,\nthe telephone, and other contrivances for transmitting ideas, have also\ngreatly promoted mental advance. The steam engine, by largely abolishing\nphysical drudgery, gave time for study and mental and moral improvement. It\nhas been said that \"it is impossible to lay down a {88} railway without\ncreating an improved intellectual influence. It is probable that Watt and\nStephenson will eventually modify the opinions of mankind, almost as\nprofoundly as Luther and Voltaire.\" Photography has exercised an immense\nintellectual influence of an improved kind, by making common to all mankind\nviews of the beautiful scenery of all parts of our globe, and portraits of\nindividuals of all nations and of all classes of society. Processes of\nprinting from electrotype plates, pictures and letter-press, upon the paper\nwrappers used by grocers and other tradesmen, have also carried into the\nhomes of millions of poor persons truthful ideas and an improved\nintellectual influence. The invention of steel pens, of which a thousand\nmillions are made yearly in Birmingham alone, must also have considerably\naided intellectual progress. The various calculating machines used by\nmerchants, the copying presses, papyrographs, and the numerous inventions\nfor copying and multiplying letters and circulars and for domestic\nprinting, have saved intellectual toil, and promoted the diffusion of\nintelligence. These are only a few of the numerous ways in which inventions\nbased upon scientific discoveries, have resulted in mental progress.\n\nLess perhaps has been done in the way of actual definite scientific\nexperiments upon mental actions and processes than in almost any other\ndepartment of science, and this is partly accounted for by the fact that\nthe other sciences require to be largely advanced before we can use them to\nexamine mental action, {89} and partly also because (as occasionally\nhappens) the latter has been a neglected subject of research. During the\npast few years however, various experimental investigations have been made,\nespecially by Donders in Holland, and Mosso in Turin, for the purpose of\nelucidating the physical conditions of mental action; and it has been found\nthat instead of an act of thought being instantaneous, as was formerly\nbelieved, it requires a variable time.[13] Numerous desultory experiments\nmade upon dreamers, and with drugs, alcohol, &c., upon persons in the\nwaking state, also prove that mental phenomena are amenable to scientific\nresearch. F. Galton has even proposed experiments and methods for measuring\nthe mental faculties of different persons.[14] The effects of exciting\ndifferent parts of the brain of animals by means of electric currents, and\nthe localization of the functions of the brain effected by the experiments\nof Ferrier, Hirtzig and others, also tend to throw further light upon\nmental phenomena. The fact alone that mental actions and conditions may be\nmade the subject of experiment, and consequently of observation,\ncomparison, analysis and inference, proves that they may be rendered\nsources of new facts and principles, and are therefore within the domain of\nscience. As the dependence of mental phenomena upon physical conditions has\nbeen clearly demonstrated, an extensive reduction of them to scientific\nlaws is only a question of time and labour.\n\n{90}\n\nThe principles of nature and the modes of mental action are the same for\nall men. It necessarily follows from the essential nature of truth and the\ninvariability of the chief methods of detecting it, that the criteria of\ntruth in mental science, and the mental powers and processes by which truth\nis arrived at and detected in that science, are essentially the same as in\nthe physiological, chemical, and physical ones. In each of these subjects,\nwe first, either with or without the aid of experiment, make observations,\nrecord facts, compare them, and draw conclusions from our comparisons; we\nalso group the facts, and the conclusions, in every possible way, and then\ndraw other conclusions; we also analyse, combine, and permutate the various\ntruths arrived at, and cross examine the evidence in every possible manner\nin order to extract from it the greatest amount of new knowledge. And in\neach case we employ as the criteria of truth, the test of consistency with\nthe whole of the evidence bearing upon the case, and especially with the\ngreat principles of science. We determine what is true, chiefly by\ncomparison with those principles, because they are the most firmly\nestablished true ones and the most universal. There is no royal road to\ntruth, and no special mental faculty for detecting it in any subject; and\nit is in consequence of our mental faculties being so very finite that we\nhave no easier way of arriving at truth.\n\nNo dogmatic teaching can ever, except by accident, fully explain to man the\ntrue nature of mind; and {91} only in proportion as man becomes enlightened\nby extension of new scientific knowledge, especially in physiology, will he\nbe able to view himself in a true aspect apart from his consciousness.\nScience penetrates deeper than metaphysical speculation, into the nature of\nmental action, chiefly because metaphysics deals only with old ideas,\nwhilst science furnishes us with new experience and therefore with new\nconceptions and wider evidence.\n\nFallacies are very prevalent, every subject of human study is liable to a\nvery large class of errors arising from the extremely imperfect state of\nour knowledge, and in very few subjects is our ignorance as great as in\nthat of mental and moral phenomena. Every different subject of study also,\nhas, in consequence of its special peculiarities, its own peculiar class of\nfallacies, into which the student of it is likely to be led, unless he is\npreviously guarded against them. In accordance with this truth, the study\nof man's nature, especially the mental and moral portions, is particularly\nliable to a class of errors arising from the circumstance, that the\nphenomena to be observed and the observing power are intimately connected\ntogether, each influencing and disturbing the other. The obstacles to our\narriving at truth in the study of mental and moral actions, are greater and\nmore frequent, the more nearly and intimately related the phenomena to be\nobserved and contemplated, are to the observing and contemplating faculty,\nor rather to the contemplative action. When the two mental {92} actions are\nextremely intimate, as when attention is directed to the action of will\n(which is itself a conscious act of attention) undisturbed thought becomes\nvery difficult; and when further, the contemplative faculty attempts to\ncontemplate itself, as when consciousness attempts to observe\nconsciousness, in order to define it, the attempt results in almost\ncomplete failure, probably because the two actions (observing and being\nobserved) being opposite in kind, cannot coexist at the same time in the\nsame structure. Knowledge of the exact nature of consciousness therefore,\nwill probably only be arrived at by indirect means, when physiological and\nother knowledge is sufficiently advanced.\n\nConsciousness, when uncorrected by sufficient knowledge and inference, is a\ngreat source of error. That which we feel, we think exists whether it does\nor not, until the subject is correctly explained to us. The incessant and\nirresistible obtrusion of consciousness exercises dominion over every mind,\neven of our greatest thinkers, and causes disturbance and interruption in\nnearly every train of thought. It is largely the cause of some of our most\ngeneral ideas and emotions and insensibly influences our views of man and\nnature. It produces true impressions as well as erroneous ones. It is a\ncause of the feeling that an occult spirit exists within us independent of\nour material structure. Combined with the almost equally persistent\nimpression of the uniformity of nature, it largely produces the idea that\nthe spirit within us, {93} will live and be active for ever. And by uniting\nwith the frequent impressions of failure of our efforts and desire for more\nperfect enjoyment, it largely originates the idea of everlasting happiness.\n\nIt is in accordance with modern scientific knowledge, to view the mind, not\nas a collection of distinct faculties, but rather as a single kind of\npower, like each of the physical forces, having several different modes of\naction; and as that which perceives, thinks, and wills. Its oneness is\nshewn by its inability to be simultaneously occupied by several diverse\nfeelings, thoughts, or volitions, and by our incapacity to think of many\nvaried ideas at once; the more ideas also or objects we attempt to perceive\nat once, the less we realize of each. In proportion as the mind is engaged\nupon one idea, so is it also unable to be occupied with another. Strong\nfeelings exclude intellectual action. The mind can only execute several\nactions at a time, provided they have been rendered more or less automatic\nby habit, &c., but as all mental acts are in different degrees imperfectly\nautomatic, and require more or less attention, and each individual mind is\nlimited in its power, every such act withdraws a portion of attention from\nthe more engrossing ideas. Power of mind and power of maintaining attention\nare nearly synonymous.\n\nThe recognised fundamental elements of mind are Receptivity and Perception\nof impression: Retentiveness of impression: Perception of agreement (or\nsimilarity) of impression: and Perception of difference {94} of impression.\nAll purely mental acts appear to be resolvable into these.\n\nMany persons still entertain the idea that mental actions are largely\nindependent of the natural conditions to which physiological, chemical, and\nphysical phenomena are subject. The unscientific mind is readily beguiled\nby easy schemes of mental action, or simple systems of mental and moral\nphilosophy, unaware that great abstract truths often require deep thought\nto discover them, or even to perceive them when discovered and published.\n\"A false notion, which is clear and precise, will always meet a greater\nnumber of adherents in the world than a true principle which is obscure.\"\nIt is not until unscientific persons have become used to advanced\nscientific ideas and nomenclature, and knowledge as so far progressed as to\nenable thinking men to illustrate those ideas freely in familiar language,\nthat great abstract truths are believed by the public. The ordinary and\nsimple theory of the operations of the human mind is, that they often arise\nwithout any cause, and are frequently not obedient to ordinary influences,\nand this idea is still entertained and promulgated even by some of our most\npopular ministers of truth. It is therefore necessary in order to further\nprove that new scientific knowledge is really a basis of mental progress,\nto point out a few of the chief ways in which mental action essentially\ndepends on scientific principles, and to adduce a few instances in which\nother substances than brain exhibit essentially similar phenomena. To {95}\nshew this however in a more satisfactory manner would require a large\ntreatise to be written upon the subject.\n\nThe human brain and mind are evidently subject to the ordinary laws of\nmatter and energy. Receptivity and retentiveness of impression is not only\na property of brain, but of all solid matter without exception. Moser's\npictures, and Chinese mirrors, the impressions on each being reproducible\nby warm breath, are examples of this. And as these two properties are\nfundamental elements of mind, they must be present in and essential to,\nevery mental action.\n\nAll phenomena require time and all matter occupies space; thought and brain\nare no exception to this. Whilst all persons say \"I must have time to\nthink,\" many believe that thought is instantaneous. Time is a necessary\ncondition of all thought, and therefore of all comparison, inference,\nimagination, and mental analysis; it takes time even to form an idea, or\ndraw an inference from it, and the two cannot be formed simultaneously.\nProfessor Donders, of Utrecht, has invented what he terms a Noematachograph\nfor registering the amount of time occupied in mental processes, and by the\naid of that instrument has ascertained that the time required by a man of\nmiddle age to perform a single act of simple thought is about one\ntwenty-fifth part of a second. It has also been ascertained that the time\nrequired is longer in some persons than in others; and longer if the {96}\nsubject of thought is one with which the thinker is not familiar. Mosso, by\nmeans of an instrument which he calls a Plethysmograph, has shewn, that\nduring mental action, either in the waking state, or in dreaming, there is\na greater amount of blood determined to the brain, and more during\ndifficult than during easy mental action. These are instances of scientific\nresearch casting a light upon mental processes.\n\nCoexistence of matter and energy is another great truth which appears to be\napplicable to all nature; wherever there is matter, there is either active\nor stored up power; and as particular forms of energy are in some cases\nmost exhibited by particular kinds of substance, (as magnetism by iron), so\nmind is associated with living brain. As also we never see the physical\npowers exhibited except by material substance, so have we never yet\nobserved mental action in a space devoid of material. The most perfect\nvacuum yet produced contains many millions of particles of substance in\neach cubic inch. Of all the countless number of scientific phenomena\nobserved since men have been able to reliably investigate, not one has\nafforded us conclusive evidence of mental action entirely independent of\nthese conditions. In accordance also with the usual truth in science, that\ncomplicated action requires complex structures; mind, being the most\nintricate action, is manifested by the most complicated body.\n\nMind, like each of the physical forces may be {97} viewed as a mode of\nenergy; it is essentially dynamic; activity or change, within or without\nus, appears to be the original source of all our mental impressions, and\nthe cause of their re-excitement in an act of memory. A man's mind, being\ncontinually excited by circumstances, must be active whether he will or no,\nand if it does not possess sufficient truthful ideas entirely to occupy it,\nit must be more or less occupied with erroneous ones. \"We can neither feel,\nnor know, without a transition or change of state--and every cognition,\nmust be viewed as in relation to some other feeling, or cognition,\" (Bain.\nMental and Moral Science, p. 83); _i.e._ the mental effect of impressions\nupon us depends upon our immediately previous mental state; consciousness\nand perception appear to be based upon cerebral change or activity; after\nstrong excitement of consciousness an increased amount of acid products is\nfound in the secretions. \"It is a general law of the mental constitution,\nmore or less recognised by inquirers into the human mind, that change of\nimpression is essential to consciousness in every form,\" (Bain. Emotions\nand Will, 3rd edi. p. 550). A sufficient degree also of such change is a\nnecessary condition of conscious perception; it is the stronger or more\nrapid only of mental changes that excite our consciousness.\n\nWe perceive nearly all things by means of a difference of impression which\nthey make upon us; by contrast. That which makes no such difference of\nimpression, such as the great uniformities of time and {98} space, makes no\nimmediate impression upon us. We only know of the existence of those\nuniformities by inference from our perceptions of sequences or of relative\ndifference. Although the Earth moves at the rate of 62,000 miles an hour in\nits orbit, consciousness does not perceive it. If also there was no error,\nwe should be less immediately able to discern truth, without pain we should\nlose much of the enjoyment of pleasure. Without the contrast of\nimperfection we could not directly appreciate perfection.\n\nThis principle of \"relativity,\" or of change of impression, operates both\nin the phenomena of dead and living matter and in those of mind; the\nselenium in a photophone is kept in a state of motion or activity, not by a\nbeam of uniform light, but only by one which changes; electrical action is\nexcited by a relative difference of friction, of temperature, of chemical\naction, &c.; chemical action also often results from a relative difference\nof property of two bodies. That the most inscrutable phenomenon of mind,\nviz., consciousness, is largely dependent upon relative physical and\nchemical conditions, is proved by the powerful influence which alcohol,\nchloroform, opium, haschish, and other substances, have in exciting or\ndepressing it. These facts prove that excitement of consciousness or mental\naction depends upon precisely the same general condition, viz.: change of\nimpression, as the excitement of some of the physical forces; and that mind\npossesses a similar property to the physical forces of being changed by\ninequality of impression. {99} Whilst copious evidence is available to shew\nthat the mind is excitable by physical causes, no more conclusive proof\nexists that a mental impression arises without a natural cause, than that a\nphysical one, such as a photographic impression, arises in that way.\nAbundant evidence of non-creation of ideas out of nothing might be adduced;\neven imagination and invention are subject to this limit, because an\nunlimited number of new conceptions cannot be formed from a limited number\nof previous ideas.\n\nThe dependence of the mind (like any other mode of energy) upon physical\nconditions, is further proved by the fact that the mental and moral states\nof a man are largely governed by sensation; if the latter is unhealthy it\nmakes the mind so, and it makes some difference what the part of the body\nis in which the sensation exists; most commonly it is the viscera. The mind\nis also intimately dependent upon the physical condition of the brain, and\nis largely affected by the quantity and quality of the blood in that organ.\n\nThe most fundamental principle which pervades every one of the sciences,\nand agrees with the actions of every natural form of energy without\nexception, including mind, is, that of consistency or non-contradiction. No\nmachine or scientific apparatus of any kind can perform two contradictory\nacts at the same time. It is both a physiological and psychological fact,\nthat we cannot experience two contradictory sensations, nor perceive two\ncontradictory ideas at the {100} same instant. We can neither feel,\nperceive, nor observe, one thing, whilst we are feeling, perceiving, or\nobserving, one of a contradictory nature; nor can we perform any two\ncontradictory acts of comparison, inference, imagination, or volition,\nsimultaneously. As also two mental actions are often not exactly alike, or\nentirely harmonious, they must so far as they are really contradictory, be\nmutually exclusive; and one of them must partly prevent the other, the\nstrongest one prevailing, and this general truth is commonly though not\nexplicitly, recognised in the maxim, that to do anything well, we must do\nonly one thing at a time. In accordance with the universal truth, that\ncontradictions cannot co-exist, it is well-known that one disease\nfrequently expels another from our frame, and the action of\ncounter-irritants is based upon the same principle. The fortitude of\nmartyrs may probably be explained by this power of one set of ideas and\nfeelings to exclude another, and the facts of mental physiology afford\nplenty of other examples.\n\nIt is probably because we cannot simultaneously perform two contradictory\nactions, that we cannot contemplate consciousness, or think of an idea and\nat the same time think of that act of thought. In accordance with this,\neven Newton, and other great geniuses, have been unable to accurately\ndescribe the mental processes by means of which they arrived at their most\ndifficult results. In consequence also of this, we cannot define\nconsciousness, and are often {101} unable to directly observe or analyse\nour mental actions, especially those of a very abstruse or complex kind.\nMuch of the knowledge of the operations of our mind, we are therefore\nobliged to obtain by indirect means; by analogies, and inferences from the\nphenomena of nature, &c., and in this way our knowledge of mental action\nlargely depends upon our acquaintance with physical and chemical science,\nand can only advance as it advances. To clearly understand one subject we\nare often obliged to study several others. Ignorance of science in general,\nand of cerebral physiology in particular, is the chief obstacle to our\nacquiring a more accurate knowledge of mind.\n\nNext to consistency, the great principle of causation constitutes the most\nessential part of all natural truth, and to deny the operation of this\nprinciple in particular cases of mental action, simply because we, with our\nvery finite powers, cannot in the extremely imperfect state of our\nknowledge, yet fully explain some of the most difficult, complex,\ntransient, and ever-changing phenomena of will and consciousness, is\ncontrary to the most weighty evidence. \"The Will\" is a conscious mental\neffort to effect an object, the idea of which is already in the mind, and\nbeing a mental \"effort\" it absorbs the mind and thereby incapacitates it at\nthe moment from observing its own action.\n\nIf any phenomenon (such as mental action) is essentially dependent upon\nanother, it must be connected {102} with it in a never-failing or\nindissoluble manner, so that when the one occurs the other is always\npresent, otherwise it would not be essentially dependent. The only known\nconnections of this kind are those causation and continuity of phenomena,\naccording to which every phenomenon has a cause, and all phenomena are\nindissolubly connected in endless series. The evidence of the truth of\nthese principles is so vast, that even all mankind thinking through all\nages, and after having made an almost infinite number of definite\nexperiments and observations, have never yet met with a single well\nverified instance of their failure; and we are therefore justified in\ninferring that they are universal. There are however instances in the\nphysical and chemical sciences, as well as in mental action, where the\ndependence of phenomena upon those principles is not very apparent, and has\nnot yet been sufficiently proved, but it is probably in consequence of our\nimperfect knowledge and limited faculties, that we are unable as yet to\nfully trace such dependence. The history of science, abundantly proves that\nwe should not assume that a phenomenon arises without a natural cause,\nsimply for the reason that it is very difficult to trace its origin, but\nwait patiently for more knowledge respecting it. It is unphilosophic and\ncontrary to reason to attribute to occult agencies, effects which may be\nexplicable by ordinary causes, or to refuse to believe in more abstruse\ncauses where the assumption of simple ones is contradicted by some of the\nevidence. {103}\n\nThe principle of causation forms the basis of many minor ones, such as\nselection, evolution, differentiation, &c. Plurality of causes also is a\nvery common circumstance in all the sciences, and especially in concrete\nphenomena, and in the complex ones of animal life; the arrival of a ship\nfor example at a distant port, is a result of many conditions. Similarly\nwith most of our mental actions, they are compounds of feeling and\nintellect, and produced by many causes, such as hereditary tendency,\nacquired habit, internal and external mental excitants, dogmatic belief,\nknowledge of empirical rules, and occasionally of verified principles.\nSeveral of these causes also frequently conspire to produce a single idea\nor decision.\n\nVarious general principles of lesser magnitude arise from the combined\naction of two or more of the greater ones, and these also appear to operate\nin mental actions as well as in physical ones. Thus by the combined\ninfluence of causation and of the principle that every phenomenon occupies\ntime, \"effects often lag behind their causes;\" and in some cases during a\nlong period. The greatest heat of summer for example usually occurs several\nweeks after mid-summer. The mental effects of early mistakes are often not\nfully experienced until old age. The decline of a nation also follows a\nlong time behind the period of action of the chief causes which produce it.\n\nAlthough effects are indissolubly connected with their causes, they\nfrequently do not occur in an active form until a long period after them.\nIn such cases {104} they are stored up in what is termed a potential or\nlatent state, ready for liberation at a future occasion, when the suitable\nconditions are present; the storage of chemical power in gunpowder, of\nsolar heat in coal, and its subsequent liberation in our fires, are\nsuitable examples. The principle of deferred activity and storing up of\npower, occurs also in vital and mental phenomena; potential heat is stored\nup in our food, and is afterwards evolved by oxidation in our tissues.\nMuscular power is stored up during sleep, ready to be evolved during\nlabour. The storage also of cerebral impressions, and cerebral energy,\nready to call forth ideas, and thereby powerful emotions, by the exciting\naction of memory, may also be viewed as an instance of similar kind\nbelonging to mental phenomena. A new and striking instance of the storage\nof energy has been shewn in Faure's improved form of secondary voltaic\nbattery, in which the most powerful voltaic current may be (at least\npractically) stored up (in a box containing lead plates immersed in dilute\nsulphuric acid) and conveyed to a distance with little loss, and then\nliberated.\n\nExciting causes operate very extensively in mental actions as well as in\nphysical ones, a mere look or word from an eloquent speaker will excite the\npassions and liberate the muscular power of a multitude. Every part of the\nhuman body, especially the muscles and nerve centres, is a store-house of\npower always ready to be set free by the slightest suitable causes; this is\nstrongly illustrated in the irrepressible activity {105} of children, and\nin the excitable passions of young men and women. The more immediate cause\nof this power is the oxidation of assimilated food; and the source of power\nin the food is the heat of the Sun stored up in the plants and animals they\nhave eaten.\n\nThe subsequent liberation of power under the influence, often of very\nslight causes, long after the original cause has ceased to act, has led us\nto conclude erroneously that causes are not always proportional to effects.\nProportionality of effect to cause appears to be universal; it probably\noperates in mental as well as in physical actions, our faith in education\nas a means of intelligence is based upon this; the more complete the\neducation of a particular individual, the greater usually is his degree of\nintelligence. Proportionality of cause to effect is apparently disobeyed\nnot only in physical but also in mental phenomena. Throughout the whole\nrealm of nature, minute circumstances often act as exciting, deflecting,\nand guiding causes, and contribute to the production of apparently\ndisproportionate effects. Thus a spark will discharge the largest cannon; a\ntouch determine the most distant electric signal; a word or look, excite\nthe strongest emotions; the little change of position of a railway point\nwill direct a train either to distant North or South; the minute change of\ncontact of the telegraph switch, will determine the signal to places wide\nasunder; one false idea also at a critical moment will often lead a man or\nwoman to ruin; and in all these classes of cases, {106} whilst trifling\ncauses _appear_ to produce great effects; the real causes are the stored up\nlatent powers set free or directed. It is astonishing how small a\ncircumstance will excite an idea, and deflect the entire current of our\nthoughts; and it is equally surprising what great physical and chemical\neffects are often started by most minute exciting or deflecting conditions;\nthe explosion of seven tons of dynamite at Hell-gate, near New York, by the\npressure of a child's finger closing an electric circuit is a suitable\nexample.\n\nEvery phenomenon therefore whether physical or mental, is probably\nconnected in an indissoluble manner with some preceding phenomenon, either\nimmediately in point of time, or remotely through some static condition,\nusually that of stored up power. In this sense the great principle of\ncontinuity of phenomena appears to be universal, and the present state of\nthe Universe is said to implicitly or potentially contain all the future\nstates of the Universe. Mind also in this way, like each of the physical\nforces, often acts as a link in an endless chain of causes and effects, and\nis connected with non-mental phenomena in accordance with the great\nprinciples of science.\n\nScience has demonstrated what has been termed the \"Convertibility of\nForces,\" or, that when one form of energy disappears, another form (or\nforms) of energy, and in precisely equivalent amount, is produced in its\nstead, either in a latent or active state. The equivalent quantities of the\nvarious forms of {107} energy have also been discovered by actual\nexperiment and measurement. A pound weight falling through 772 feet gives\nforth as much energy as would (in the form of heat) raise the temperature\nof one pound of water one Fahrenheit degree. We know that so much\nmechanical power is equal also to so much electric current, chemical\naction, &c., and a large amount of evidence exists to show that these\ntransformations of energy occur in all the organs of living creatures, and\nin obedience to the law of their equivalents. How far mental power is a\n\"mode of energy\" transformable, and obedient to the laws of equivalence,\nare interesting questions for future research.\n\nThe mechanical principle of action and reaction is another which can be\ntraced in mental as well as in physical phenomena. Mental excitement is\noften succeeded by mental depression, \"after pleasure follows pain.\" The\npower of mental self-guidance and self-education is largely dependent upon\nthe two well known scientific principles of latent energy, and action and\nreaction. We are able to liberate energy, not only in cases where it will\ninfluence inanimate matter but also ourselves. The principle of\nself-guidance is not restricted to living creatures, nor is self-regulation\nlimited to mental power. The principle of self-regulation operates in\nclocks, watches, musical boxes, the governors of steam engines, water\nregulators, gas regulators, &c., &c., and upon an immense scale in the\nmovements of the heavenly {108} bodies. With the electric locomotive, the\ngreater the load it has to draw, or the steeper the incline it has to\nascend, the more strongly does it exert its strength, up to the full limits\nof its power. Neither in physical nor in mental actions can a body or force\nusually act directly upon itself to change its state whether of activity or\nrest. In both classes of cases however we meet with plenty of instances\nwhere, a body by an almost imperceptible expenditure of energy on its own\npart either alters some surrounding conditions, or excites a powerful\nliberation of energy in another body which then reacts upon it to change\nits state. In this way the action of clock-work in the self-exploding\napparatus of a torpedo liberates at a particular moment a spring, and\ncauses an explosion which destroys the apparatus. Similarly, whilst a man,\nin many cases, is unable to _directly_ alter his mental state, to increase\nor diminish his mental activity, to cause sleep, &c., he is able\n_indirectly_ to change his mental condition by drinking stimulants or by\nadopting means of self-education; and to induce sleep by means of opium,\nsuitable exercise, &c.\n\nThe principles of indestructibility or conservation of matter and energy,\nflow from the preceding ones, and are exhibited in mental actions as well\nas in physical ones. Whilst the universal experience of mankind has not yet\nafforded us a single well verified instance of actual creation or\ndestruction of matter or energy, it has supplied us with plenty of examples\nof apparent destruction and creation of each of them. {109} But scientific\nknowledge corrects the uncertain testimony of consciousness; whilst we see\ncoal burn and be apparently destroyed, science proves to us that the\nelements composing it remain undiminished. We observe also that the heat of\nthe fire dissipates and is apparently lost for ever; but science again\nproves that it is either stored up in the latent state, ready to be again\nliberated at a future time, or else converted into other forms of energy. A\ngiven atom of matter or a portion of energy, therefore, to the best of our\nknowledge, continues and persists for ever. As we cannot either create or\ndestroy matter so also can we not create or annihilate energy, and this\ntruth probably holds good with regard to mental as well as to physical and\nchemical power. Great changes of state in bodies (as in the combustion of\nwood &c.) have led us to erroneously think that the substances are\ndestroyed; and great apparent differences of property, such as those of\ndiamond and charcoal, have led us similarly to conclude that they are\nentirely distinct and independent of each other when they are not.\n\nAs the cerebrum of man is composed of matter, and during excitement, its\nparts are active, we might confidently predict that its particles obey the\nFirst law of Motion, viz.: that a body in a state of rest or motion will\ncontinue in that state of rest or motion until some cause arise to prevent\nit. So it has been found that the action of the vital and mental forces\nhave a degree of persistence, like the physical ones. It has been\nexperimentally found that portions of {110} living bone transplanted to\nfleshy parts of animals where there was no bone, continued to grow for a\ntime by a life of their own, and increased by formation of additional bone,\nlike a crystal grows in its medium; but after a time they diminished and\ndisappeared. In a similar manner we are all of us aware of the persistency\nof ideas, even in opposition to the will, after the cause of them has been\nremoved. Sometimes we cannot retain an idea because of the persistence of\nothers; and at other times we cannot get rid of one, for a similar reason.\nOur mental habits also have often very great persistence.\n\nThe principle of heredity may be viewed as a result of the First law of\nMotion, and appears as Persistency of state, either of structure, form, or\nmode of action. It appears both in inanimate bodies, living structures, and\nin mental phenomena; in the latter, as hereditary mental peculiarities. The\nprinciple of Persistency of structure and Heredity of form and property,\nduring repeated or even continual dissolution and aggregation of a material\nsubstance, is more or less manifest nearly throughout the whole of nature.\nIn the formation of crystals it is clearly seen; each crystallizable\nsubstance will only grow into its own shape or shapes; each particle of\ncommon salt, during an endless series of successive solutions and\naggregations into the solid state, always forms a more or less perfect\ncube; that of silica a hexagon; and so on throughout the entire series of\nthousands of different crystalline bodies. As each {111} form of crystal\nonly produces crystals of like form and property (or at most in certain\ncases a limited number of modified forms, as in the instance of calcic\ncarbonate, &c.) so also each seed, both of animals and vegetables, only\nproduces its own particular essential shape and collection of functions.\nThe same principle shews itself in the transmission of particular types of\ndisease, and of eccentricities of organization, from one generation to\nanother of animals. Peculiar malformations of body and characteristics of\nmind often persist in families from generation to generation. This\npersistency or heredity of structure and of property is not limited to\nsolid bodies, but exists also in liquids: \"The effect of vaccine virus upon\nthe liquid blood, in producing a permanent and organic change in its\nconstitution and character, which continues to exercise a protective\ninfluence against small-pox, in the great mass of cases, through a long\nlife, during which time the blood must have undergone, many thousands, if\nnot millions of changes and modifications.\" (F. Winslow. \"Obscure diseases\nof Brain and Mind,\" page 432). The same persistency of structure and\nproperty of structure, has even been detected in vapours; the vapour of red\niodide of mercury for example, deposits only crystals of red iodide, whilst\nthat of the yellow deposits only yellow (see Gmelin's Handbook of\nChemistry, vol. 1, p. 100.)\n\nWe often appear to mentally select when we only yield to causes acting upon\nus, _i.e._, to the strongest influence or motive. That \"self-preservation\nis the {112} first law of nature,\" is not only true of living creatures,\nbut largely also of dead substances. Inanimate as well as animate matter,\nappears to usually select what is good for itself. Apparent selection,\nwhich is manifested in the phenomena of instinct, is exhibited not only by\nbrain, but by all material substances. Acids appear to select bases, North\nmagnetism rejects North and prefers South magnetism. Also if a piece of\nzinc is put into a mixed solution of the nitrates of silver, magnesium,\ncalcium, strontium, barium, lithium, sodium, potassium, and rubidium, it\nwill select the silver only with which to form a \"metallic tree,\" and\nreject all the other metals. Everything which aggregates or grows to a\ndefinite shape, appears to select its material; if a crystal of a\nparticular salt is placed in a mixture of saturated solutions of different\nsalts, it will only select and assimilate to itself suitable material,\neither particles of the same composition as itself, or those which are\nisomorphous with it, _i.e._ belonging to the same crystalline system. In\nliving bodies also, the same principle operates; Living tissues, whether of\nanimals or vegetables, usually select from their nutrient fluids, and\nassimilate, particles only of those kinds of matter which are suitable for\ntheir structure; in this way, a bone assimilates lime and phosphoric acid\nfrom the multitude of different substances conveyed to it by the blood. And\nin all these cases, the selecting material appears to act as if it\npossessed the powers of instinct, perception, comparison, judgment, and\n{113} volition. The act of self-repair is clearly connected with this, and\nis not limited to living structures; Sir David Brewster observed that if a\nportion of the surface of a perfect crystal of alum is very slightly\nabraded by dissolving a film from it, and the crystal be then immersed\nduring a very brief period in a saturated solution of alum, the abraded\nportion repairs itself. The subjects of \"malformation of crystals,\" and\n\"diseases of crystals\" have been scientifically investigated. The power of\nselection (or rather of apparent selection) is no doubt a result of the\ncombined action of causation and of the inherent properties of bodies, and\ndepends, like consciousness, upon difference of impression, the strongest\nsuitable influence determining. If apparent selection can thus be performed\nby inanimate matter, we should not, except for a very sufficient reason,\nassume the existence in living creatures, of a special occult power to\nperform the same function. In the selection of ideas also the intellect\nacts according to the purely scientific method.\n\nWe frequently appear to mentally adapt ourselves to particular\ncircumstances when we are really determined by causes; and this apparent\nadaptation is also seen in ordinary physical and chemical phenomena. The\ncourse of a river for instance, adapts itself to the configuration of the\ncountry through which it flows, and if it cannot pass wholly by one\nchannel, as in seasons of flood, or on occasions of accidental obstruction,\nit travels through several; and a similar result {114} occurs with the flow\nof the blood when an artery is tied or becomes obstructed. A plant when\ngrowing in a dark recess, bends itself towards the light as if it preferred\nlight; and its roots adapt themselves to the forms of existing obstacles. A\ndecapitated frog jumps away from a source of irritation, as if he still\npossessed sensation, volition, and choice. A man seeking his way through a\ncrowd avoids the course in which the throng is densest. The human mind\nalso, chooses as it were, the easiest way of solving a problem, and usually\nadapts itself to altered circumstances.\n\nThe principle of evolution also operates both in physical and mental\nactions, and is a result of that of causation. Complexity of structure and\nfunction is evolved out of simplicity of composition and property by\nplurality of causes and conditions. For instance, many complex forms of\ncrystals of ice are produced from water. Calcspar crystallizes in more than\none hundred varieties of form, (all derived from an obtuse rhombohedron)\nunder the influence of a number of slightly different conditions of\ntemperature, impurities in the solution, &c. The most complex bodies are\nevolved out of the simplest, the bodily frame of man himself (and that of\nother animals) is constructed of less than twenty of the elementary\nsubstances. The same simple substances are capable of yielding very\ndifferent and more complex bodies under different conditions; thousands of\ndifferent chemical compounds are composed of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon\nonly. In the development of {115} living forms from ova, the ultimate form\nproduced does not exist in the germ, any more than a crystal exists in its\nsolution, but is a natural consequence of the forces acting in and upon the\ngerm, like the cubical form of a crystal of common salt is a result of the\nforces acting in its constituents under the conditions of its environment,\nespecially those of pressure and temperature. The extent to, and manner in\nwhich, the force and principle operate, depend upon the material substance,\nand its conditions internal and external.\n\nIt is a common circumstance, both in physical, mental, and moral subjects,\nfor the apparent to be the very opposite of the real. This general truth\nhas been repeatedly illustrated in an incidental manner in this book, and\nneed not be much further elucidated. Phenomena are none the less real,\nhowever, because they are not readily manifest; our earth is as much tied\nto the sun by the invisible power of gravity, as if it was attached to it\nby visible material chains. Mistaking the apparent for the real, largely\nexplains the persistency of certain beliefs, and why it is that persons\nunacquainted with science, cling to self-deception, and resist some of the\nmost firmly established truths. The more evident but untrue explanation is\nbelieved, whilst the less apparent but true one is rejected. It is the\nchief cause of the belief that \"the will is a supernatural power.\" To a\nscientific man however, apparent contradictions are not unfrequently a sign\nof truth; too accurate results sometimes {116} indicate that they have been\nartificially made to appear correct.\n\nSympathetic action or propagation of similar influence by immediate\nimpulse, is a property of all the natural forms of energy, as well as of\nmind. Similar actions are propagated thus in all kinds of dead substances,\nas well as in the living brain. Matter is sympathetic to sound in the\nphenomena of singing-flames, and a vibrating string responds to a\nparticular note in obedience to well-known laws. Iodide of nitrogen may be\ncaused to explode by the influence of a particular note from a fiddle. In\nthe phenomena of light, with a spectroscope, a luminous gas is sympathetic\nwith, and emits and absorbs, only particular kinds of luminous rays. In\nchemical action also, combustion excites combustion, ferment excites\nferment, infection communicates infection, and the similar chemical change\nis transmitted from molecule to molecule. Mental excitement and disease in\none person, often excite similar phenomena in another, as is seen in\n\"religious revivals,\" and well-known epidemics, such as the \"dancing\nmania,\" \"preaching epidemics,\" the \"leaping ague,\" the \"mewing contagion,\"\netc., etc., (See \"Epidemics of the Middle Ages,\" by Hecker; Sydenham\nSociety publications; also Carpenter's Mental Physiology, p. 312.) Like\nexcites like in the actions of each of the forces of nature; both in\nphysical, chemical, and mental action, the kind of impulse transmitted is\nsimilar, unless conditions exist which transmute it. Dynamite, {117}\nstarted into combustion by a flame, burns slowly away; but when started by\na detonating substance, detonates violently. Guthrie has also discovered\nthat if a melted cryohydrate (_e. g._ a chilled saturated aqueous solution\nof a solid salt) is cooled to a certain greater extent, it will not\nsolidify--nothing separates out, although the solution is four or five\ndegrees below its proper solidifying point. If a little crystal of ice be\nthen thrown into it, nothing separates but ice, which comes to the surface.\nIf we throw in a little anhydrous salt, nothing but the anhydrous salt\nseparates out, and that sinks to the bottom. But if we throw into it a\ncrystal of a previous crop of cryohydrate, then nothing but the cryohydrate\nseparates. In this case also, like evidently excites like only, in\nobedience to physical laws. (Addresses, Science Conferences; South\nKensington Museum, 1876; Vol. 2, p. 108). Even two clocks, when hung near\neach other, against a board or surface which readily transmits vibrations,\nhave been known to exhibit, by synchronous action, an apparent sympathy,\nwhich changed their rate of going.\n\nPeriodical phenomena, also, brought about by definite causes, occur in\nmental, as well as in physical phenomena. In the former we have the\nphenomena of sleep, and in the latter, definite causes produce summer and\nwinter, day and night, the tides, cycles of solar spots, maxima and minima\nof magnetic intensity, etc., etc.\n\nConversely to the manifestation of the principles of {118} inanimate matter\nby living bodies and in mental action, so have modern inventions\ndemonstrated the possibility of the performance by inanimate substances and\napparatuses, of the functions, not only of our bodily organs, (as of\nlocomotion by the steam engine,) but also of our senses and intellect, and\nin some cases, to a degree far surpassing unaided human power. Apparatus,\nsensitive to sound, have been constructed, as in the microphone and\nsinging-flames; others capable of reproducing articulate speech, as in the\nphonograph, telephone, etc.; others again sensitive to light, as in the\nproduction of visible images by photography, and reproducing them at a\ndistance through wires by means of the photophone; the power of indicating\nor foretelling future events has also been embodied in instruments called\n\"tide predictors,\" and that of evolving inferences has been shewn in\nJevon's \"Logical machine.\"\n\nThe various facts mentioned in this chapter prove that mind agrees with the\nvarious forms of physical energy in many essential points, and obeys many\nof the same laws or principles. Examine whatever general phenomena of the\nmind we may, we can always detect some apparent or real connection of them\nwith the great principles of inorganic nature; and in order to prove the\ndependence of them upon the great principles of science it is not necessary\nto show that all such actions are subject to those principles. Until the\nwhole is explained however, there will always remain mysterious phenomena\nto cavil about. {119}\n\nMORAL PROGRESS.\n\nAt the present time few competent persons have largely investigated the\nfundamental relations of morality to Physical Science, consequently moral\nactions are usually considered not to have a scientific basis, and the\ndoctrine is still extensively taught that some moral phenomena are\nessentially supernatural.\n\nAs new scientific knowledge has increased, belief in witchcraft, sorcery,\ndemonology, exorcism, evil influences and omens, unseen spirits, a God of\nevil, supernatural and occult powers, supernatural sources of strange\ndiseases, evil presages from comets and eclipses, fetishism, worship of\nimages and of the Sun, a belief that the Earth is the chief body in the\nUniverse, that man is the \"Lord of Creation,\" &c, &c. have largely passed\naway, and beliefs more consistent with facts and with true inferences drawn\nfrom them, have taken their place. Belief in the supernatural nature of the\nhuman will however is still largely retained. A writer on morality,\nsays--\"In every genuine volition we have a phenomenon not law-determined,\nlaw-regulated, and law-explained.\"[15] A popular expositor of religion\nsays--\"The phenomena of the human soul are essentially different from the\nphenomena with which the student of science is most familiar, and must be\ninvestigated on other principles and by other methods.\" \"The voluntary\nactivity of man lies beyond the limits of science.\" \"Every language man has\never spoken--no matter how {120} perfect or how rude--the literature of the\nancient and the modern world, the indestructible instincts of the human\nsoul, the testimony of consciousness, unite to affirm that the human will\nis independent of natural law.\" \"The will is a supernatural power.\" \"I\nmyself am not under the dominion of natural law;\" \"my moral life is\nessentially a supernatural thing.\" \"As soon as you approach the\nintellectual and moral life of man, you enter a region in which you have to\ndo with a new order of facts.\" &c.[16]\n\nMorality, the subject of duty, or of right and wrong-doing in conscious\ncreatures, is usually considered to relate only to those actions over which\na man has or might have had control, and which it was his duty either to\nperform or avoid, and not to those which are entirely beyond his influence,\nit is therefore essentially dependent upon the power of selection or\nchoosing. As then all moral actions require voluntary choice between right\nand wrong, and every act of choice is a mental one of comparison of two or\nmore things, all moral actions are mental ones. We cannot compare things\nwhich have not made any mental impression upon us. We know further, and the\nevidence already given proves, that mental actions are intimately dependent\nupon the principles of nature operating within and around us. If then all\nacts of morality (or immorality) are mental ones, and if all mental actions\nare intimately dependent upon the great principles of nature; then all acts\nof morality {121} are dependent upon those principles. Morality also cannot\nbe properly understood without a knowledge of various sciences, especially\nbiology, because it relates to human creatures, all of whom are morally\naffected by the various forces and substances belonging to the physical and\nchemical sciences.\n\nHaving shown that moral actions are mental ones, and adduced evidence to\nprove that mental actions are largely subject to scientific principles;--it\nfollows as a necessary consequence, that moral actions also largely obey\nthose principles, and I need not repeat that evidence.\n\nThe extension of scientific knowledge conduces in a very general way to\nmoral progress, by diffusing the \"scientific spirit,\" increasing our love\nof truth, facilitating the attainment of greater certainty and accuracy,\nenabling us to more perfectly avoid error, reducing our ignorance,\ndispelling superstition, inculcating obedience to law, diminishing\ndifference of opinion and thereby lessening strife, conducing to humility,\nto greater economy of means, to increased cleanliness, &c, &c. Scientific\nresearch also, by disclosing to man his true position in nature, enables\nhim to act in harmony therewith, and thus increase his morality and general\nhappiness.\n\nKnowledge is as free as the air, once diffused it becomes impressed upon\nthe brains of men and cannot be easily destroyed or restrained; and the\ngreatest moral effects of science are cosmopolitan ones. Inventions based\nupon new scientific truths are gradually {122} breaking down the barriers\nbetween the various nations of the Earth, and infusing common interests\namongst all mankind. Nothing is uniting the sympathies of different\nnations, increasing the friendly feelings between them, and diminishing the\nprobability of war, more than the increasing facilities of communication\nbrought about in a great measure by the developments of science and art;\nmore particularly by ocean steam navigation, rapid postal communication and\nthe telegraph, (see p. 51). At the present time there are about six\nAtlantic telegraph cables in use, and an almost daily service of passenger\nsteam ships across that ocean. The use of inventions based upon scientific\ndiscovery has aided moral progress in various ways. All inventions are made\nwith the object of supplying some real or supposed want, and nearly\neverything which supplies a common want, conduces to contentment and\nhappiness and the general progress of mankind. No one can possibly measure\nor estimate the advantage of the inventions of writing and printing, in\nhelping men to avoid quarrels, to settle differences of opinion, to\nsympathise with suffering, to give advice: &c. Similar moral functions are\nalso performed by the electric telegraph, and a few specimens of some of\nthe messages sent through the wire would clearly illustrate this fact.\nGreat moral progress has also resulted from cheap daily intelligence,\ncollected largely with the aid of the telegraph; and of cheap books\nproduced by means of the steam engine. It is estimated that 250 millions\n{123} of copies of newspapers are yearly published in Great Britain. The\nBible and Religious Tract Societies could hardly have existed had not the\nproperties of the ingredients of ink been discovered. The present\nmultiplicity of testaments, prayer-books, hymn-books, &c., has also been\nrendered possible by the invention of printing. As darkness is favourable\nto crime, so the invention of gaslight has conduced to morality. The\nnumerous sources of intellectual and moral enjoyment, developed by\ninventions based upon scientific discovery, have attracted mankind from\nmore sensual and less moral amusements, and the invention of the\npiano-forte has operated largely in a similar manner.\n\nIn many respects, the poor man of to-day can command social comforts,\nconveniences, and pleasures, which an emperor could not in former times.\nWho can estimate the amount of beneficial moral influences of an indirect\nkind obtained by means of modern science? The relief from pain by\nchloroform and other new medicines, the diminution of domestic toil by the\nsewing machine; the increased health and pleasure obtained by access to the\ncountry and seaside by means of railways; the diminution of anxiety\nresulting from more speedy conveyance of letters, and especially of\nmessages by telegraphs, the increased pleasure of life resulting from being\nsurrounded by objects of beauty multiplied cheaply by means of scientific\nprocesses, such as photography?\n\nThe human mind cannot greatly resist impression, the various effects of\nscientific research necessarily {124} produce an influence upon it. Whilst\ngreat deep-seated truths make a powerful impression on the minds of\nphilosophers, the great practical effects of science in inventions, &c.,\nprofoundly impress the mass of mankind. One of the chief influences of the\ndiscovery of important scientific truths and of their practical application\nin some wonderful way, such as in the telescope and microscope, phosphorus\nmatches, photography, electro-plating, the electric light, the\nspectroscope, microphone, telephone, &c., is to produce a profound and\nwide-spread impression of the existence of a great and mysterious\ninfluence, which produces (or enables us to produce) such striking effects.\n\nWhilst also the novelty of the practical effects of new scientific truths\nin inventions, astonish persons in general; the definiteness of scientific\nphenomena, and the certainty with which they may be reproduced convince all\ncompetent persons who examine them, that they are rigidly subject to\ndefinite laws. In this way the antique belief that natural phenomena are\nproduced by supernatural agencies, is gradually being abandoned, and the\nmore moral conviction of the omnipresence and universality of law has been\nlargely established in its stead. Every new scientific fact and invention\nthus becomes a new proof of the universality of law. Belief in the\nsupernatural has diminished in proportion as scientific knowledge has\nadvanced; instead of natural phenomena being erroneously ascribed to\ndemons, spirits, supernatural {125} powers, and occult causes, they have\nbeen proved to be results of natural powers, acting in accordance with\nknown principles. Assertions which have been made, that \"the will is a\nsupernatural power, independent of natural law\" &c., are not supported by\nevidence at all equal in cogency to that in proof of the statement, that\nour mental and moral powers as a whole act in accordance with the great\nprinciples of science.\n\nThat moral phenomena, like those of the physical sciences, are capable of\nbeing made the subject of experiment, observation, comparison, analysis,\nand inference, is very manifest. Every case of bribery may be viewed as an\nexperiment in morality. The very common case where an employer tests the\nhonesty of a servant by some contrivance, is also a trial of a similar\nkind. The dependence of the moral powers upon scientific conditions, is\nclearly seen in the influences of intoxicating drinks. A mere natural\nsubstance could not possibly overcome the influence of a power which exists\nentirely independent of it; _i.e._, a \"supernatural\" one. Even the greatest\nbeliever in the \"supernatural\" power of the human will, deplores the\nserious injury which the abuse of alcoholic liquors produces upon mankind,\nrendering the will powerless, and debasing the moral sentiments. The\neffects of opium, haschisch, &c., are other examples. A vast number of\nexperiments remain to be made of the effects of drugs and organic\ncompounds, both solid, liquid and gaseous, upon moral actions; {126} which\nwill probably prove a still greater degree of dependence of those actions\nupon purely physical and chemical conditions.\n\nThe \"order of facts\" in the subject of morality requires precisely similar\nmental treatment to those to which scientific investigation has been\nalready applied with such great success, and which include all phenomena\nadmitting of observation, comparison, analysis and inference; and not only\nthose in which we are able, but also those in which we are not able to\nproduce by means of experiment, the phenomena to be observed, such as those\nof astronomy and geology. Different subjects also are experimental in\ndifferent degrees, physical science is more experimental, physiology is\nmore observational; morality is partly experimental, and therefore capable\nof reduction to scientific system by means of our intellectual powers.\n\nIn consequence of the essential nature of truth being the same in all\nsubjects, and of the fundamental processes of mental action in the\ndetermination of truth being also alike in all, the essential modes of\narriving at and detecting moral truth are the same as those employed in\nresearch in the physical sciences. We possess therefore no special faculty,\ncall it \"conscience,\" or what we may, by which we are enabled to infallibly\narrive at truth in moral questions. What is right and good, and what is\nwrong and evil, are determined by precisely the same general means as what\nis true; our much vaunted consciousness alone does not infallibly tell us;\nreason alone, {127} acting upon the evidence, is the final arbiter in any\ndoubtful or disputed case. The truth of moral questions must be examined\nand tested by precisely the same mental faculties and processes as those\nemployed in physical science, viz:--by the faculties of perception,\nobservation, comparison, and inference, acting upon the whole of the\nevidence; and by the processes of observing facts, comparing them,\ninferring conclusions; by analysing and cross-examining the evidence in\nevery possible way, and extracting from it the largest amount of consistent\nknowledge.\n\nAlthough we cannot detect moral truth by any other than intellectual\nprocesses, we may however arrive at correct moral conduct in two ways,\nviz:--either blindly or intelligently. We arrive at it blindly or\nautomatically by the process of trusting to our inherited and acquire\ntendencies and dogmatic beliefs; and intelligently by the conscious use of\nour knowledge and intellectual powers; and each of these methods has its\nadvantages. The former process being an empirical one, is very uncertain\nand cannot be employed for the judicial detection of truth, or the certain\ndiscrimination of it from error, it has however to be trusted to in all\ncases where we are deficient in knowledge, or have not time for\ninvestigation. Truthful ideas and correct conduct also, which at first\nrequire the exercise of considerable intellect and much self-discipline, in\norder to arrive at them, become by habit so completely converted into\nacquired tendencies as to be automatic. It is not improbable {128} that\nmany of our truthful ideas and correct tendencies were originally arrived\nat by intellectual processes; and have become incorporated into our mental\nand physical structure by habit, education, and inheritance.\n\nThe scientific basis of morality is further shewn and essentially proved by\nthe fact that the fundamental rules of morality are dependent upon\nscientific principles. According to Dr. Clarke, the two fundamental \"rules\nof righteousness\" which regulate our moral conduct are, first, that we\nshould do unto another what we would, under like circumstances, have him do\nunto us; and second, that we should constantly endeavour to promote to the\nutmost of our power, the welfare and happiness of all men (to the latter\nmight well be added, the welfare of all sentient creatures). The first of\nthese rules is essentially dependent upon the scientific principle of\ncausation, viz:--that the same cause, acting under the same circumstances,\nalways produces the same effect, if what we did for another person under\nlike circumstances might produce a different effect to what it would when\ndone for ourself, the rule could not be depended upon and would be of no\nuse. The second also agrees with the great principles of science, for the\nmore we obey those principles, the more do we really \"promote the happiness\nand welfare of all men.\" The first of these rules however in the form\nusually stated, is incomplete, because it does not provide for the\ncircumstance, that many persons desire to have done unto themselves, not\nthat which {129} is most right, and really most for their welfare and that\nof mankind in general, but that which would most please them. The desire of\nimmediate pleasure or consolation is greater than the love of truth in\nnearly all men, and this is connected with another fact, viz:--that persons\nunacquainted with the great principles of science, have not the advantage\nof the moral sustaining power of those principles, and are compelled in\ncircumstances of trial to seek extraneous mental relief.\n\nThe desire to do right is not the primary source of morality; there must be\na cause for that desire, and this fact also shews that moral phenomena are\ndependent upon the scientific principle of causation. We can also much\nbetter understand a subject, especially a complex one like that of morals,\nwhen we can co ordinate its facts in a scientific manner, by referring them\nto some general principle which governs or includes them. Referring moral\nactions to a verified scientific principle, is more satisfactory than\nreferring them to a less definite source such as \"conscience\"; the\n\"testimony of consciousness\"; or \"the indestructible instincts of the human\nsoul,\" because a principle affords a more consistent explanation than a\ndogmatic idea. The fact also that the discoveries of science usually\nprecede the developments of the moral advantages of science to mankind, is\nin harmony with the general truth that effects follow their causes, and\nwith the conclusion that moral rules and moral progress have a scientific\nbasis. {130}\n\nIn a general way, the influence of science upon moral progress is connected\nwith what has been termed, \"the scientific spirit.\" This characteristic\nconsists mainly of an intense love of truth, a desire to acquire new\nknowledge, to arrive at certainty and accuracy; also an obedience to law in\ngeneral, and a consequent philosophic resignation to inevitable ills.\nScience inculcates these qualities, and it is well known that scientific\ndiscoverers have usually been highly moral persons, truthful, accurate, law\nabiding, patient, persevering, temperate, &c. On the other hand, the most\nlawless persons are usually those who are most ignorant of the great laws\nwhich govern their actions, who over-estimate human power and ability, and\nare impelled by ill-regulated enthusiasm or feeling.\n\nBelief in and obedience to law, being a fundamental moral quality, is in\nits turn the source of other moral qualities of less importance; for\ninstance, it tends to produce calmness, resignation, contentment, patience,\nsubmission to the inevitable, &c. No man can be highly moral who disobeys\nthe great principles of nature. We may however obey those laws either\nintelligently, by acquiring a scientific knowledge of them; empirically, by\nobeying rules framed in accordance with them; or blindly, by obeying dogmas\nwhich happen to agree with them. Those who do not understand laws cannot of\ncourse intelligently obey them, and those who most disobey them, consist\nnearly wholly of those who do not understand them. {131} Superstition,\nignorance of natural law, and a belief in occult powers, encourages\nlawlessness, injures the moral sentiments, and is often attended by\nbigotry, associated with strife, schism, and sectarian dispute.\n\nProbably the greatest influence which scientific discovery has had upon the\nmoral progress of mankind, has been by inculcating an intelligent love of\ntruth on account of its own intrinsic goodness; in this respect it stands\npre-eminent. Love of truth is a fundamental virtue because it is the basis\nof many smaller ones. It is more virtuous, also, to pursue truth on account\nof its own intrinsic and unqualified goodness in all respects, than for any\nnarrow extrinsic quality, such as the personal pleasure or utility it may\nafford, or on account of any personal gain or loss, reward or punishment,\nwhich may result from pursuing or neglecting it. In the present imperfect\nstate of civilization however, the great bulk of mankind unavoidably employ\nless noble, as well as the noblest motives, as a means of improvement. Most\nmen can only be moved to do right by means of inferior motives, one of the\nmost effectual of which in a commercial nation is \"small investments, large\nprofits, and quick returns;\" an expectation of great reward in return for\nsmall self-sacrifice.\n\nThe discovery and dissemination of verified scientific knowledge is a purer\nkind of occupation than the promulgation of any kind of dogma, because the\nstatements of verified science are usually capable of demonstration, whilst\nthose of doctrine, being often {132} contradictory, may, or may not be\ntrue; mere affirmation also, when not based upon proof, is often dangerous\nto morality. In dogmatic subjects a man may tell untruths with impunity,\nbecause no one can disprove or convict him; but in demonstrable ones, a man\ndare not utter falsehoods, because others will prove his statements to be\nerroneous. It is demonstration rather than doctrine that is of divine\norigin. A man also who practises scientific research is largely compelled\nto adopt the most truthful views of nature, in order to enable him to make\ndiscoveries.\n\nReal science is largely independent of opinion or faith. Whether we believe\nor not that a piece of clean iron immersed in a mixture of oil of vitriol\nand water, evolves hydrogen gas, the fact itself remains unaltered. It is a\ngreat and glorious circumstance for mankind, that human progress depends\nessentially upon a knowledge of new verified truth. As verified\nexperimental knowledge can only come from the great source of all that is\ngood, to doubt the value of new demonstrable truth, is practical atheism.\nThose also who systematically investigate sources of verifiable truth, are\nmuch more likely to ultimately arrive at the fountain of all truth, than\nthose who employ unsystematic methods, or prefer unproved beliefs to\nverified knowledge.\n\nAnother of the most powerful ways in which scientific discovery has\npromoted moral progress has been an indirect one, viz., by diminishing\nignorance. Deficiency of knowledge is the parent of a vast {133} amount of\nevil and failure. \"There is no instance on record of an active ignorant\nman, who, having good intentions, and supreme power to enforce them, has\nnot done far more evil than good.\" (Buckle, \"History of Civilization,\" vol.\n1, p. 167). Ignorance largely precludes happiness, and intelligence is an\nindispensable condition of the highest morality. There are plenty of\ndifficult positions in life in which the desire to do right is not alone\nsufficient, we must intelligently know what is the right course to pursue.\nWe are all of us ignorant in different degrees, and must be content in many\nmatters to walk by faith until we can walk by sight, and to act according\nto rule and precept until we have discovered general principles to guide\nus:--blind dogmatic morality and \"rule of thumb\" method is vastly better\nthan none, and has rendered great services to mankind. Whether comforting\ndoctrines are true or not, the great bulk of mankind prefer them because\nthey afford immediate relief; and whether they be erroneous or truthful,\nmen will be benefited by them and continue to believe in them, until their\nminds are sufficiently advanced to receive a knowledge of verified\nprinciples. Rules of morality however, when presented to us with a basis of\ndemonstrable truth, come with a degree of divine authority, and possess\ngreater claim to our observance, than the same rules presented to us as\nempirical or dogmatic statements only.\n\nIn proportion to our ignorance the more we dislike to be apprised of our\ndefects and the more inclined are {134} we to continue uninformed; because\nthe less intelligent we are the less are we able to perceive the evil\neffects of our blindness or the advantages of knowledge. As also the\npresent state of civilization is very imperfect, and unsolved problems\nexist in all directions, ignorance and all its evil consequences are\nextremely prevalent. It causes the great mass of mankind to neglect better\nobjects for the sake of money. It indirectly constrains lawyers to neglect\nmoral evidence. It induces medical men to withhold truth from ignorant\npatients. It causes ministers of religion to prefer doctrine to\ndemonstration. It would therefore be comparatively easy to compose lists of\nour moral deficiencies, and of improvements urgently needed in morality,\nfar more extensive than the very incomplete ones of our material\nshortcomings already given (see pp. 68 to 78). To enumerate however the\nimperfections in the moral conduct of mankind, the frauds in trades, the\nundue advantage taken of the defenceless, the deceit and empiricism in\nprofessions, the professional trading on human weakness, the cruelty of\nfield sports, the hollow motives of social, political, and religious life,\nthe propagating as infallible truth, doctrines which may be fallacious, is\nnot the object of this Chapter; but rather to make clear the fact, that the\nextension of the domain of verified truth by means of scientific research\nis highly conducive to moral progress.\n\nThe extension of new scientific knowledge is influencing morality and\ngradually reducing the selfishness {135} of mankind, by proving that there\nexist no royal roads to happiness, and that the greatest amount of\nindividual and national success can only be secured by a genuine pursuit of\ntruth, as an individual and cosmopolitan duty. Increased knowledge is\ngradually proving to mankind that the purest happiness is to be obtained by\nintelligent and virtuous conduct. By shewing Man the unreasonable character\nof some of his fears and hopes, and substituting for them a greater variety\nand extent of intellectual pleasures, science is slowly making him more\nsatisfied with his lot on this Earth. Meanwhile the great mass of mankind\nare still pursuing the ever retreating phantom of an easy way to happiness;\nthe great laws of nature however cannot be evaded, the avoidance of evil\nand the attainment of good can only be secured by obeying all the great\nlaws which govern our nature.\n\nProgress in morality is largely dependent upon the diffusion of belief in\nthe universality of scientific laws. When men understand those laws, know\nthat their action is irresistible, and that they have no alternative but to\nobey them or suffer, they acquire a habit of obeying them. Universality of\nlaw in moral actions is often considered to be incompatible with the\nexistence of freedom of the will in selecting ideas, and choosing courses\nof conduct; but we are free or not, according to circumstances, both to\nthink and to act. All things are free to be active or not, in accordance\nwith their properties and surrounding conditions, but not in {136}\ncontradiction to them; and the human will is no exception to this\nstatement. The \"will\" is only free within certain limits; it cannot act in\nopposition to its strongest motives or causes of action. We believe\nourselves to be much more free than we are, because we often do not know\nthe causes which determine us, and we frequently fail to detect those\ninfluences, because we cannot think, and at the same time clearly observe\nour act of thought and its motives. Freedom of the will does not enable us\nto set aside laws: entire freedom from law in any instance is probably only\napparent. This limited degree of freedom of the will indicates the\ndependence of volition upon scientific laws, because a supernatural power,\nbeing entirely independent of natural law, could not be limited by it. To\naffirm without proof that the human will is a \"supernatural power\" is to\nimplicitly deny the universality and constancy of natural laws. New\nknowledge developed by Science, imparts to us liberty, but not license;\nand, so far from diminishing the freedom of the will, increases it by\nshowing us what conditions we must fulfil and obey in order to effect our\nobjects. We acquire power by being first obedient; and this is in\naccordance with the principles and facts of science; we must obey nature\nbefore we can make nature obey us; the elementary bodies, also, usually\nacquire the free state, latent power, and the ability to evolve heat and\nelectric energy, only by being first subjected in their crude state to a\nprocess of reduction and purification. {137}\n\nFew circumstances connected with the discovery of new truths of science,\nhave had a greater moral effect, than the very high degree of certainty of\nsuch truths. The moral result of this is a corresponding degree of\nconfidence in the statements of science. Trustworthiness is a great moral\nquality. Uncertainty is a continual hindrance to action and enjoyment; and\nmany persons are driven to believe in error, and hence to commit sin,\nrather than remain in suspense. Contradictions of doctrine, and the\nconsequent uncertainty of belief, in any subject, are fertile sources of\nstrife. Science consists, not merely of opinions and words, but also of the\ntangible realities which those opinions and words represent, the forces,\nsubstances and phenomena of the material Universe. Some persons however\nfancy that the results of science are as uncertain as those of the\nundemonstrable subjects with which they are familiar.\n\nAnother way in which science has contributed to moral progress, has been by\nrequiring greater accuracy in nearly all human actions, and thereby\ndiffusing greater exactitude of language and of conduct, which has spread\nitself throughout all civilised society. Previous to the use of watches and\nclocks, persons were no doubt much less exact in fulfilling their\nappointments; the establishment also in our chief towns, of electric\ntime-keepers regulated from Greenwich Observatory, is increasing exactitude\nin our large communities. Since the introduction of railways, millions of\npersons have been compelled to be more {138} exact in their movements, by\nthe risk they incur of missing their train. Numerous inventions and\nprocesses based upon scientific discoveries could not be worked at all\nunless men possessed habits of greater accuracy than formerly. Workmen now\nrequire higher moral and intellectual education, and their duties require\nmore intelligence and involve greater responsibility.\n\nScience diminishes error, and the avoidance of error is a large step\ntowards the attainment of truth. There is no tyranny equal to that of false\nideas. Error often produces immoral acts, and every act of immorality is a\nmental error. \"The ignorant justice-loving man, enamoured of the right, is\nblinded by the speciousness of wrong.\" \"Inaccuracy of thought is the cause\nnot only of the errors we meet with in the sciences, but also of the\nmajority of the offences which are committed in civil life,--of unjust\nquarrels, unfounded law suits, rash counsel, and ill-arranged undertakings.\nThere are few of those which have not their origin in some error, and in\nsome fault of judgment, so that there is no defect which it more concerns\nus to correct.\"[17]\n\nOur senses and consciousness are often great deceivers, and unless\ncorrected by sufficient knowledge, are frequently as great a source of\nerror in moral questions as in mental ones.[18] Their incessant influence\nis a cause of selfishness, and of the fallacious tendency existing in\nnearly every man, to exaggerate the importance of himself and of everything\nrelating to him. {139} It has led man to consider himself \"the Lord of\nCreation\";--to believe that his volitions are not subject to natural laws\n&c.:--and has given rise to the comparatively narrow-minded idea \"the study\nof mankind is man.\" The fact that consciousness frequently misleads men of\nenergetic temperament who feel their energy, indicates its connection with\na physical basis.\n\nConsciousness is also an essential condition of what we term evil. If we\ndefine evil as that which produces pain or discomfort in sentient\ncreatures, then evil is that influence only which unpleasantly affects\nconsciousness. And if we admit this, then all evil is relative, and there\nis no absolute evil; because, if there were no sentient creatures, there\nwould be no evil. It is manifest also, that if the existence of evil is\ndependent upon that of sentient creatures, and if the existence of such\ncreatures depends upon physical conditions, and upon the operations of the\ngreat principles of science, then the existence of evil must itself depend\nto that extent upon those conditions and principles. What we term Evil, is\ncaused, not only by the actions of man, but also on a large scale by the\noperation of the simplest forces of matter, in earth-quakes, storms,\nvolcanic outbursts, droughts and famines, pestilences, etc. Evil (as well\nas good) may therefore be viewed as a result, to some extent, of the\noperation of the laws of the Universe; and here again we are compelled to\nrecognise a scientific basis of morality. {140}\n\nThat the same causes, acting under different conditions, produce different\nand even opposite effects, is a well-known scientific truth. The same heat\nof summer which causes our foods to decay, promotes the growth of plants in\nthe soil; the same cold of winter which increases the pain of bronchial\naffections, and cuts short the lives of aged and infirm persons, acts as a\nstimulant and a source of pleasure to the young and healthy. We need not\ntherefore be surprised, that the same physical conditions and principles of\nnature, act as causes or conditions both of what we term evil and what we\nterm good. If, also the theory of relativity in physical and mental action\nis true, that change of impression is a necessary cause or condition of\nconsciousness, and that previous experience of pain increases the\nperception of pleasure, we possess in that theory, as one of the general\nideas of science, a partial basis of morality. All these remarks tend to\nshew, that in order to obtain a truly scientific view of the nature of man,\nand of man's position and duties in the Universe, we must avoid the errors\ncaused by uncorrected consciousness.\n\nAnother great moral effect of the continual discovery of new truth in\nscience, is the gradual production and diffusion of uniformity of belief,\nfirst amongst scientific men, and then amongst the mass of mankind. This\nuniformity of belief is a necessary result of the invariability of fact and\nlaw; it does not extend to scientific opinions, hypotheses or theories,\nbecause they are not necessarily facts, and may be {141} erroneous. A\nknowledge of science tends to remove differences of opinion between man and\nman, because it enables every honest examiner to obtain essentially similar\nresults. Scientific research will gradually disclose what is true and what\nis untrue in doctrine and empirical rules; and what is true will be\nretained. A universal religion or a scientific philosophy which is composed\nof contradictory creeds cannot be wholly true. Science is gradually\nsuperseding unreasonable beliefs, and inaugurating a true universal gospel\nin which all men will eventually think alike in fundamental matters. The\ncontinued discovery of new truth must of necessity sooner or later lead\nmankind to the source of all truth and to universal satisfaction and\nhappiness. It has been frequently stated that science is antagonistic to\nreligion; it is evident however that as science is so conducive to\nmorality, it cannot be opposed to true religion, but only to false or\nunfounded beliefs. Nothing shews more plainly a weakness of moral\nconfidence and a deficiency of faith in an over-ruling power, than a fear\nthat the pursuit of scientific truth will lead to results injurious to\nmankind. What we most need to fear is, not that our most cherished\ndoctrinal beliefs may be proved to be mistakes, but that we through\ndeficiency of knowledge may be led to do wrong.\n\nThere are plenty of questions, especially in matters of theory and doctrine\nin concrete subjects, which science cannot directly and absolutely decide\neither one way or the other, but respecting which, by the {142} aid of new\nknowledge and of inference based upon it, science gradually accumulates so\nlarge a preponderence of evidence as conclusively settles them to the\nconviction of every unprejudiced and reasonable person. Many of the most\ndeeply interesting questions in mental science and morality are of this\nkind; and will probably be settled in this manner. It is well-known also to\nscientific men that the indirect conclusions of the intellect and reasoning\npower are often more certain than the direct evidence of the senses and\nconsciousness; we are more certain for instance that the Earth is a sphere\nthan that it is a plane, although the former conclusion is arrived at\nlargely by inference, whilst the latter is the direct testimony of\nuneducated consciousness. Whilst our senses and consciousness inform us\nthat the Earth is a fixed body, inference proves to us that it is rushing\nthrough space at an immense velocity. Sense and consciousness are not\nintellect, although they are often treated as such. Their functions are to\nperceive and observe, to act as witnesses, to supply evidence to the\njudgment, and not to usurp the reasoning power. Even the universal\nconsciousness of all mankind is insufficient to overthrow the final\ndecisions of the intellect, or to decide what is true or false, because the\nsenses and consciousness cannot compare or infer. As it is the force and\nrepitition, and not the truthfulness of mental impressions, which largely\ndetermines belief, we are capable of believing error as well as truth, and\nwe believe much that is erroneous until the {143} corrections of the\nintellect are applied to the evidence of the senses and feelings. The\ncorrectness or otherwise of our present beliefs will be tested in the\nfuture as others have been in the past, and the new experiences requisite\nfor the purpose will probably be obtained by means of original research. It\nis a great mistake to suppose that the warrantable inferences deduced from\nscientific knowledge will not sooner or later profoundly influence\nquestions relating to the highest hopes and aspirations of the human race,\nsuch as the independent existence and immortality of the human soul; that\nof a personal Ruler of the Universe; freedom of the will; the origin of\nevil; future reward and punishment; &c. By extension of knowledge a\nscientific system of morality will be formed. The great principles which\ngovern the phenomena of all bodies are gradually being discovered, and when\nfound we deductively apply them to ourselves, and thus arrive at a\nknowledge of our true position in nature, our duties, our proper course of\nconduct, &c. Science also by disclosing to us the true relations of matter\nto mind in the human brain, will probably not only make known to us the\ntrue limits of our mental powers and of the knowable, but also help to\nsolve the problems of the relations of the Universe and of Man to an\nintelligent Creator. It will decide such questions, largely by shewing us\nwhether or not the ideas we entertain respecting them are consistent with\nthe more extensive knowledge evolved by research. A part of the data from\nwhich we may {144} safely predict that science will in the future exercise\nso great a moral influence over mankind, is the fact that its chief\nprinciples are fundamental guides and regulators of human action.\n\nProbably nothing has a greater effect in making a man humble and reverent\nthan a thorough knowledge of science. By the inventions of the telescope,\nmicroscope, spectroscope, telegraph, microphone, telephone, &c., the\nextremely finite extent of all our faculties has been abundantly\ndemonstrated. Whilst the wonders of the telescope have developed an\nintelligent sentiment of reverence, by revealing to us a portion of the\nvast amount of the Universe of matter and energy, those of the microscope\nhave strengthened that sentiment by affording us an insight into the almost\nendless complexity of minute creatures, substances and actions. Whilst also\nthese and other scientific instruments and appliances have proved the\nexcessively limited extent of our senses; the inscrutable character and\nimmense number and variety of problems of nature yet unsolved, equally\ndemonstrate the extreme feebleness of our mental powers. To obtain an\naccurate acquaintance with science also, and especially to discover new\nscientific truths, it is absolutely necessary to set aside human pride, and\napproach the subject like a little child; no other course is possible.\n\nA knowledge of geology and astronomy also makes a man humble and reverent.\nThe fact that this globe must have existed myriads of years; and is always\nmoving at the immense velocity of more than 62,000 {145} miles an hour in\nits orbit, is sufficient to convince any unprejudiced person of his own\ntransient physical existence and his comparative physical feebleness and\ninsignificance. Hitherto, man has largely been accustomed, through the\ninfluence of uncorrected impressions and other causes, to view all nature\nas having been expressly provided for him, but science informs us that\nwhilst this Earth is suitable for his abode, and Nature ministers to his\nnecessities and pleasures, it is only on condition that he first obeys the\ngreat laws of matter and energy, and adapts himself to their requirements.\nThe operation of those laws often ruthlessly destroys thousands of men by\npestilence, famine, drought, and other great calamities, and man can do\nnothing which is incompatible with them without suffering a penalty.\nScience shews that man is but one out of at least 320,000 different species\nof animals; it also discloses the fact that the entire human population of\nthis globe constitute only about one 50,575,785 millionth part of the\nEarth, and proves to us that the Earth itself is but a speck in the\nUniverse, one out of at least 75 millions of worlds; and that not only is\nit merely a planet revolving round the Sun, but that the Sun is only one of\na multitude of Suns, and is itself, with all its planets, revolving round a\nstill more distant centre in space.\n\nThere is scarcely a faculty man possesses, which is not immeasurably\nlimited in comparison with the powers and capabilities of inanimate nature.\nHis physical energy, when compared with that of the {146} momentum of this\nEarth, is so exceedingly small that it can hardly be conveyed to our minds\nby means of figures; even the steam engine, excessively wasteful as it is\nof power, far surpasses him in strength. The duration of his existence is\nto that of the world he inhabits, as nothing to infinity. His power and\nspeed of locomotion are also very limited; the globe to which he is fixed\nby gravity, moves in one hour through a distance greater than he could walk\nin twenty years. Practically, by circumstances, he is almost rooted like a\nvegetable to the locality where he exists; comparatively few men have\nwalked even a hundred miles from their homes, or have been conveyed round\nthis little globe by the aid of all our improved means of transport. A\nballoon can ascend in the air, but a man cannot; without the aid of that\napparatus he is absolutely fixed to the surface of the Earth, and with the\nassistance of all the appliances of science, he cannot yet ascend even ten\nmiles into the atmosphere, nor dive more than a few fathoms into the sea.\nHis senses are equally contracted; his perceptions of touch and sound are\nfar less delicate than that of the microphone; a photographic surface will\ndetect vibrations of light which he cannot at all perceive, and record\nimages more quickly than his brain; and for the detection of magnetism and\nthe chemical rays of light he possesses no sense whatever:--electrometers\nand galvanometers can detect thousands of times smaller quantities of\nelectricity than he can perceive:--whilst a bolometer renders manifest a\none {147} hundred-thousandth of a Centigrade degree change of temperature,\nhe can hardly detect a difference of an entire degree; and whilst carbon\nand platinum may be heated to whiteness without material change, a rise or\nfall of about five Fahrenheit degrees in his temperature endangers his\nlife. His mental and intellectual powers are as limited as his senses; he\ncan hardly reckon without making an error even a single million, nor can he\nconceive an adequate idea of a billion; a million miles or a millionth of\nan inch are each quite beyond his immediate perception; an extremely minute\ncircumstance also is capable of disturbing and entirely diverting his train\nof thought. He cannot create or destroy even a particle of dust, nor form\nout of nothing a single idea. The velocity of transmission of his nervous\npower, and the speed of his execution of will, are also extremely slow in\ncomparison with that of an electric current in a copper wire. Every person\nis aware that he can only very slowly receive and understand a new idea.\nHis mental advance is as tardy as his locomotion, a sixth part of his life\nis spent in acquiring the merest rudiments of universal knowledge. Whilst\nhis reasoning power, when applied to actual and truthfully stated\nexperience, is truly \"the great guide\" of his life, it only renders\nexplicit what was already contained in that experience; for when he draws\nan inference, he usually only states in one form of words, what he has\nalready implicitly included in the propositions; and if the inference\ncontains more than this it is {148} unwarranted. His mental helplessness in\nthe absence of knowledge, is equal to his physical incapacity in the\nabsence of light. Nearly every problem of nature also is so complex, and\naffected by so many conditions, that his reasoning power only enables him\nto advance a very minute step at a time in the discovery of new knowledge;\nhe is then obliged to halt, and have recourse to new experiences obtained\neither by means of experiment and observation, or by the latter alone.\n\nMan's moral actions are largely the effect of circumstances; his thoughts\nand actions are probably the whole of them limited by law. He is never free\nfrom the influence of causation. His mental and moral freedom are limited\nby the epoch in which he lives, by the customs of his nation, by the\nindividuals by whom he is immediately surrounded, by the alcoholic\nstimulants of which he partakes, and by his own physical and mental\nconstitution, his degree of intelligence, &c., &c. Whether he is willing or\nnot, he is incessantly compelled to receive sensuous and mental\nimpressions, and be influenced by an almost infinite number and variety of\nagencies acting upon him both from within and without:--To be mentally and\nphysically active, and perform all the bodily functions and acts necessary\nto his existence:--To live on this globe in presence of all its phenomena,\nand be carried through space at an immense velocity:--To undergo through a\nlong series of generations a progressive existence and development of\ncivilization, &c., &c. {149} He is more subject to the laws of the Universe\nthan those laws are subject to him; and he can only exercise his will\nsuccessfully and become their master by first obeying them.\n\nUnder the influence of the light and heat of the Sun, the entire population\nof this planet (about fifteen hundred millions) are renewed out of the\ncrust of the Earth every few years, by breathing the air, drinking the\nwater, feeding upon plants which take their constituents from the Earth,\nwater and air; or by eating animals which have lived upon plants; and if\nthat heat and light, or that supply of food and air, were to cease, all\nthose human beings would die, and all the moral phenomena of man on this\nglobe would terminate. Whilst man cannot exist without the support of\ninanimate nature and the operation of its laws, inanimate nature and its\nlaws can exist without him. That also which is naturally ordained by\nCreative power to be dependent, cannot be essentially more important than\nthat upon which it depends for its existence. The essential importance of\nman in relation to the Universe, exists only in his own imagination.\n\nThese facts shew that the principles of science, and the physical and\nchemical properties of substances, lie at the very basis of man's existence\nand activity and it would therefore be incorrect to say that the physical\nsystem of the Universe is unimportant in comparison with the moral\nphenomena of mankind.\n\nThat science conduces to humanity by preventing {150} and alleviating\nanimal suffering has been already alluded to (p. 80-81). True humanity\nconsists not in the abolition of experiments upon living creatures, but in\nthe judicious employment of them. Instead of barbarously treating our\nsuffering fellow creatures by indolently and ignorantly allowing causes of\ndisease and pain to continually occur and take their course, it urgently\nenforces upon us the duty of extending our knowledge of physiology by means\nof new experiments, observations and study. It would be untruthful to say\nthat experiments purposely made upon men and other animals do not yield new\nand valuable information;--Pharmacopoeias and Materia-Medicaes are full of\ndescriptions of the properties of curative agents discovered by these and\nother scientific methods.\n\nAmongst the lesser virtues which have been greatly promoted by means of\nscientific research is that of cleanliness. The origin of soap was the\ndiscovery of the detergent properties of a boiled mixture of fat and\nalkali. The numerous inventions which have cheapened the most important\nsoap-producing material, viz., washing soda, and those which have cheapened\noil of vitriol, the chief substance consumed in making washing-soda, have\nall contributed to the cleanliness of mankind; and it has been stated that\nthe degree of civilization of a nation might be ascertained by the amounts\nconsumed of those substances.\n\nEven the minor virtue of economy has been greatly promoted by the results\nof scientific research. New {151} scientific truth has through inventions\ntaught us how to obtain greater effects with less expenditure of space, of\ntime, of materials, and forces. It has enabled us to effect our objects\nquicker and with a diminution of waste. In the sugar manufacture for\nexample, by means of the centrifugal machine, the sugar is deprived as\nperfectly of molasses in three minutes, as it was previously in three days,\nand the necessary manufacturing apparatus has been so much reduced in\nmagnitude as not to require more than one half the space. The process of\nbleaching linen, which formerly required weeks, has by the discovery of\nchlorine been reduced to hours. Journeys which at one time occupied weeks\nnow only require days. Messages are now transmitted in hours which formerly\nrequired months. Multitudes of instances might be adduced of the diminished\ncost of the comforts and conveniences of life, resulting in consequence of\ndiscovery of new scientific knowledge. Ultramarine for example, which at\none time cost from ten to twenty pounds an ounce, has by means of chemical\nresearch been reduced in price to a few pence per pound; phosphorus, which\nformerly cost several guineas an ounce, now costs only as many pence.\n\nNumerous substances which were formerly thrown away, destroyed, or\nneglected, are now utilized. Coal tar and gas-water, which were at one time\nwaste products in the making of gas, and which when thrown away were the\ncauses of costly litigation to gas-companies, by polluting streams and\nwells, &c., {152} are now sources of very large income to those companies.\nThose substances yield great quantities of salts of ammonia, the beautiful\naniline dyes, paraffin, benzene, napthaline, alizarine, and other valuable\nproducts. Glycerine also, which formerly was a most offensive waste product\nin soap-making, is now purified and used, to an extent of twenty millions\nof pounds annually, for a great number of purposes; as an emollient for the\nskin; as a source of nitro-glycerine and dynamite, used in blasting rocks,\nin warfare, &c. The immense beds of native sulphide of iron also, notably\nthose of Tharsis and Rio Tinto in Spain, and of many other places, are now\nutilized, literally in millions of tons, for the production of sulphur,\ncopper, oxide of iron, &c. A long list of instances of this class might be\nadduced if it were necessary, some of them of very great importance.[19]\n\nThe promotion of morality by enabling us to detect crime, is one of the\nsmaller influences of scientific research, and may be referred to as a\nset-off against the bad uses sometimes made of scientific knowledge. The\ntelegraph is very commonly employed to assist in tracking and capturing\ncriminals. Photography is also largely used in our gaols as a means of\nrecognising offenders.\n\nKnowledge of science conduces also to self-discipline and self-mastery, it\ntends to bridle our vicious passions by making known to us the penalties\nwhich must be paid for their indulgence; it limits our self-will by shewing\nus that we must respect and obey the {153} laws of nature whether we are\nwilling or not, no man can improperly manipulate dangerous substances or\nforces with impunity; it moderates our bigotry by exhibiting to us the\ngreat uncertainty of unproved opinions; it restrains undue credulity in\nmen's assertions, by shewing us their frequent fallacy; it gives us\nconfidence in the laws of nature, by proving to us their uniformity; it\nwithdraws us from self-deception by compelling us to accept the truths of\nnature as they exist ready made for us, whether they harmonise with our\npreconceived ideas or not; men cannot argue with nature, as they can with\ntheir fellow-men, but must submit to the influence of verified truth. It\nsupplies us with principles instead of empirical \"rule of thumb\" methods as\nguides of morality. Whilst it liberates us from the terror of irrational\nfears, it cautions us against entertaining unreasonable hopes. It\nsubstitutes for ignorant wonder and awe, an intelligent appreciation of\ncreated things; and when fully developed it will probably satisfy all the\nreasonable instincts and desires of men.\n\nWhilst law, medicine and divinity, direct man's attention almost\nexclusively to matters concerning himself, and thus tend to limit his\nsphere of perception and knowledge, and unconsciously impress him with the\nidea that all other existences are less important than himself, science not\nonly enlightens him respecting all the departments of his own nature, but\nextends his mental vision in all directions by exciting his mind to observe\nand reflect upon all other bodies {154} and actions throughout the\nUniverse. Whilst also music, painting, sculpture, poetry and the drama,\nafford excitement and pleasure to his senses, feelings and sentiments, and\nare largely personal; science not only constitutes the basis of those arts,\nbut shews the relations of them to Man and to the external Universe, and\nthus more largely cultivates the intellect and corrects and refines the\nsenses, feelings and sentiments.\n\nNew scientific knowledge affords advantages to all classes of men; to the\nminister of religion, by supplying him with new illustrations of Creative\npower, in the greatness, smallness, and vast variety of nature; to the\nphysician, by explaining to him more perfectly the structure and phenomena\nof the human body, and by providing him with new remedies; to the statesman\nand politician, by making known to him the great and increasing relations\nof science to national progress, by its influence upon wages, capital, the\nemployment of workmen, the art of war, the means of communication with\nforeign countries, &c.; to the philanthropist, as an endless source of\nemployment for poor persons, by the development of new discoveries,\ninventions, and improvements in arts and manufactories; to the military\nman, by affording him new engines and materials for warfare and defence; to\nthe inventor, by supplying him with new discoveries upon which to found\ninventions; to the merchant and man of trade, by the influence of new\nproducts and processes upon the prices of his commodities; to the\nmanufacturer, as a means of improving his materials, {155} apparatus, and\nprocesses; and to the investor of money, by assisting him to judge what new\ntechnical schemes are likely to succeed.\n\nAs the domain of rational enjoyment afforded by means of science gradually\nenlarges, that derivable from less intellectual sources will probably be\nmodified; indeed this change is already progressing, and is manifested in\nthe alterations occurring in theological views, and in the extensive\nadoption of scientific entertainments by religious bodies. The recognition\nof science by professors of religion is also shewn by the already extensive\nuse of railways on Sundays as a means of conveyance to churches and\nchapels; also by the publication by the Society for Promoting Christian\nKnowledge, of Manuals of Electricity, Astronomy, Botany, Chemistry,\nCrystallography, Geology, Physiology, Zoology, Matter and Motion, the\nSpectroscope, &c.\n\nHaving shewn some of the chief modes in which new scientific truth is a\nbasis of mental and moral progress, it is not necessary to say much\nrespecting the evil uses sometimes made of science, because every good\nthing is liable to be abused by ignorant or ill-intentioned persons. The\nabuses of scientific knowledge do not arise from the true spirit of\nresearch, viz., a desire for new knowledge on account of its intrinsic\ngoodness and value to man, but from an absence of that sentiment. The\nBremerhaven explosion, the assassination of the Czar, the uses of\nphotography to forge letters of credit, and of the {156} telegraph in\nswindling operations, the employment of electro-gilding and silvering in\ncoining base money, &c., &c., are all attributable to motives other than a\nlove of science.\n\nAll the facts mentioned in this chapter, and the various points of\nessential similarity between physical, physiological, and mental phenomena,\njustify the conclusion that both moral and other mental actions, like\nphysical and chemical ones, are obedient to the great principles of\nscience. And from the evidence here adduced and alluded to, it is certain\nthat those principles influence human progress, not only in a few\nconspicuous direct ways, but in a multitude of varied, deep-seated, and\nindirect ones.\n\nIf the statements made in this Chapter are true, that the innate properties\nof matter really are motive powers of the human organism, and the\nprinciples of science are regulators of mental and moral action; that Man\nis a feeble epitome of the principles and powers of inorganic matter; that\nthe laws of Nature operate in utter disregard of his erroneous beliefs;\nthat nearly all man's sins and sufferings are traceable to his ignorance\nand limited powers; that in proportion to his ignorance of science so is he\nunable to foresee the more remote consequences of his thoughts and acts;\nand if new knowledge does correct erroneous beliefs and purify human\nthought and action, it behoves teachers of morality to make themselves\nadequately acquainted with the principles and newest developments of\nscience.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n{157}\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n------\n\nNEW TRUTH, AND ITS GENERAL RELATION TO HUMAN PROGRESS.\n\nThe great source of the success of applying science to trade, and of the\nbeneficent effect of science upon human welfare in general, is simply the\ninfluence of demonstrable truth. We know that if we have once discovered\nall the principles, laws, and conditions of some scientific phenomenon, or\nof some improved process or result in a manufacture, the reproduction of\nexactly the same conditions will hereafter enable us to invariably produce\nthe same result. In this respect science differs from dogma, the truth or\nfalsity of which cannot be demonstrated; it also differs from empiricism,\nbecause when empirically working a process we are ignorant of the\nprinciples or laws which are operating, whilst with a scientific knowledge\nwe understand those laws, and can direct them to our particular purposes.\nIn the process of electro-plating for example, we understand the laws of\nthe phenomena, and can direct them so as to obtain silver of a hard or soft\nquality, brittle or tough, crystalline silver, &c., according to our wish;\nbut if we had only an empirical knowledge of the subject we could not thus\nvary the process. {158}\n\nThe highest test of truth is verified prediction; if we calculate\nbeforehand that an eclipse of the Sun will occur at a certain hour and\nminute, and that eclipse occurs accurately at the predicted moment, we may\nrest assured that our knowledge upon that point is true and complete. If we\nsay that a piece of clean iron, immersed in a solution of blue vitriol,\nwill become covered with a layer of metallic copper, and we find upon trial\nthat this result invariably occurs when we fulfil those conditions, we may\nbe certain that our knowledge of this phenomenon and its conditions is also\nof a definite and certain character. Similarly, when we become able to\npredict with certainty the conditions of the Sun's surface, we shall\nprobably also be able to predict severe winters, famines, &c., and\ntherefore be prepared to suggest precautions to be taken against them. Even\nnow the new truth necessary for this purpose is beginning to be evolved by\nmeans of scientific research.[20]\n\nAmongst the great axioms and principles of science, possessing great\ncertainty, and which enable us to predict, are, _1st._ the general truth\nknown as the Principle of Causation, that every effect has a cause; that\nthe same cause, acting under the same conditions, always produces the same\neffect; and that causation acts through all time and all space:--_2nd._ the\ngreat truth, that every phenomenon requires time; and every substance\noccupies space:--_3rd._ the Principles of Conservation and Persistency of\nMatter {159} and Energy; that out of nothing, nothing comes; and out of\neverything, everything proceeds; that all the future states of the Universe\nare implicitly contained in and will be evolved out of the present state of\nthe Universe; that we have no experience and possess no verified knowledge\neither of creation or annihilation of Matter or Energy; that we cannot\nabsolutely create or destroy even an idea;[21] and that Matter and Energy\nappear to be eternal:--_4th._ the Principle of Convertibility and\nEquivalency of the different forms of Energy, according to which the\nvarious forces known as mechanical power, heat, light, electricity,\nmagnetism, chemical action, &c., being modes of motion, are convertible\ninto each other in equivalent quantities and without addition or loss.\nThese and other great principles constitute the basis of physical and\nchemical science, by obeying which, we have been enabled to evolve all the\nwonderful practical realities of science of the present day.[22] To these\ngreat principles may be added the more concrete truth called the \"Law of\nProgress,\" the essential idea of which is time, a time-rate; which\nregulates the speed of increase of civilization, and is evidently connected\nwith the great truth that every phenomenon occupies time.\n\nThe Principle of Gravitation, demonstrated by Newton, explains a vast\nnumber of facts relating to the motions of the Heavenly bodies:--the {160}\nUndulatory Theory of Light, largely developed by the labours of Fresnel,\nrenders equally clear and systematic an almost endless number and variety\nof optical phenomena; Oersted's law of Electro-magnetism similarly explains\nand renders consistent a multitude of facts respecting the movements of\nmagnets and electric conductors, which would otherwise be confusing to\nremember and impossible to satisfactorily explain. And the great mental\nvalue of these comprehensive ideas to mankind, consists largely in\nrelieving the memory and diminishing mental confusion, by co-ordinating a\nlarge number of different facts and apparently inconsistent phenomena by\nmeans of a general conception which embraces the whole of them. Thus a\nknowledge of the Principle of Gravitation informs us that both the ascent\nof a balloon in the air, and the descent of a stone in water, are alike due\nto the same force of gravity; and that of Chemical Affinity proves to us\nthat the apparently unlike phenomena of slow rusting of iron and vivid\ncombustion of phosphorus are essentially alike and due to the same cause.\n\nAll bodies, whether living or dead, and all forms of energy, appear to be\nabsolutely subject to the great laws of Causation, Progress, Conservation,\n&c., no one can escape them; the man who transgresses the Law of Progress\nby being too much in advance of his epoch, is punished as certainly as he\nwho lags behind it; all must advance together, and at approximately the\nprescribed rates. {161}\n\nThe real source of all that is good in new scientific knowledge arises from\nits verified and verifiable character, its high degree of certainty, and\nits capacity of withstanding all the tests which can be applied to it. By\nthe term \"scientific knowledge\" in this case I mean that only that which\nhas been verified, and I purposely exclude all matters of hypothesis, mere\nopinion or belief. Scientific research is the chief basis of national\nprogress, not only because it is continually disclosing new truths to us,\nbut also because the truths it reveals are frequently of the most definite\nkind.\n\nAs the term \"verified truth\" may appear vague, the questions may well be\nasked, what is truth? And how may we best detect it? And especially what is\nnew truth? and how may it best be recognised? Truth may be conveniently\ndefined as universal consistency; or that which perfectly conforms to\nfacts, and agrees with the widest experience, when tested by means of all\nour intellectual powers, the reasoning faculty in particular. The usual\nmodern criterion of it, is consistency with the fundamental axioms of\nlogic, and with all the great principles of nature as established by means\nof scientific research, such as the universality of causation, the\ncontinuity of phenomena, the indestructibility of matter and energy, the\nconvertibility and equivalency of forces, &c. All truth whatever is one in\ncharacter by possessing the inseparable attribute of complete consistency.\nThe truthfulness of scientific knowledge is proved by its agreement with\nuniversal experience and with the {162} fundamental logical axioms:--a\nthing either is or is not:--a thing cannot both be and not be:--a thing\nmust either be or not be:--things equal to the same are equal to each\nother; &c. It is chiefly by means of knowledge of these axioms and of the\nabove principles of science, and of their varied and numerous modes of\noperation and application, that the man of science \"explains\" the\nmultitudinous phenomena of nature, predicts future events, and is enabled\nto discover new truths and develope new inventions in the arts. Unlike\nother persons; when he sees a new effect, or hears of a new phenomenon, he\nat once refers it to these principles, in order to test its correctness or\nto explain it.\n\nWith regard to the detection of truth, that is often a difficult and\ncomplex process. There exists no royal or easy method; usually it can only\nbe recognised by means of laborious and critical examination of the whole\nof the evidence obtainable in the case; and even then we are often obliged\nto be satisfied with only an approximation, or it may be with even a mere\nprobability. Frequently also the truthfulness or otherwise of a statement\ncannot be decided in any degree in consequence of the absence of suitable\nor sufficient evidence, and for that we may have to wait for ages. We are\nnow waiting for evidence necessary to decide many questions respecting the\nhuman mind.\n\nWith regard to the question, what is new truth?; that also is a difficult\none to solve. The forms in which different truths appear are so various,\nand those {163} also in which even the same truth may shew itself are so\ndiverse, that it is often impossible to discriminate new truth from old\nideas clothed in a new form of words. The newness of an idea is entirely a\nquestion of evidence, and to determine it, usually requires a complete\nknowledge of all the circumstances affecting the particular case.\n\nNew truth appears to be usually derived from new physical or mental\nexperiences of phenomena external to our perceiving faculty; either by\nobserving matter or its forces under new conditions or from a new aspect;\nand the knowledge comes to us either through the avenues of our feelings\nand senses, or by means of direct observations, by comparison of such\nimpressions, or by inferences drawn from them. From the results of such\nmental operations, additional new truths are evolved by the more complex\nprocess of analysis, combination and permutation of ideas. New truths are\nalso evolved from old ones by each of these latter methods; but sooner or\nlater the implicit contents of our stock of old knowledge becomes exhausted\nwhen used for such a purpose, and we are then obliged to seek new\nexperience.\n\nAs new truths may be acquired in the more direct manner, by acquisition of\nnew experience; and less directly, by mental operations upon old ideas,\nother subjects of less fundamental and more concrete nature than the simple\nsciences, such as sociology, &c., are also sources of progress, when\ntreated in these ways. {164}\n\nOf all subjects, the simple sciences of physics and chemistry, are at the\npresent time, apparently making the most rapid advance, and the chief\nreasons for this probably are, _1st._ they treat of facts and principles\nwhich can be verified, and _2nd._ because the more complex sciences,\ntogether with the arts and manufactures based upon them, can only improve\nin proportion as they are developed. All the essentially human subjects,\nsuch as sociology, politics, morality, religious worship, &c., are in this\nposition, and are probably results partly of the operation of the great\nprinciples of nature acting through the body and mind of man.\n\nThe chief method of discovering new truth is that of observation,\nexperiment, and study, and further mental treatment of the results. The\nmost systematic methods also of evolving new truths are those employed by\nscientific men in making discoveries, and when any person arrives at a new\nidea, he usually (either consciously or unconsciously) employs them.\n\nThe acquisition of new knowledge must of necessity precede its diffusion.\nImmediately a new truth, especially an important one, is discovered, its\ninfluence begins to permeate the existing mass of knowledge in various\ndirections, causing us to view many of our old ideas in a new aspect;\ngiving rise also by comparison and inference, and by processes of\ncombination, permutation and analysis of ideas, to a multitude of other new\ntruths, usually less important ones, which themselves also affect previous\nknowledge in similar ways, {165} and by analogous treatment give rise to\nadditional new conceptions.\n\nBut although we evolve truthful new conceptions from previous ones by these\npurely mental methods, there is a limit to the number capable of being\nevolved from a limited stock of ideas, because the number of combinations\nand permutations of such a stock, though usually large, are themselves\nlimited. The number however is large in proportion to the degree of\nessential importance of the ideas, and is greatest when we employ those of\nthe fundamental principles of nature, already referred to; for instance a\ngreater number of new ideas have been evolved by means of appropriate\nmental processes from the law of gravitation and from that of\nelectro-magnetism than from any minor truth in science. Persons therefore\nwho are the least familiar with great demonstrable principles are usually\nthe least able to conceive new truthful ideas of intrinsic importance, or\nto draw new verifiable inferences of much theoretical value.\n\nEvery inventor and student knows that he continually requires new materials\nof thought, and if he does not obtain them, an obstacle, like a wall of\nadamant, rises before his mind in all directions, and prevents his forming\nnew ideas. That also which is true of each individual is true of the\ncollection of individuals, mankind; if new truths are not obtained, the\nthoughts of men flow in circles, and mental progress ceases. The mental\ncharacteristics of sequestered communities in remote isolated districts,\nare examples of this {166} fact. The influence of printing, railways,\ntelegraphs, postal communication and other scientific developments, in\naiding mental progress, afford other illustrations. A multitude of facts of\nthis kind, and many others, leads us to the conclusion that each new idea\nrequires a cause to produce it, and that human knowledge is subject to the\ngreat law of causation; also that the creation of an idea out of nothing\nwould be a miracle, a phenomenon without a cause. Our present knowledge was\nnot created by us, but was originated by previous knowledge and experience,\nincluding of course inherited impressions. Even in what is termed the\n\"noblest effort of the mind,\" an act of reasoning or inference, we do not\ncreate an idea, but only render explicit in a new form of words, ideas\nalready implicitly contained in the words of the propositions employed, as\nmay easily be rendered manifest by mechanical means in Jevons's \"Logical\nMachine;\" a proper inference never contains more than its data. In the\nso-called \"creation\" of ideas by the imagination also, the new ideas are\nevolved from old ones, and rendered explicit by mental processes of\nanalysis, combination, permutation, &c. Our scientific inventions also,\nbeing mental conceptions, an unlimited number of them cannot be made by\nmeans of a limited stock of old knowledge. It was in consequence of this\nlimit, viz., the impossibility of actually creating ideas out of nothing,\nthat human knowledge was not more advanced by metaphysical speculations\nuntil science with its experiments and {167} observations came to its\nassistance. These various facts prove the statement made in the Preface of\nthis book, that present knowledge only enables mankind to maintain its\npresent state.\n\nNot only the mental, but also the physical advance of mankind is\nessentially dependent upon the discovery of new truths. Men's physical\nactions are determined not alone by their inherited and acquired tendencies\nand the influence of external nature upon them, but also by their ideas; as\na man thinks, so also to a large extent does he act. Nations who do not\nadopt new ideas do not either mentally or physically advance, but change\nonly so far as their immediate surroundings change; the Chinese are a\nremarkable example of this; even the tendencies which men inherit, were\nlargely produced in their ancestors by the influence of ideas. The great\nfact of the essential dependence of human progress upon new knowledge, is a\ntruth, the importance of which to man cannot be over-estimated, and is one\nwhich statesmen, ministers of religion, and philanthropists should\nseriously study.\n\nMuch of the apparent advance of this nation however is not real. The great\nbulk of our newly published knowledge, even that which is scientific, and\nconsidered by the public to be new, consists, not of new truths, but of old\nones dressed in new forms of expression:--\n\n \"The tale repeated o'er and o'er,\n  With change of place and change of name.\n  Disguised, transformed, and yet the same\n  We've heard a hundred times before.\"--_Longfellow._\n\n{168}\n\nIt falls to the lot of but comparatively few men to discover or evolve\nimportant new truths. The great majority of learned men also, have through\nall historic time been occupied, and are still, not in evolving new ideas,\nbut in re-expressing old ones in different forms of words; the literary\nspirit, is in civilised nations, almost universal. In ordinary writings it\nis a rare circumstance to meet with an important and really new idea; it is\nusually in books written by men who are acquainted or imbued with the great\nprinciples and truths of science, that the newest demonstrable ideas are\nmost frequently found. The difference between evolving new ideas, and\nre-expressing and permutating old ones; largely characterises the\ndissimilarity of the scientific and the literary and theological minds. All\nhowever are necessary to the welfare of mankind, the former to advance and\nthe other to maintain the condition of man. If all were not necessary they\nwould probably not exist.\n\nThere are two great artificial divisions of scientific knowledge also, upon\nthe development of which national progress largely depends, viz., knowledge\nof inanimate matter and knowledge of man; the latter we have largely\ncultivated but the former we have greatly neglected:--and even our study of\nman has been largely one-sided and literary. It is far less important to\nknow what is man, than to know what are the great principles which underlie\nthe actions of all living creatures, and in obedience to which man is\ncompelled to work out his destiny in the Universe and the infinite future.\n{169}\n\nIt is evident from this, that much of the mental activity around us is not\nprogress, but rather a process of maintaining present state, a prevention\nof decline, a continually going round and round in conventional varied\nstep, a kind of intellectual mill. Under these circumstances it is not the\noriginal discoverer, but he who in this occupation, can best express old\nideas, in the most varied forms and choicest language, who is most\ngenerally considered to be the greatest intellectual chief.\n\nAlthough originality even in literature and art is very imperfectly\nencouraged in this country, both art and literature are much more readily\nunderstood and appreciated than scientific research, and treated as if they\nwere more important. Whilst most persons can understand and appreciate the\ngift of a work of art to a public art collection, few can understand or\nproperly value the discovery and gift of a new scientific truth of far\ngreater intrinsic value to the public stock of knowledge; the treatment\nreceived by Priestley and other discoverers in comparison with that of\nlocal donors, sufficiently illustrates this. Even publishers of lucrative\nnewspapers prefer to give prizes and pay liberally for sensational tales,\nthan to pay for articles on the public advantages of new scientific\nknowledge.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n{170}\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n------\n\nTHE PROMOTION OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH.\n\nNearly the whole of the most distinguished mathematicians, physicists,\nchemists, biologists, and physiologists of Great Britain, also the Earl of\nDerby, the Marquis of Salisbury, Sir Stafford Northcote and many other\neminent men, have given evidence before the Royal Commissioners on\n\"Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science\"[23] to the\nfollowing effect:--_1st._ That the promotion of original scientific\nresearch is neglected in this country. _2nd._ That such research is\nencouraged more by the State in Germany than here. And _3rd_. That much\ngreater encouragement of it by our Government, by the Universities and the\nPublic, is highly necessary to our commercial prosperity. They have also\nstated in evidence their opinions as to the best ways in which they\nconsider it may be assisted. The additional fact that all the greatest\nscientific men who have ever existed have pursued research, and sacrificed\nmuch for it, is a practical proof that they also approved of its\nencouragement.\n\nThat research should be promoted is further the opinion of many men learned\nin politics, literature, art, and science. The views expressed in numerous\nletters on the subject, received by me from Members {171} of the Privy\nCouncil, and of both Houses of Parliament, and from other eminent persons,\nconfirm this. It has also been adopted as a chief part of the programme of\nthe \"Association for the Organization of Academical Study.\"[24]\n\n\"M. de Candolle, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Science, Paris, is\na strong advocate for the encouragement of a class of sinecurists like the\nnon-working Fellows of our Colleges, who should have leisure to investigate\nand not be pestered by the petty mechanical work of continued teaching and\nexamining.\" \"The modern ideas of democracy are adverse to places to which\ndefinite work is not attached, and from which definite results do not flow.\nThis principle is a wise one for the mass of mankind; but is utterly\nmisplaced when applied to those who have the zeal for investigation, and\nwho work best when left quite alone.\"\n\nThe correctness of the principle of promoting research is also recognised\nby our Governments in their yearly grants of money to the Royal Society,\nand to the Royal Irish Academy[25] to aid research, also by the Council of\nthe Chemical Society, which has established a fund for the same purpose;\nand by the British Association in their annual grants for the promotion of\nscientific enquiry. The Fishmonger's Company also presented to Mr. W. R.\nParker, F.R.S., the sum of L50, followed by an annual gift of L20 for {172}\nthe three years, to assist him in bearing the expenses of his researches on\nthe skulls of vertebrate animals. And the British Pharmaceutical Conference\nvoted the sum of L80 from the Bell and Hills fund, during the period of\nthree years, in aid of research in connection with pharmaceutical science.\nA small fund for the purpose of research exists also at the Royal\nInstitution. Fellowships also with a similar object have been founded at\nthe Victoria University. Dr. Priestley also was aided in his researches by\ncontributions from a small circle of friends. In recognition of the same\nprinciple, nearly all of the most eminent scientific men on the Continent\nhave been assisted by their respective Governments. The total amount of aid\nto research in this country is however very small, and to one acquainted\nwith the great commercial and other any valuable results of such labour, it\nis simply astounding that we have not systematically organized a powerful\nmeans of promoting discovery.\n\nA few scientific persons however still continue to oppose aid to research;\nquite recently, scientific investigators have been spoken of as a class of\n\"men amusing themselves without any result whatever.\"[26] That idea however\nabundantly refuted in the foregoing pages. It has also been remarked[27]\nthat \"practically, endowment of research comes to the creation of positions\nwhere there is payment without corresponding labour.\" \"In England above all\ncountries in the world, there will always be plenty of {173} amateurs ready\nand willing to assist in research, and it is notorious that in England,\nalmost without exception, all the great advances in science have been made\nby such amateurs. Therefore I do not think it at all desirable that the\nBritish tax-payer should be required to put his hand in his pocket to\nprovide salaries for gentlemen who might be working rightly or wrongly. He\ncould not control them, and while there are such a body of amateurs in the\ncountry, I think the researches may be very well left to them.\"\n\nThe first of these statements is not correct; the endowment of research\ndoes not amount to \"payment without corresponding labour.\" Scientific\ndiscoverers have always been distinguished as a body of men intensely\ndevoted to their labours, and willing to perform much work for small\npayment. Most of the great advances in science also in England, have been\nmade not by \"amateurs,\" but by men of great experience, such as Newton,\nHerschel, Priestley, Davy, Faraday, Graham, and many others. Endowment of\nresearch is not desired for wealthy amateurs, but for investigators of\nproved ability and small pecuniary means and who require assistance. Such\nmen, although not infallible, are the least likely to \"work wrongly,\" and\nmuch less likely to do so than amateurs. Many scientific investigators also\nof repute, object to give their services wholly to a wealthy nation,\nbecause they cannot afford to do so, and because it is only just that the\nnation should make them some pecuniary return for their skill and labour.\nThe great evils {174} in this country requiring new knowledge to remedy\nthem[28] also prove that there are not \"plenty of amateurs ready and\nwilling to assist in research here,\" or that \"the researches may be very\nwell left to them.\"\n\nWhilst some investigators have had abundant means to carry on research, and\nhave excelled in that occupation, many of the most eminent have been\npersons of limited circumstances; and their insufficient pecuniary means\nhas often restricted their degree of success. The argument also that\ninsufficiency of means stimulates research, is only employed by persons who\nare not making investigations under such a condition.\n\nThe President of the Royal Society, Dr. Spottiswoode, in his recent\naddress[29] also remarked:--\"The question has been raised whether it be\nwise, even in the interests of science, to encourage any one not yet of\nindependent income, to interrupt the main business of his life. It is too\noften assumed that a profession or a business may be worked at half speed,\nor may be laid down and taken up again, whenever we like. But this is not\nso, and a profession temporarily, or even partially laid aside, may prove\nirrecoverable, and the temptation to diverge from the dull and laborious\npath of business may prove to have been a snare.\" Each of these remarks\nappears to be made upon the assumption that it is still a doubtful question\nwhether persons qualified for research should be encouraged or not to\nabandon occupations they reluctantly follow, and for which they are less\nfitted, in order to become scientific {175} discoverers. As it is a fact\nthat the welfare of this country is suffering through deficiency of\nencouragement of research, it is certainly desirable to encourage, by every\nproper means, qualified persons to occupy themselves in such labour. Some\nof the greatest discoveries have been made by men \"not yet of independent\nincome,\" for instance, those made by Scheele, Priestley, Dalton, Faraday,\nW. Herschel, and many others.\n\nThe late Astronomer Royal, also,[30] who has made many researches, and was\na scientific official paid by the State, says:--\"I think that successful\nresearches have in nearly every instance originated with private persons,\nor with persons whose positions were so nearly private that the\ninvestigators acted under private influence, without incurring the danger\nattending connection with the State. Certainly I do not consider a\nGovernment is justified in endeavouring to force, at public expense,\ninvestigations of undefined character, and, at best, of doubtful utility;\nand I think it probable that any such attempt will lead to consequences\ndisreputable to science. The very utmost, in my opinion, to which the State\nshould be expected to contribute, is exhibited in the large grants\nintrusted to the Royal Society. The world, I think, is not unanimous in\nbelieving that they have been useful.\" He then enumerates what he considers\n\"the proper foundations of claims upon the State,\" which he illustrates,\nand substantially includes in and {176} limits by, the kinds of scientific\nresearch done under his direction at the Royal Observatory. He further\nadds--\"The Royal Observatory was founded expressly for a definite\nutilitarian purpose (the promotion of navigation) necessarily connected\nwith the highest science. And this utilitarian purpose has been steadily\nkept in view for two centuries, and is now followed with greater vigour\nthan ever before. To its original plan have also been added--but still in\nthe utilitarian sense--the publication of time, the broader observation of\nterrestrial magnetism, and local meteorology.\" His views therefore appear\nto be, that State aid to research should be limited to utilitarian objects;\nand that it is with propriety given to his own department, which is\nconnected with the State. It has however been abundantly proved that nearly\nall the great scientific utilities of every-day life, had their origin in\nthe pursuit, not of utilities, but of pure truth, and that immediate\nusefulness is neither the most successful nor the highest motive in\nscientific research, nor should research be limited by so narrow a\ncondition. The investigations also made by the aid of Government Grants\npossess the usual degree of definiteness and of utility of such labours,\nand it cannot be reasonably expected that the world would be unanimous\nrespecting any measure, especially respecting a subject so little\nunderstood by the public as the Endowment of Research.\n\nIf investigators were to limit their researches to utilities, or what\nappeared to be such, scarcely any {177} essentially new experiments or new\ndiscoveries of importance would be made. No attempts would be made to\ndiscover essentially novel facts, nor would many trials be made to test\nfundamental abstract questions which affect the very basis of scientific\nknowledge. The principles of electro-magnetism, of magneto-electric action,\nand of the magnetic rotation of polarized light, were each discovered by\nmeans of perfectly novel experiments, in which immediate utility was not\nthe motive.\n\nIt is worthy of notice that of the very small proportion of scientific\ninvestigators who disapprove of State aid to Research, nearly every one\nalready possesses sufficient pecuniary means to carry on investigations,\nand therefore cannot adequately appreciate the position and necessities of\ninvestigators having only small incomes. In some cases also the objections\nto aid investigators come from scientific men who have attempted to make\ndiscoveries but have not succeeded.\n\nDr. Robinson of Armagh, a well-known investigator, has very properly\npointed out[31] what has been done in this country towards giving\nassistance to those engaged in the pursuit of science, and mentions the\nObservatories maintained by the Universities and by the Nation. He says\nalso that if anything more were to be done in increasing the amount of\ngrants of money to assist scientific work, he thinks \"it might be best\napplied in establishing in the great commercial {178} centres of the realm,\nphysical and chemical laboratories such as that which the Duke of\nDevonshire has established at Cambridge, provided with the most refined\napparatus, and accessible to all who are considered privileged by a\ncompetent tribunal.\" He also says \"when there is found a man so far\nsurpassing his fellows in any department of science that he may be expected\nto do work beyond their power, he ought to be made independent of any other\npursuit, so that none of his time and energy may be lost, such a case is\nexceptional, and when it occurs it should be exceptionally provided for.\"\n\nOriginal research will for a long time to come, be opposed by a large\nsection of the non-scientific public:--by the numerous persons whose source\nof income depends upon the ignorance of their fellow-men:--by those who are\ndeficient of faith in demonstrable truth, and fear that their most\ncherished beliefs are endangered by it:--and by many of those who are\ninsufficiently acquainted with it to perceive its great value to mankind.\n\nWith regard to the fears of many objectors that the Endowment of Research\nwould lead to jobbery and abuses, and thus retard the progress of discovery\ninstead of promoting it; it is evident that such a risk is an inseparable\nconcomitant of every remunerated office and is not peculiar to that of\nresearch, and must therefore be accepted as unavoidable and be provided\nagainst in the usual ways. It does not however appear probable that the\nrisk in this respect is at all greater {179} than that already existing and\nprovided against in many other appointments.\n\nMany persons, not clearly perceiving the difference between pure research\nand other scientific occupations, suppose that because science is\nencouraged in various ways in this country; and because sums of money are\noccasionally given to scientific institutions, and some scientific men are\nevidently receiving good incomes, that discoverers are remunerated, but\nthis is a great mistake; there is probably not a scientific man in the\nkingdom who is wholly employed in such work in abstract physics or\nchemistry, and paid for his entire skill, time, and labour. Wherever\npayment is made for scientific labour, it is nearly always for that\nperformed with a view to some immediate practical application. Inventors\nand expositors are remunerated, but discoverers are not.\n\nAt the present time in this country scientific men are paid for teaching,\nlecturing, writing popular scientific articles, compiling scientific books,\nediting scientific journals, making chemical analyses and experiments for\nmanufacturers, companies, and others, for practical purposes, or to obtain\nevidence for legal cases, giving evidence on scientific subjects in courts\nof law, with consultations and advice to manufacturers and others,\nsuperintending scientific commercial undertakings, &c. Some also\nunfortunately obtain an income and cheap publicity by the empirical\ncontrivance of selling to tradesmen, their scientific opinions in the form\nof testimonials which are extensively {180} advertised at the cost of the\npurchasers. But not one of these occupations constitutes pure research, or\nis an immediate source of new discoveries. Payment is made for all kinds of\nscientific labour which will immediately benefit individuals or\ncorporations, but very little for pure investigation, and nearly every\ninducement exists to attract men of science from pursuing such labour.\n\nIt might be supposed that investigators would patent or sell their\ndiscoveries; but discoveries in pure science cannot usually be patented or\nsold, because they have not been converted by invention into commercial\ncommodities. New scientific truth is utterly unsaleable; no one will\npurchase it. Whilst the real or intrinsic value of it is great, its\nextrinsic value is small and is the sum of money it will sell for in the\nmarket. No one would have purchased Oersted's great discovery of\nelectro-magnetism. It would also be less to public advantage if\ninvestigators were to neglect discovering new knowledge in order to apply\nthat knowledge to practical uses. It requires a different training of\nmental power to discover new truths, than to utilize them by means of\ninvention, teaching or lecturing; and men who can invent and instruct are\nfar more numerous than those who are able to discover. Discoveries are also\ngenerally much more valuable than inventions, because a single discovery\n(that of gutta percha for example) not unfrequently forms the basis of many\ninventions. Discoverers not unfrequently meet with new facts {181} which\nthey perceive might be applied to valuable technical uses, but they\nhesitate to patent them because the process of invention, taking out a\npatent, seeking a manufacturer to work it, and protecting their patent from\npiracy, would occupy a large portion of their time, and take them away from\nresearch. Sir D. Brewster got no money by patenting his kaleidoscope\nbecause the patent was instantly pirated in all directions.\n\nSome persons have suggested that scientific men should keep their\ndiscoveries secret, but this would usually be a greater disadvantage to the\ninvestigator even than publishing them, and no one would then derive any\nbenefit; discoveries also, being often capable of numerous applications,\nand not being in a saleable shape, cannot usually be monopolised by any\none. New scientific knowledge is like a powerful light, it cannot be\nhidden. Discoveries are eminently national knowledge, and research should\ntherefore be national employment.\n\nOther persons suppose that investigators should be satisfied with the fame\nof their discoveries, and not require any payment; but this is a most\nunfair supposition, because no man can live without means, and every useful\nperson deserves to be paid for his labour. Ought the late Duke of\nWellington to have been satisfied with the fame alone of his exploits,\nwithout being paid any salary? Ought a Bishop to be content with the renown\nof his eloquence, without receiving any payment for his services? Genius\nalone is {182} appropriately rewarded by fame, but time, unusual skill,\nlabour and expenditure, should be repaid by money.\n\nIt has been suggested that an investigator, if he is a man of practical\nability, is very often put into an office, the duties of which he can\nefficiently discharge, and yet have leisure for original research, as in\nthe case of the late Dr. Graham, the eminent Master of the Mint,[32] our\nAstronomers Royal, &c., and thus obtain his reward. But this is a very\nimperfect plan, because research is very difficult, and to be carried out\neffectually, requires the whole of a man's time and attention; the\ninvestigator would also be taken from more important work to do that which\nis of less value to the nation, and which might be performed by a more\nsuitable person; appointments also of the kind referred to are much too few\nin number. Such a plan as this, of relegating important national work to\nodd hours spared from official duties, is a makeshift, and quite unworthy\nof this nation. Entire occupation in research, combined with efficient\npublication of the results, is the only satisfactory plan of procedure.\n\nProbably one of the most satisfactory ways of rewarding scientific\ndiscoverers and serving national interests at the same time, would be to\ncreate salaried professorships of original research, and appoint\ndiscoverers of repute to fill them.\n\nThe time is near at hand when this nation will be compelled by the\ninjurious consequences arising from its neglect of scientific research, to\nacquire a {183} knowledge of the relations of science to national existence\nand welfare, and to adopt some means of encouraging discovery. The greatest\ndifficulty, probably, which has to be overcome, is not so much how to\nobtain funds for the purpose, as how to employ them successfully, and\nespecially how to prevent their getting into the hands of unsuitable\npersons. But, as methods have been found of remunerating all other classes\nof persons, ways may be devised of remunerating scientific investigators.\nIt is only because the case is novel that it seems difficult; it is\nprobably no more intrinsically difficult to establish a professorship of\nresearch than to found an ecclesiastical benefice.\n\nThe great difficulty of determining from what source discoverers should be\npaid for their labours, arises from the fact that all classes of the\ncommunity share in the benefit. It is evident they should in some measure\nbe paid from a source towards which all classes either directly or\nindirectly contribute, and therefore from some public fund. The persons who\nfirst use scientific knowledge are the compilers of scientific books, and\nteachers of science; but these only disseminate the knowledge, and do not\nderive from it any great pecuniary advantage, they are only the agents for\nsupplying the knowledge to others. The persons who first convert such\nknowledge into valuable commercial commodities are inventors and\nmanufacturers who have received scientific education or advice; but those\nwho derive the greatest pecuniary benefit from it, and who should therefore\neither {184} directly or indirectly pay in the largest degree for it, are\nthe great manufacturers, capitalists, and landowners. Whilst the question\nis being settled as to what class of persons shall primarily bear the\nexpense of research, discoverers themselves are suffering great injustice,\nand our manufactures and commerce are passing into the hands of foreign\nnations. What the amount of loss and disadvantage suffered by this nation,\nthrough want of encouragement of scientific enquiry is, cannot be\nestimated, but it is certainly enormous. Had even a very moderate amount of\npayment been made for such labour, and the expenses out of pocket paid in\nfull, the amount of research performed would have been greatly increased.\n\nUnder present circumstances, many promising young men, fitted to become\ngood investigators, have been driven out of science altogether. I have\nfound by long experience and persistent enquiry, that there are many young\nmen distributed over this country, who are very desirous of engaging in\nscientific research, and likely to make good investigators, but are\nentirely prevented by the non-remunerative character of the labour, every\none wishes to know \"what will it lead to\"? Even amongst our most able\ndiscoverers, scarcely one who has not possessed private means has continued\nresearch beyond the middle age of life, because such labour enables no\nprovision to be made for old age; and all those who have left have devoted\nthemselves to less important but more lucrative occupations. Most of these\ngentlemen have been {185} obliged to abandon research at a period of life\nwhen their faculties were in the most perfect state for continuing it.\n\nWhere one young beginner in science meets with the fortunate circumstance\nof a helping hand, as Scheele did in Bergmann, and Faraday in Davy, many\nare crushed out. The want of encouragement to scientific discovery in this\ncountry is so very great that extremely few men are able to struggle\nthrough it, and this is one reason why we have had so few discoveries. Some\npersons have argued that the very difficulties and discouragements offered\nare an advantage to science by producing only men of the very highest\neminence in discovery; but it is manifest that however great the amount of\nability may be that is developed by discouragement, that amount would\nprobably be still greater by judicious assistance. Moreover, progress in\nthe developement of the national scientific intellect is not so much to be\nreckoned by the few great successes which have occurred in spite of all\nobstacles, but rather by the much more numerous ones which would have\nresulted from proper encouragement. The advocates of such an argument can\nhave no idea of the heart-sickening feeling of long deferred hope\nexperienced by the young beginner in science; or the disgust gradually\nengendered in his mind at the injustice of other men taking all the profits\nof his labours and leaving him without means of support; or they would\nnever adduce it. In this country the success of the few {186} eminent men\nof science has resulted from the accidental combination of a few more or\nless fortuitous circumstances, and their own great natural determination,\nand not from legitimate and just support. How many investigators we have\nlost from the above causes it is impossible to tell. The encouragement also\nof unusual ability should not be left to accident.\n\nAs scientific research has proved itself to be of such great value to this\nnation, the question naturally arises, how can it best be promoted? A\nnumber of plans have been proposed. Amongst these may be mentioned. _1st._\nBy founding State Laboratories, in which discoverers of established repute,\nsupplied with every aid and appliance, should be wholly engaged in research\nin their respective subjects, and be paid by the State. _2nd._ By founding\ncolleges or Professorships of original research in each of the\nUniversities, and appointing professors similarly. _3rd._ By founding\nprovincial colleges or Professorships of research, the funds being raised\nlocally by means of subscriptions, donations, and endowments, with or\nwithout State assistance. _4th._ By State or Local aid, in the form of\nadditional salary, to Professors in colleges, to enable them to pursue\nresearch. _5th._ By an extension of the present Government grants\ndistributed by the Royal Society. _6th._ By making it a condition at each\nof our Universities that every student entering for a degree in science,\nshould previously make an original research. _7th._ By the formation by\nlearned societies, of Endowment of {187} Research Funds, and making grants\nof money therefrom to recognised investigators. _8th._ By aid to local\nscientific investigators by Municipal bodies out of the rates. And _9th._\nThe support of Institutes of Scientific Research by private munificence.\nAid to research, in Germany, has been chiefly been made by the State, by\naffording means to the Professors in the Universities; in America, more by\nmunificence of wealthy individuals; and in this country, chiefly in the\nform of Government grants of money to investigators. The greatest\ndifficulty to be surmounted in carrying out any of these schemes, is the\nvery general ignorance in this country of the value and necessity of\nresearch; and this can only be overcome by scientific men themselves\nperforming their duty of enlightening the public on the subject.\n\n_1st._ _By founding State Laboratories._ One of the first duties of a\nGovernment is to protect its subjects in the enjoyment of their property;\nbut as no law reserves to discoverers the fruits of their ability, it is\nclearly a duty of the State to protect them in other ways. It is believed\nto be a duty of the State to provide and pay for pure scientific research,\nfor the following reasons:--because research is eminently national work;\nbecause the results of such labour are indispensable to national welfare\nand progress, and are of immense value to the nation, and especially to the\nGovernment; because nearly the whole pecuniary benefit of it goes to the\nnation, and scarcely any to the discoverer; because research is not\nsufficiently {188} provided for by means of voluntary effort, nor can its\nbenefits be restricted to a locality; and because there appears to be\nscarcely any other way (except by application of University revenues) in\nwhich discoverers can be satisfactorily recompenced for their labour. Also\n\"Government should for its own sake honour the men who do honour and\nservice to the country.\" (Faraday.)\n\nThe founding of State laboratories for original research was proposed and\nadvocated by the late Lieutenant-Colonel Strange, F.R.S., in communications\nread before the British Association, and in evidence given before the Royal\nCommissioners.[33] As the erection and maintenance of State laboratories\nwould require a large sum of money, and as all classes of the community\nwould share in the benefit, it is reasonable to suggest that the money\nshould come from some source towards which all classes of the community,\neither directly or indirectly contribute, and therefore from some national\nfund.\n\nIn national improvements, expense is quite a secondary consideration; the\nfunds however for providing State laboratories already exist; the sum of\nnearly L600,000 has accumulated in the form of fees received by Government\nfor the granting of patents for inventions; and as the discoveries made by\nscientific men form the materials by means of which those inventions were\nmade, the money thus accumulated may be justly claimed by scientific\ndiscoverers as a suitable {189} source from which their labours should be\nremunerated by the State.\n\nStrong arguments might be adduced both against and in favour of the\napplication of this money for the purpose. Inventors are a great\nwealth-producing class of the community; they are at present very highly\ntaxed, and receive but little advantage in return; to tax them without\ngiving them equivalent advantages, strikes very near to the root of\ncommercial prosperity, by diminishing improvements in arts and\nmanufactures. If an inventor is poor and his patent is valuable, he is also\nfrequently harassed out of it by litigation. Inventors are usually poor,\nand but little able to pay taxes on patents at all; their pecuniary\nposition in this country is not greatly better than that of discoverers;\nthey are largely at the mercy of manufacturers and capitalists; and the\ninjustice to which they are sometimes subjected is notorious and\ndisgraceful. On the other hand, the fund already exists; inventors also\nreceive an equivalent from investigators, discovery is the indispensable\nbasis of nearly all invention; patented inventions are formed by means of\nthe knowledge obtained by pure scientific research. The poverty of a man\ndoes not justify his taking the fruits of the labours of another man\nwithout paying for them. If also the patent fees were thus applied, the\ncost of research would then be paid for by all classes of the community,\nsomewhat in proportion to the benefit derived, because the cost of patents\nin general ultimately falls upon the public at {190} large, in the shape of\nan increased price put upon the commodity, in order to pay the cost of the\npatent, like the grower of wheat is paid by the consumers of bread, through\nthe medium of the baker, the miller, and corn merchant.\n\nWhilst the benefits derived from the labours of discoverers, flows chiefly\nin the form of money into the hands of wealthy manufacturers, and finally\ngets locked up in the possession of capitalists and landowners, it is\nhardly to be expected that the Government will be in possession of funds\nnecessary to promote research unless some such plan as this is adopted.\nShould the wealthy and governing classes however become sufficiently\nacquainted with the value of research, and of the essential and permanent\ndependence of their material prosperity upon it, there will then be some\nhope that they will be willing to contribute in a more direct manner their\njust share towards paying the expenses. There is, however, but little\nprospect of this whilst the influence of wealth so depresses the scientific\neducation of those classes at the Universities.\n\nThe fundamental object in founding State laboratories should be to keep a\nstaff of the most competent men wholly engaged in original research in pure\nscience, and a secondary object might be to train assistants to become\ninvestigators. Such laboratories would doubtless be located in London, and\nbe on a scale of magnitude creditable to science and the nation. They might\nvery suitably include {191} departments for the simpler pure sciences and\neven for biology.\n\nIt is manifest that the arguments which support the proposition for\nprofessorships of original research in those sciences apply in a greater or\nless degree to other sciences; and it has been stated that \"there is no\nground upon which the scheme can be limited to the subject of natural\nphilosophy.\" In reference to this remark, (which, like most objections,\ncontains some truth), it must be remembered that there is a natural order\nof dependence of the sciences upon each other, in which order also they are\nbeing evolved. It is a general truth that the physical sciences of light\nand heat are based upon mechanical conditions of the particles of matter;\nthat the science of chemistry is founded upon physics; that biological\nphenomena are dependent upon physical and chemical conditions; that\npsychological subjects are based upon biology; and that biological science\ncannot progress excepting in proportion to the advance of the sciences on\nwhich it is based. In addition to this general order of precedence of\nevolution in point of time, the various sciences are so mutually related\nthat all must advance together, the simple ones taking the lead, and the\nconcrete and more complex sciences, with their attendant arts, following\nbehind.\n\nAs this natural order of dependence and development of the sciences is a\ngreat fact of nature, over which we have little or no control, and as a\nscheme for the simultaneous establishment of professorships of research in\nall the sciences, simple, complex, and {192} concrete, would probably be\ntoo great an undertaking, the most proper course would be to commence with\nthe simpler ones, such as those of mathematics, mechanics, physics, and\nchemistry, and perhaps biology. If it be argued that it would be\nunadvisable to commence with the simple and purely experimental sciences,\nit would be still more unadvisable to commence with the concrete subjects\nof \"natural history, medicine, civil history, law, and theology,\" or with\nthe arts which also depend upon science.\n\nThe number of investigators in such an institution would not be large,\nbecause few of high repute could be obtained, many of our ablest ones\nabandon research for remunerative pursuits. In order to make the plan\nsucceed, the conditions of the appointments should be such as to limit the\nelection to the most competent persons. In the selection of such gentlemen,\nthe verdict of opinion of scientific men generally, upon the published\nresearches of the candidates, would have previously determined who were\nqualified for the office. Any man who had published reliable papers in the\nTransactions of the Royal Society, might very properly be considered a fit\ncandidate, and the selection and appointment might be made by the\nGovernment, with the advice of the Council of the Royal Society.\n\nProbably there exists no class of persons upon whom the country might more\nrely for industry in office than eminent investigators, because they have\npursued truth for its good effects alone. Men who had {193} previously\nexercised the degree of self-sacrifice necessary to make a number of long\nand difficult experimental researches, with only very limited pecuniary\nmeans, must necessarily be possessed of great enthusiasm in their calling,\nand would therefore be extremely unlikely persons to become idle by being\nsupplied with a sufficiency only of means to carry on their labours.\nFurther, such men might at present obtain a much larger income than they\nwould receive in such a post, by abandoning research and devoting\nthemselves to the various profitable engagements which are open to every\nman of scientific ability who is willing to devote himself to applied\nscience. The actual work of research is much too arduous and difficult to\npermit such an office to become an object of desire to a place-seeking or\nidle person. But in order to exclude with certainty those who might devote\nthemselves to research solely or primarily for the purpose of subsequently\nobtaining a well paid appointment, (as persons sometimes devote themselves\nto learning, with the object of getting an \"idle Fellowship,\") and to\nensure in all cases a reasonable continuance of industry, it would be\nnecessary, that whilst the salaries paid should be sufficient to render the\nprofessors free from care, if expended with a reasonable degree of economy,\nthey should not be so large as to conduce to idleness. The professors\nshould undertake not to engage in any other remunerative employment, and\nprovision should be made, that in case a professor persistently failed to\nmake, complete, or publish his {194} researches, or devoted less than the\nstipulated amount of time to such labour in the Institution, without\nreasonable cause, he should be removed.\n\nMany persons fancy that \"it must be very nice to be always making\nexperiments,\" and that they \"should be delighted with such an occupation\"\nif they \"could only spare the time.\" But such an idea is only another\nillustration of the general ignorance of the subject, and it is only\nexpressed by those who have never made a laborious and difficult research.\nPure research is by far the most difficult of all scientific occupations,\nand this is another chief reason why discoverers are few, and why they will\nprobably remain so.\n\nTo succeed in research, a man must set aside all human pride, and approach\nthe subject with perfect humility; and this is not an easy task, men cannot\nso readily abandon preconceived and cherished notions. Many researches are\nmoreover extremely dangerous. Thilorier was killed by the explosion of a\nvessel of liquefied carbonic anhydride; Dulong lost an eye and finger, and\nSir Humphrey Davy was wounded by an explosion of chloride of nitrogen.\nFaraday was near being blinded by an experiment with oxygen. Nickles of\nNancy, and Louyet of Brussels, lost their lives, and two other chemists\nwere seriously injured in health by exposure to the excessively dangerous\nfumes of hydrofluoric acid. Bunsen lost the sight of an eye and was nearly\npoisoned by an explosion whilst analysing cyanide of cacodyl.[34] Hennel\nwas killed by an {195} explosion of fulminate of silver, and Chapman by one\nof nitrate of methyl; and nearly every chemical investigator could tell of\nsome narrow escape of life in his own experience. Any one who wishes to\nknow whether it is \"very nice to be always making experiments\" should\nattempt the isolation of fluorine, the chemical examination of some\noffensive substance, or the determination of some difficult physical, or\nchemical problem.\n\nThat a professorship of original research would \"involve substantial work\"\ndoes not admit of doubt, and therefore \"there would be some security that\nit would be worthily bestowed.\" It would not become an \"ornamental\nsinecure,\" in which \"there is pay but no work,\" unless, by assigning to it\ntoo large a stipend, inducement was held out to that numerous class of\npersons whose love of money is stronger than their love of truth, to seek\nthe office; to say the utmost, it could hardly become so largely a sinecure\nas many offices now held by ecclesiastics. Jobbery and abuse of patronage\nwould be still further prevented by making the duties sufficiently heavy.\n\nThe appointment, and remuneration by salary, of professor of research,\nwould not lessen the independence of scientific men if the office was not\nplaced under the superintendence of active and interfering officials\nignorant of science. Although the professors might not be highly paid, the\nappointment would increase their independence because it would be one of\nthe most honourable to which scientific men could {196} attain, and because\nthey would thereby be put into a sphere in which they could exercise their\ntalents to the fullest extent, and render the greatest service and honour\nto the nation. If also the salaries offered were not too great, those\npersons only would become candidates who at present have insufficient means\nto defray the considerable cost of experiments.\n\nIt would be necessary to appoint only persons who would undertake to devote\ntheir time solely to the discovery of new facts and principles in science,\nand the determination of purely scientific questions, and not to the making\nof inventions; because discovery is of far greater national value than\ninvention; and because inventions would immediately on their publication be\nseized, modified, and patented by individuals for their own personal\nbenefit. Discoveries, on the other hand, would require a large additional\namount of labour expended upon them by inventors before they could be\nconverted into saleable commodities.\n\nEach professor should be allowed perfect freedom to choose his own special\nsubjects of research in the sciences he had been accustomed to study,\nbecause each investigator is usually the best judge of what researches are\nthe most likely to yield him important results. No discoverer of repute\nwould be very likely to trespass on another man's sphere of research,\nbecause he would usually have an abundance of good subjects of his own; and\nevery honourable man would purposely avoid doing so; and we find this\npractically to be the case at the present time. Separate sets of {197}\nrooms would be necessary for each investigator in order to keep the\nresearches private and distinct.\n\nThe whole of the new knowledge obtained by research should be treated as\nnational property, and all of it worthy of publication should be made known\nwithout the least reserve, it would also be desirable to publish the\nresults at reasonable intervals of time. The publication might take place,\nas at present, in the journals of the learned Societies, or in the leading\nscientific magazines, and the value of the work would be largely guaranteed\nby such a mode of publication. The professors should also engage not to\nsell, patent, or prematurely disclose any of the knowledge obtained. By\nelecting to such offices only discoverers of repute, the nation might\nreasonably depend for the results upon the known ability and industry of\nthe men. That the results obtained would, many of them, be highly valuable,\ndoes not admit of doubt, because long experience has uniformly proved it;\nbut no discoverer can tell beforehand what results he will obtain,\notherwise research would hardly be needed.\n\nAn objection has been made that no one can tell how long it will be after a\ndiscovery is made before the nation will derive the chief benefit. The\nlength of time which elapses between the publication of discoveries and\ntheir practical fruits is very variable. Usually benefit commences at once\nand gradually widens; directly discoveries are published they begin to be\nused by compilers of scientific books, and by teachers and lecturers in\nscience, and are thus diffused {198} amongst the public in general, and\nbegin to produce beneficial effects. Inventors, manufacturers, medical men,\nand others, also begin to apply them to their respective purposes. In some\ncases striking applications are immediately made of them, and public\nattention is thus directed to the useful result; but in many cases the\nbeneficial effects are small, numerous, and indirect, and it is difficult\nto trace and describe them. The objection also is deficient in force,\nbecause expenditure in any other occupation, and receipt of the profit upon\nit, are rarely simultaneous. Many of the wisest reforms in this country\nhave been a long time in producing their results. We must therefore be\ncontent, as in all ordinary cases of investment, with the conviction that\nthe expenditure will be profitable, and we must wait patiently for the\ncertain harvest. In research, as in many other human enterprises, a man who\nwill not move until he is absolutely certain that what he intends to do\nwill at at once succeed, must sit still and perish.\n\nSuggestions have also been made to appoint a Government Committee, or\nCouncil, whose function should be to value scientific discoveries, and make\ncorresponding amounts of reward to the discoverers. But this appears to be\na less feasible plan, because no man can, at the period of discovery,\ndetermine what amount of practical result a discovery will ultimately\nproduce. Who could have foretold with certainty at the date of Oersted's\ndiscovery of electro-magnetism, that this discovery would result in {199}\nthe expenditure of hundreds of millions of pounds upon telegraphs\nalone?[35]\n\nObjections have been made to definite payment for labour in research, on\nthe ground of indefiniteness of the results, and the impossibility of\nmeasuring their value. Can we expect to buy new scientific knowledge at so\nmuch a pound, or to retail discovery by the pint? The work of discoverers\nis as definite as that of many other persons who are paid. Who can measure\nthe value of the cure of souls, of the duties of a judge, or of those of a\nfield-marshal? Instead of paying for the labour of research in a definite\nway, we have adopted unsatisfactory makeshifts. Exceptional gifts, and\nsemi-charitable pensions, have been with difficulty obtained in a few cases\nfor scientific men; most often for those who applied scientific knowledge\nto practical uses than for those who discovered that knowledge. In this\ncountry, neither lawyers, medical men, military persons, nor clergymen are\npaid definitely by results, but by time and labour, in accordance with the\nreputation of the man, and there is no sufficient reason why investigators\nshould not be similarly remunerated. The differences in the cases are only\nones of degree.\n\nThe time has arrived when this great evil should be made known and\nremedied, and men of science should press upon our Government, as a matter\nof justice to themselves, and necessary for the nation's welfare, that the\naccumulated fees from patents should be applied to the establishment of a\nScientific {200} department of the State, the erection of State\nlaboratories, and the payment of discoverers for the national work of\nresearch.\n\n_2nd._ _Professorships of Research at the Universities._ Most of the\nremarks already made respecting the appointment and maintenance of\nprofessors of research in State laboratories, would apply equally to those\nproposed in connection with the Universities. Amongst the reasons which may\nbe adduced in favour of the establishment of such professorships the\nfollowing may be selected. Because the advancement of learning is\npeculiarly the function of a University, and one of the chief objects for\nwhich such institutions were founded. The word University implies a seat of\nuniversal knowledge, and it is reasonable to assume that Universities\nshould act as fountains of new theoretical knowledge, as well as perform\nthe function of diffusing it; such an addition would also raise their\nintellectual position, and make them much more respected, both at home and\nabroad.\n\nWith regard to such professorships, the \"Association for the Organization\nof Academical Study,\" consisting of a number of learned men belonging to\nthe Universities, the Royal Society, and other learned bodies, adopted the\nfollowing resolutions:--\n\n\"That the chief end to be kept in view in any redistribution of the\nrevenues of Oxford and Cambridge is the adequate maintenance of Mature\nStudy and Scientific Research, as well for their own sake as with the view\nof bringing the higher education within the {201} reach of all who are\ndesirous of profiting by it.\" \"That to have a class of men whose lives are\ndevoted to research is a national object.\" \"That it is desirable, in the\ninterest of national progress and education, that Professorships and\nspecial institutions shall be founded in the Universities for the promotion\nof Scientific Research.\" \"That the present mode of awarding Fellowships as\nprizes, has been unsuccessful as a means of promoting Mature Study and\nOriginal Research, and that it is therefore desirable that it should be\ndiscontinued.\"\n\nWith regard to the funds necessary:--It has been estimated that the money\npaid in the form of sinecure fellowships or retiring pensions, to young men\nin Oxford alone now amounts to about L80,000 or L90,000 a year; and it has\nbeen suggested that this money be applied to the purpose. These funds were\noriginally intended for promoting knowledge, but vested interests prevent\ntheir being used for discovering new truths.\n\nThe chief object of such professorships would be the same as that in the\nproposed State laboratories, viz.--to keep a staff of the most competent\nmen wholly engaged upon research in pure science. The professors of\nphysical and chemical research might be selected in accordance with the\nsuggestions already made, and be appointed by the Senate or other governing\nbody, with the advice of the Council of the Royal Society. All the\nprecautions which have been already suggested under the head of \"State\nlaboratories,\" would {202} have to be taken in order to exclude unsuitable\npersons, and to secure industry in the professors. The remarks also,\nalready made respecting the limitation of the duties of the professors to\nresearch in pure science, the exclusion of invention, the publication of\nresults, the class of sciences with which a commencement might best be\nmade, etc., apply equally in this case. I do not however mean by these\nremarks to suggest the disendowment of research in the more complex or\nconcrete subjects, in order to make a commencement with the simpler\nsciences.\n\nThe existence within the Universities of offices in which the faculties of\nscientific men might be developed to their fullest extent, would induce\nthose engaged in the work of scientific instruction in those institutions\nto devote more time to research, in order that they might improve their\nscientific talents, and in their turn become fitted to occupy such posts.\n\nIt has been suggested that discoverers should teach as well as investigate;\nbut this would be an imperfect plan, and would largely convert the position\nof a professor into that of one at an ordinary college. Every person who\nhas had much experience in experimental investigation also knows, that to\ncarry it out effectually, requires the whole of his time and attention. If,\ntherefore, teaching or lecturing constitutes a part of the duties, a\nportion of the professor's time must be taken from the more important\noccupation of research, and the fundamental object of the institution will\nbe frustrated. Research evolves new knowledge; {203} teaching simply\ndistributes it. The labours of a scientific teacher or lecturer consist\nessentially of a continued series of repetitions of other men's\ndiscoveries. For each single man who can discover, there exist many who can\nteach. With teaching in addition to research, all the usual educational\nmachinery, lecture theatres and apparatus, diagrams, audiences, pupils,\nregistration of students, receipt of fees, examinations, marking of papers,\nvaluing of answers, attending annual meetings, etc., would be brought into\nrequisition, and the result would probably be, as it is at present, the\nduties of teaching would, in nearly all cases, swallow up the time, and\nprevent the freedom from interruption necessary for successful research\nUnder present circumstances, it is the testimony of nearly every teacher\nand lecturer in science, that he \"has no time for research.\" If teaching is\nalso carried on, the Research laboratories will compete with educational\ninstitutions, established and carried on by private enterprize, and place\nthem at a disadvantage, and thus discourage voluntary effort in the\ndiffusion of science; but by limiting the functions of the professors\nentirely to pure research, there will be no competition with any private\ninterests, because no persons gain a livelihood entirely by means of such\noccupation.\n\nThat the practice of teaching is however of very great use in preparing the\nmind of a scientific man for research is quite certain, because it compels\nhim to study all parts of his subject, and whilst doing so, many questions\nfor investigation occur to his mind. {204} Many of our most eminent\ndiscoverers have also been teachers. But teaching is not a necessary\ncondition of success in research, nor even a necessary preparation for it;\nthe examples of various able discoverers prove this. In some cases\ndiscoverers have devoted themselves to teaching, only after having attained\nhigh repute in research; in others they have not been teachers at all.\nOriginal research itself usually suggests plenty of new subjects of\ninvestigation, without the additional ones suggested by teaching.\n\nIn order that self improvement in a man of science might never stagnate,\nthere should exist a continuous and complete series of steps of preferment,\nby which the merest beginners in scientific knowledge, might be enabled to\nattain to the highest scientific position; and finally become wholly\noccupied in that kind of labour by which their scientific faculties would\nbe developed to their fullest extent, but this last step is wanting. By the\nproposed plan however a student would become a teacher; the teacher\ndevelope into a professor; and a professor might employ for a period a\nportion of his time in research, and thus become qualified for entire\ndevotion to original investigation and discovery.\n\nAfter a scientific teacher has acquired a thorough knowledge of his\nsubjects, and a high position in his profession, his occupation becomes to\nhim a species of intellectual routine, in which he is continually going\nthrough the same courses of lectures and examinations over and over again,\nand his personal improvement stagnates. But if there was remuneration for\nresearch, {205} or there existed some post or employment, to which those\nwho had acquired the ability to investigate might be appointed, there would\nbe an inducement to continued intellectual improvement, and a sphere in\nwhich the most valuable faculties of scientific men might be developed for\nnational benefit to their fullest extent.\n\n_3rd._ _Provincial Colleges of Research._--The success of this plan would\ndepend essentially upon the diffusion of a knowledge of the importance of\nscientific research amongst the richer classes. There are at present a very\nfew wealthy persons in this country who perceive to some extent the value\nof such research, and the dependence of their wealth upon it, who would be\nwilling to contribute to a fund for the purpose; and there are many more\nwho would assist if the importance of the subject was properly explained to\nthem. The chief argument in favour of provincial colleges of research is,\nthat it is a duty of wealthy persons to aid research, because they have\nderived, and are continually deriving great benefits from it, for which\nthey make no payment. The ways in which some of those benefits have been\nderived have been already briefly stated. As the large manufacturers and\ncapitalists are generally the persons who derive great pecuniary benefit\nfrom the progress of science, it might be reasonably urged that they should\ncontribute freely towards its advancement.\n\nSuch an institution might be located in each of the {206} largest centres\nof industry. The objects of the institution; the branches of science to be\ninvestigated in it; the number of professors, the mode of selecting them,\nand of excluding unsuitable candidates for the office; the means by which\nindustry might be secured and jobbery prevented; the exclusion of\ninvention, and of teaching and lecturing; the publication of results,\nremoval of professors, etc., have already been treated of under the head of\n\"State laboratories.\" The chief difficulties to be overcome in this, as in\nall other plans of aiding research, are to find a sufficient number of\ninfluential persons acquainted with the subject to practically carry out\nthe plan; to secure investigators of high ability; and to prevent the\noffices being filled by incompetent persons.\n\n_4th._ _Aid to Professors of Science in Colleges._--Another way by which\nresearch might be promoted, would be by giving assistance in the form of a\ndefinite amount of additional salary, for the purpose of pure research, to\nprofessors and teachers in colleges and institutions; the money being\nsupplied by the State or from the funds of the Institution. In carrying out\nthis plan, it would be necessary to assist only those persons who had\nalready published a good research, and thus proved their ability; and who\nwould engage to devote a definite portion of their time to the labour as a\npart of their duty. The selection of suitable men might be made with the\nadvice of the Council of the Royal Society. {207} The additional salary\nshould be entirely in the form of remuneration for labour, time, and\nmaterials, etc., expended upon research in pure science, and not in\neffecting inventions. The knowledge obtained should be treated as public\nproperty, and be published in the usual manner, and the investigator should\nnot be permitted to sell or patent it. It would be necessary to provide\nthat in case the investigator failed to make or publish a reasonable amount\nof good research, the additional salary should cease. Publication in the\njournals of the Royal Society, or in a leading scientific magazine, might\nbe considered a sufficient proof of the satisfactory quality of the labour.\n\nIt is very desirable that all the higher teachers and professors of science\nin our educational institution should devote a portion of their time to\noriginal research. It would make their lectures more reliable, because\nresearch yields experience in the detection of error; whilst there is\nusually only one way of succeeding in making an experiment, there are\nalways many ways of failing, and in the directions given in books, the\nlatter are usually omitted. It would also induce the students to take a\ngreater interest in the subject, and feel more respect for the teacher. The\nspecial excellence of the German system of teaching consists in the union\nof teaching and original research. This plan of aiding research would\ninduce some of our teachers of science who have not yet made researches, to\nattempt such labour, it would also develope a superior class of scientific\nteachers generally; and produce a supply of candidates for professorships\nof research. {208}\n\nA great obstacle to the carrying out of this plan lies in the fact that in\nconsequence of the ignorance of the value of original research by the\nfounders of such Institutions, no definite provision usually exists in the\nTrust deeds to authorise the Trustees to devote any of the funds to such a\npurpose.\n\n_5th._ _Extension of the Government Grant System._--During a number of\nyears the British Government has entrusted to the Royal Society the annual\nsum of L1,000 for the purpose of aiding science; and that sum has been\ngiven in varying portions to different investigators who have applied for\ngrants in aid of their expenses in making investigations.\n\nAlthough the total amount to be disbursed annually was not large, very few\npersons, qualified to make good researches, usually applied for its\nassistance, and it was difficult to dispose of the whole. The chief causes\nof this difficulty were:--a grant from the fund was an unprofitable gift to\naccept, because it was only sufficient to partly pay the expenses out of\npocket for chemicals and apparatus, and allowed nothing for the skill,\ntime, or labour, nor for payments made to assistants. Further, \"By order of\nthe Council, all instruments, apparatus, and drawings, made or obtained by\naid of the Government Grants, shall, after serving the purpose for which\nthey were procured, and in the absence of any specific understanding to the\ncontrary, be delivered into the custody of the Royal Society.\"\n\nBy far the greater part of the expense of an investigation in physics or\nchemistry is the exceedingly large {209} amount of time it occupies. Many\nnecessary preliminary experiments have to be made, which yield either\nnegative, unsuccessful, or incomplete results, and make the undertaking\nexpensive. A good investigation in chemistry also not unfrequently costs\nthe investigator a sovereign a day if he is wholly employed upon it. In\nsome cases, for each L100 received as a grant, at least a L1,000, was\ndirectly and indirectly expended. Any person therefore who undertook a\nresearch became a loser, and aid from the Government Grant fund did not\nentirely cover his loss. Only scientific men who had other sources of\nincome were able to avail themselves of the grants. The existence of the\ngrants also was not widely known. The advantages of the plan were, it\ndiminished the loss to the investigator, and the fact of being allotted a\nsum from the fund was considered highly creditable to the recipient.\n\nIn consequence largely of the evidence collected from eminent men of\nscience from all parts of Great Britain, and the recommendations based upon\nit, by the Royal Commission for the Advancement of Science, the Grant\nsystem has been extended; our Government recently placed an additional\namount of L4,000 a year, for five years, to be distributed in sums at the\nrecommendation of the Royal Society to suitable applicants, and the five\nyears have now elapsed.\n\nThis extension of the Grant system has been an {210} improvement. It has\nresulted both in a large increase in the number of applicants and of\nresearches; and has shown that there exists in this country a large amount\nof scientific ability in need of encouragement. The amounts granted were\nincreased in magnitude so as to cover in some cases payments made to\nassistants and the entire outlay made for experiments, also a small payment\nfor a portion of the time occupied in actual research. The plan of awarding\nthe grants has been for work proposed by the applicants to be done, and not\nfor that already performed. How far a retrospective method might be worthy\nof trial, is difficult to decide. It has been objected to it that the\nclaims of scientific investigators for researches already made, would be so\ngreat and so convincing that it would be impossible to resist them, and the\nfunds required to satisfy those claims would be so large as to render the\nplan quite impracticable; if however the retrospective period was limited\nto a short time, a year for example, the difficulty would be lessened.\nThere would still however remain the great difficulty of valuing the\nresults. This might probably be overcome by regulating the money payment\naccording to the time, labour, pecuniary expenditure, and scientific status\nof the particular investigator, and leaving genius to be rewarded by the\nfame and honour of the results.\n\nNo system of aid however can place scientific investigation in a\nsatisfactory position in this country, which does not include certain\nremuneration for time, {211} money and labour expended; and no sound\nargument can be adduced why investigators should not be adequately\nrecompenced. The genius alone of a discoverer should be rewarded by fame,\nand his time, labour, and expenditure, in accordance with his professional\nreputation, be repaid by money, as in all other intellectual occupations.\nThe same amount of time and labour expended in any ordinary profession,\nrequiring an equal, or even less amount of preparatory education and\nexperience, and less rare ability, would yield an income of several\nthousand pounds a year. Although the lives of a few eminent discoverers\nhave proved that it has been possible for them to do a considerable amount\nof research under the conditions which have existed, that is no reason why\nthey should not be remunerated. Previous success in research has been due\nto the unusually great perseverance, industry, and self-denial of the men,\nand but little to any pecuniary encouragement received. The fewness of such\nmen, supports this view of the case. The plan of aiding research by grants\nwhich include no certain payment for time or labour, is quite\nincommensurate with the importance of the subject and entirely unworthy of\nthe reputation of a great nation.\n\n_6th._ _Students pursuing Research at the Universities._ In the German\nUniversities each student is required to make an original research before\nhe can obtain a degree in Science, and the plan has worked successfully;\nalso in the Victoria University, Manchester, {212} several Fellowships have\nrecently been established for the encouragement of students in original\ninvestigation.\n\nIf this plan could be carried out in our old Universities it would produce\nmost valuable results, because the governing, wealthy, and influential\nclasses of this nation are chiefly educated at those institutions, and they\nwould then acquire habits of more accurate scientific thought, and some\nknowledge of the nature and importance of scientific research, and of the\nessential dependence of national welfare upon it.\n\nBut a great and probably insuperable obstacle exists to the carrying out of\nsuch a plan, viz., the wealth possessed by the parents of students. An\noriginal research cannot be made without considerable industry, and the\ngreatest opponent of industry, especially with young men, is the possession\nor expectation of wealth. According to college tutors at our old\nUniversities, there is no large class of industrious students at those\ninstitutions. The greatest cause of the idleness of the students is\nparental neglect and the habits of wealthy society. Many parents allow\ntheir sons too much money, and over-look too readily their idleness and\nfrivolity; the young men also know their parents are rich, and act\naccordingly. Many persons send their sons to those places chiefly to form\naristocratic acquaintances, and for other purposes than those of\neducational discipline and learning. The college authorities have also\nlargely acquiesced in the wishes of the parents and students. And in this\nway {213} scientific research has been almost entirely excluded from our\nold Universities. If the present tutors and governing bodies of those\nInstitutions cannot induce students generally to be industrious, by what\nmeans can it be expected that these young men can be persuaded to exercise\nthe still greater degree of industry and intelligence requisite to\nprosecute research, whilst they are decoyed from it by the attractions of\nwealth? In Germany the conditions are very different, the students in the\nUniversities of that country have much less money at their disposal. Nearly\nthe whole of the educational courses also at the Grammar schools and other\neducational institutions in this country, are formed upon the plan of\nsending all the superior scholars to our Universities, and thus the\ndefective state of scientific training at the Universities operates through\nour whole scholastic system, and depresses the entire scientific\ninstruction of the nation. It is evident that in this way the undue wealth\nof this country largely retards national progress.\n\n_7th._ _Local Endowment of Research Funds._ In addition to the foregoing\nmeans, local efforts might be made to encourage research in each great\ncentre of industry; through the medium of the local scientific societies.\nNearly as early as the year 1660, Cowley in a treatise, proposed a\nPhilosophical Society to be established near London, with liberal salaries\nto learned men to make experiments; but he could not get the money raised.\nA plan of this kind is in operation in Birmingham and carried out by the\n{214} Council of the Birmingham Philosophical Society in accordance with\nthe following:--\n\n    \"SCHEME FOR ESTABLISHING AND ADMINISTERING A FUND FOR THE ENDOWMENT OF\n    RESEARCH IN BIRMINGHAM.\"\n\n\"The Council are of opinion that this Society would be omitting a principal\nmeans of the advancement of Science--the end for which all such\nassociations exist--if it neglected the question of the Endowment of\nResearch. To maintain a successful investigator in his labours, even though\nno results of immediate or obvious utility can be shown to spring out of\nthem, is of interest to the community at large. Indeed, it is just because\nthe practical usefulness of such work is not immediate or obvious that it\nbecomes necessary to give it special support, for otherwise it would have\nits own market value, and endowment would be superfluous. But the proper\nand effectual administration of an Endowment Fund is perceived to be so\nbeset with difficulty, as often to deter even those who recognise the\nprinciple from advocating it in practice. Most of the dangers usually\nforeseen would, however, as a rule be avoided, simply by the distribution\nof such funds from local centres, under such a scheme as is now proposed.\nThe Council, are therefore, anxious to establish a Fund, in connection at\nonce with the Society and the Town, for the direct Endowment of Scientific\nResearch.\"[36]\n\n{215}\n\n_8th._ _Local Laboratories of Research._ Another plan would be for local\nscientific societies to raise money by soliciting subscriptions and\ndonations for the support of local laboratories; a prospectus of the\nfollowing kind being issued:--\n\n    PROPOSAL TO FOUND A LABORATORY OF PURE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN ----.\n\n\"As the manufacturers, merchants, capitalists, land-owners, and the public\ngenerally, of this town and district, have derived and are still deriving\ngreat pecuniary and other benefits from the discovery of new knowledge by\nmeans of pure research in the sciences of Physics and Chemistry; and as in\nconsequence of the great neglect of such research in this country, and the\nincreased cultivation of it in other lands, our commerce is suffering, and\na great many evils in manufacturing and other operations, in sanitary and\nmany other matters dependant upon physical and chemical conditions, remain\nunremedied; it is proposed to found a Local Laboratory of original research\nin those sciences, with every suitable appliance in it; and to employ one\nor more investigators of repute, with assistants, who shall be wholly\nengaged in such labour in their respective sciences.\"\n\nAs it is largely the custom in this country to effect great objects by\nmeans of individual liberality and corporate enterprise, instead of\ntrusting to State assistance, it is not improbable that when the great\nimportance of scientific research and its claims {216} to encouragement\nhave become more generally known, that aid which has hitherto been\nwith-held from it will be rendered by private generosity; and local\ninstitutions, wholly for the purpose of original scientific research will\nbe established and supported by public-spirited wealthy persons. An\ninstitution of this kind upon a small scale, and called \"The Institute of\nScientific Research\" has already been established in Birmingham, (see Note\np. 40). By founding local institutions of this kind there exist\nopportunities for wealthy persons to do great good to mankind, and acquire\nrenown as philanthropists by the action.\n\nAnd _9th_. In consequence of the great benefit derived from scientific\nresearch by the inhabitants of each locality, it has become a duty of each\nlarge community to promote it, and local Town Councils might with advantage\nand perfect justice to the public, devote a portion of municipal funds to\nthe purpose of aiding local scientific research. To this plan it may be\nobjected, that as the results of research are cosmopolitan, diffusing\nthemselves everywhere, and this diffusion cannot be prevented; the benefits\narising from research cannot be restricted even to a large community. In\nreply to this:--As knowledge and its advantages are cosmopolitan, the duty\nof promoting research must be equally extensive. There is also a real\nreturn received by the public for expenditure of money in research, in the\nfree liberty to use all new knowledge developed everywhere by such labour,\nand although the money expended by a {217} community upon particular\nresearches or upon an individual investigator, does not directly produce an\nimmediate return; practically an immediate and direct benefit is received\nby that community, because new scientific knowledge for the use of teachers\nand popular lecturers, and new inventions based upon it, of local value to\nthat society, continually become public. Every civilized community has also\nreceived beforehand such benefits to an enormous extent; and each\ninvestigator may reasonably claim public support on the ground that he\ncontributes to the general stock of new knowledge. Some persons however,\nwho have not fully considered the subject, wish to receive not only the\nadvantages accruing from the common stock of knowledge, but also to reserve\nto themselves the entire benefit arising from their own special\ncontributions.\n\nExperience alone will prove which of the foregoing schemes is the most\nsuitable in this country, or in particular cases. At present the plan\nlargest in operation is the system of Government Grants, next in magnitude\nare the other funds distributed by the Royal Society, the British\nAssociation, the Chemical Society, the Royal Institution, the Birmingham\nPhilosophical Society, and those provided by the munificence of private\nindividuals. It is greatly to be hoped that the liberal spirit of private\nindividuals will yet further remove the great blot which lies upon the\nreputation of the wealthy manufacturers, capitalists, and land-owners, who\nhave derived such great profits from {218} scientific research and have\nscarcely aided it at all in return. It is also to be desired that the\nCorporations of manufacturing towns will recognise the value of original\nscientific enquiry to their fellow townsmen, and will undertake the\nresponsibility of voting money from municipal funds to promote it.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nNotes\n\n[1] See p.p. 165 to 167.\n\n[2] Essays and Addresses, Owen's College, 1874, pp. 172-182.\n\n[3] See Chapter 2, Section B.\n\n[4] In the year 1870, a gentleman of the name of Davis bequeathed L2,000 to\nthe Royal Institution, London, to aid original scientific research.\n\n[5] As a notable exception to the above statement:--\"Scientific research\nhas now an Institute of its own in Birmingham, without being indebted to\nthe public funds. A fund has already been collected for carrying on the\nwork. The building is called 'The Institute of Scientific Research.'\" See\n_Nature_, January 7th, 1881, p. 366; the _Athenaeum_, February 5th, 1881, p.\n204; the _English Mechanic_, p. 537, February 11th, 1881.\n\n[6] Professor Bache left 50,000 dollars, and Smithson bequeathed 541,000\ndollars to this Institution.\n\n[7] Respecting the Members of our Houses of Legislature, a former\nPostmaster-General remarked to me, that a dose of scientific research would\nbe too much for them.\n\n[8] The Victoria University has recently become a partial exception to this\nstatement.\n\n[9] See \"Royal Society Catalogue of Scientific Papers,\" vol. 5, pp. 719 and\n890; and vol. 8, p. 1,010.\n\n[10] See _Nature_, April 24th and May 1st, 1873, pp. 485 and 13; also _Work\nand Wages_, by Brassey, pp. 170 and 178.\n\n[11] NOTE.--See \"Work and Wages,\" by Brassey, p.p. 15-131 and 132; also the\n\"Laboratory,\" vol. 1, p.p. 313-316, 378 and 380.\n\n[12] NOTE.--The whole of this chapter, especially the Moral Section, is\ncapable of great amplification and much more copious illustration.\n\n[13] NOTE.--See also p. 95.\n\n[14] NOTE.--Athenaeum, Aug. 3, 1877. p. 242.\n\n[15] \"Wish and Will,\" by L. Turner, M.A.\n\n[16] \"The Mutual Relations of Physical Science and Religious Faith.\"\n\n[17] Port Royal Logic, Discourse 1.\n\n[18] See p. 91-92.\n\n[19] See \"Waste Products and Undeveloped Substances,\" by P. W. Simmonds.\n\n[20] See \"Barometer Cycles,\" by Balfour Stewart, F.R.S.--_Nature_, Jan. 13,\n1881, p. 237.\n\n[21] See p. 165, et seq.\n\n[22] It would I consider be an improvement in our educational arrangements,\nif a Professorial chair, solely devoted to teaching those laws and\nprinciples, existed in each Scientific College.\n\n[23] See vols. 1 (1872) 2 (1874) of the Reports of that Commission.\n\n[24] See pages 100 and 101.\n\n[25] \"_Nature_,\" April 3rd, 1873. p. 431.\n\n[26] Sir Edmund Beckett, \"_English Mechanic_\", 1881, No. 830, p. 560.\n\n[27] The Earl of Craufurd, \"_English Mechanic_,\" 1881, No. 830, p. 560.\n\n[28] See page 68, et seq. p. 134.\n\n[29] See \"_Nature_,\" Dec. 2nd, 1880, p. 112.\n\n[30] \"_English Mechanic_,\" 1881, No. 831, pp. 586, 587.\n\n[31] \"_English Mechanic_,\" August 17th, 1881, p. 83.\n\n[32] The Mastership of the Mint is no longer given to scientific men.\n\n[33] See Reports of Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction and\nAdvancement of Science, Vol 2, pp. 75-92.\n\n[34] See \"_Nature_\" No. 600, p. 597, April 28th, 1881.\n\n[35] A fleet of thirty ships, varying in size from 500 to 5000 tons each,\nis employed in laying and repairing telegraph cables, and 25 millions of\npounds have already been invested in submarine cable enterprises.\n\n[36] See \"_Nature_,\" vol. XXII, page 203.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nChanges made against printed original.\n\nPage 11. \"our knowledge of the substance\": 'knowwledge' in original.\n\nPage 24. \"Nearly every manufacturer\": 'ever' in original.\n\nPage 32. \"Persons in general can easily understand\": 'ean easily' in\noriginal.\n\nPage 39. \"wealthy persons who have devoted themselves\": 'themselver' in\noriginal.\n\nPage 62. \"also all terrestrial forces\": 'terrestial' in original.\n\nPage 81. \"better systems of hygiene\": 'hygeine' in original.\n\nPage 114. \"course in which the throng is densest\": 'the' repeated across\nline break in original.\n\nIbid. \"thousands of different chemical compounds\": 'compouuds' in original.\n\nPage 116. \"emits and absorbs\": 'aborbs' in original.\n\nPage 119. \"In every genuine volition\": 'volitition' in original.\n\nPage 126. \"purely physical and chemical conditions.\": 'physicial' in\noriginal.\n\nPage 127. \"the judicial detection of truth\": 'judical' in original.\n\nIbid. \"completely converted into acquired tendencies\": 'completly ...\ntendences' in original.\n\nPage 134. \"the present state of civilization\": 'civilzation' in original.\n\nIbid. \"to withhold truth from ignorant patients\": 'withold' in original.\n\nIbid. \"lists of our moral deficiencies\": 'deficiences' in original.\n\nPage 135. \"there exist no royal roads to happiness\": 'their exist' in\noriginal.\n\nPage 151. \"a diminution of waste\": 'dimunition' in original.\n\nPage 152. \"twenty millions of pounds annually\": 'anually' in original.\n\nIbid. \"Photography is also largely used in our gaols\": 'in our goals' in\noriginal.\n\nPage 158. \"acting under the same conditions\": 'conitions' in original.\n\nIbid. \"every phenomenon requires time\": 'requiries' in original.\n\nPage 182. \"to be carried out effectually\": 'effectualy' in original.\n\nPage 184. \"been driven out of science altogether\": 'althogether' in\noriginal.\n\nPage 186. \"more or less fortuitous circumstances\": 'fortuitious' in\noriginal.\n\nPage 189. \"their labours should be remunerated by the State.\": 'remuerated'\nin original.\n\nPage 199. \"should not be similarly remunerated\": 'similarily' in original.\n\nPage 203. \"consist essentially of a continued series of repetitions\":\n'esssentially' in original.\n\nPage 217. \"of local value to that society\": 'of' repeated across line break\nin original.","title":"The Scientific Basis of National Progress, Including that of Morality","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":54231}