The Culture Demanded by Modern Life: A Series of Addresses and Arguments on the Claims of Scientific Education

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D. Appleton & Company, 1867 - 473 pages

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Page 216 - The world little knows how many of the thoughts and theories which have passed through the mind of a scientific investigator have been crushed in silence and secrecy by his own severe criticism and adverse examination; that in the most successful instances not a tenth of the suggestions, the hopes, the wishes, the preliminary conclusions have been realized.
Page 60 - Onward and on, the eternal Pan Who layeth the world's incessant plan, Halteth never in one shape, But forever doth escape, Like wave or flame, into new forms Of gem, and air, of plants, and worms.
Page 383 - I keep the subject constantly before me, and wait till the first dawnings open slowly by little and little into a full and clear light.
Page 213 - ... says the same scientist; and further quotes the noble words of Faraday —"occasionally, and frequently the exercise of the judgment ought to end in absolute reservation. It may be very distasteful and a great fatigue to suspend a conclusion, but as we are not infallible, so we ought to be cautious.
Page 114 - The proper arrangement, for example, of a code of laws, depends on the same scientific conditions as the classifications in natural history ; nor could there be a better preparatory discipline for that important function than the study of the principles of a natural arrangement, not only in the abstract, but in their actual application to the class of phenomena for which they were first elaborated, and which are still the best school for le'arning their use.
Page 33 - All true political science is, in one sense of the phrase, a priori, being deduced from the tendencies of things, tendencies known either through our general experience of human nature, or as the result of an analysis of the course of history, considered as a progressive evolution. It requires, therefore, the union of induction and deduction, and the mind that is equal to it must have been well disciplined in both. But familiarity with scientific experiment at least does the useful service of inspiring...
Page 451 - Modern writers have been prevented by many causes from supplying the deficiencies of their classical predecessors. At the time of the revival of literature, no man could, without great and painful labour, acquire an accurate and elegant knowledge of the ancient languages.
Page 48 - For many years it has been one of my constant regrets, that no schoolmaster of mine had a knowledge of natural history, so far at least as to have taught me the grasses that grow by the wayside, and the little winged and wingless neighbours that are continually meeting me, with a salutation which I cannot answer, as things are...
Page 444 - We have seen accordingly many of them slumber for centuries upon centuries; but from the moment that Science has touched them with her magic wand, they have sprung forward and taken strides which amaze, and almost awe, the beholder. ' Look at the transformation which has gone on around us since the laws of gravitation" electricity, magnetism, and the expansive power of heat have become known to us. It has altered our whole state of existence; one might say the whole face of the globe. We owe this...
Page 415 - A good, practical system of public education ought, in my opinion, to be more real than formal ; I mean, should convey much of the positive knowledge, with as little attention to mere systems and conventional forms as is consistent with avoiding solecisms. This principle, carried into detail, would allow much less weight to the study of the languages than is usually considered...

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