Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 5.djvu/759

Rh In England the custom of popular scientific lectures has been much longer in existence than in Germany. Since the constitution of the English universities is very different from ours, fewer individuals are there in a position to prosecute scientific research, or give scientific instruction to regularly prepared scholars, as their life-calling. This generally makes it much more difficult for individuals to go deeply into a special department of study, though genius of course everywhere breaks through these and other hindrances. The same circumstance has, on the other hand, maintained a closer connection of the workers in science with all other classes of the population, and incited to a more liberal care for the instruction of the student not regularly trained. While this has hitherto been quite rare in Germany, there have long been in England solid and well-furnished institutions for the purpose.

In the two circumstances, first that in England courses of a moderate number of connected lectures can be delivered, and secondly that this can be done in buildings well suited for demonstrations and experiments of every kind, there is a great advantage over the general custom in Germany, where each lecturer only delivers one lecture.

Now, it is intelligible that during the seventy years since this state of things has arisen, and under so much more favorable external conditions, the English public have educated their lecturers, and the lecturers their public, much better than has hitherto been the case in Germany. The Royal Institution has had, among its professors, two men of the first rank. Sir Humphrey Davy and Faraday, who have cooperated to that end. At present Prof. Tyndall is held in peculiarly high esteem, both in England and in the United States, on account of his talent for popular expositions of scientific subjects. Any one who is conscious within himself of the gift and the power of working in a particular direction for the mental development of humanity, has usually a pleasure in such activity, and is ready to devote to it a good share of his time and his energies. This is especially the case with Prof. Tyndall. He has, therefore, remained true to his post at the Royal Institution, though other honorable posts have been offered him. But it would be quite an erroneous conception to think of him merely as the able, popular lecturer; for the greater part of his activity has always been given to scientific investigation, and we owe to him a series of (in part) highly-original and remarkable researches and discoveries in physics and physical chemistry.

In his discourse "On the Scientific Use of the Imagination," delivered before the British Association at Liverpool, Prof. Tyndall has given a peculiarly characteristic description of his manner of intellectual working. There are two ways of searching out the system of laws in Nature—that of abstract ideas, and that of thorough experimental research. The former way leads ultimately, through mathematical analysis, to an accurate quantitative knowledge of the