Page:The Hunterian Oration1843.djvu/39

 Hunter. Yet I will observe in conclusion, that had his career been cut short at an earlier period, he would not have laboured in vain, far less would he have lived unhappy. Unlike him who toils for gain alone, and whose praise is measured by the wretched gold which he has accumulated—unlike the warrior or the statesman, who must appeal to success for justification, and whose failures are reckoned as crimes by exasperated nations—the man of science labours in a genial field, where exertion is its own reward ; for while the worshippers of power and wealth are sickened by each trifling dis- appointment, the humblest acolyte in the temple of knowledge feels that it is good to be there, and that even failures are but lessons. The pursuits of the scientific inquirer, when carried on ina right spirit, stand second among all the subjects which can occupy the human mind. ‘Though faction and avarice unceasingly murmur in the vicinity, his mind remains unruffled by their clamour. Like the fleece of the Hebrew leader, while all around is parched, he alone is fostered by the gentle dews of heaven.