In America and England, more
especially, he is a 'practical' man. But I would appeal confidently to
this assembly whether such things exhaust the demands of human nature?
The very presence here for six inclement nights of this great
audience, embodying so much of the mental force and refinement of this
vast city,[26] is an answer to my question. I need not tell such an
assembly that there are joys of the intellect as well as joys of the
body, or that these pleasures of the spirit constituted the reward of
our great investigators. Led on by the whisperings of natural truth,
through pain and self-denial, they often pursued their work. With the
ruling passion strong in death, some of them, when no longer able to
hold a pen, dictated to their friends the last results of their
labours, and then rested from them for ever.
Could we have seen these men at work, without any knowledge of the
consequences of their work, what should we have thought of them? To
the uninitiated, in their day, they might often appear as big children
playing with soap-bubbles and other trifles. It is so to this hour.
Could you watch the true investigator--your Henry or your Draper, for
example--in his laboratory, unless animated by his spirit, you could
hardly understand what keeps him there.
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