perhaps the discovery of the New World, which was in some degree the result of Columbus's conviction of the globular form of the earth. This, however, was not a recent, but a very ancient {242} doctrine of all sound astronomers. And which of these discoveries has been the cause of a great enlargement of our theoretical knowledge?--except any one claims such a merit for the discovery of printing; in which sense the result is brought about in a very indirect manner, in the same way in which the progress of freedom and of religion may be ascribed as consequences to the same discovery. However great or striking, then, such discoveries have been, they have not, generally speaking, produced any marked advance of the Inductive Sciences in the sense in which we here speak of them. They have increased man's power, it may be: that is, his power of adding to his comforts and communicating with his fellow-men. But they have not necessarily or generally increased his theoretical knowledge. And, therefore, with whatever admiration we may look upon such discoveries as these, we are not to admire them as steps in Inductive Science. And on the other hand, we are not to ask of Inductive Science, as a necessary result of her progress, such additions as these to man's means of enjoyment and action. It is said, with a feeling of triumph, that Knowledge is Power: but in whatever sense this may truly be said, we value Knowledge, not because it is Power but because it is Knowledge; and we estimate wrongly both the nature and the dignity of that kind of science with which we are here concerned, if we expect that every new advance in theory will forthwith have a market value:--that science will mark the birth of a new Truth with some new birthday present, such as a softer stuff to wrap our limbs, a brighter vessel to grace our table, a new mode of communication with our friends and the world, a new instrument for the destruction of our enemies, or a new region which may be the source of wealth and interest.