An introductory lecture, delivered in King's College, London, October 11, 1831 / by J.F. Daniell.

  • John Frederic Daniell
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introductory lecture, delivered in King's College, London, October 11, 1831 / by J.F. Daniell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    science are effected, and nervously impatient of the obstacles which the imperfection of our nature opposes to every species of intellectual ad- vancement,—have been laid hold of, with a spirit very different from the spirit of that wisdom whose ways are ways of pleasantness, and all whose paths are peace,* as an excuse for a severity of criticism, which it would be difficult to justify, upon institutions and men, who, whatever of human imperfection may have at- tached to them, have done good service to the cause of science. They imply, however, a want of acquaintance with the common routine even of our principal schools of chemistry, which, if excusable in one whose days and nights are possibly dedicated to the all-absorbing pursuits of the highest branches of science, and who merely expresses his doubts as matters of specu- lation, is utterly without paUiation in those who adopt them, without investigation, as the basis of vituperation not only severe but personal. Allow me to attempt a very short reply to ques- tions of such fearful import to the science which claims our present attention, in the inverse order to that in which they have been proposed. The hundred other splendid trains of research, in- deed, which are asserted to have been neglected * Prov. iii. 17.