During the Victorian Age physical
science came into its own, and a good deal more than its own. Any
discovery in mechanics or chemistry was hailed as a fresh boon,
and the discoverer was ranged, with Wilberforce and Shaftesbury,
among our national heroes. As long ago as 1865 a scientific soldier
perceived the possibilities of aerial navigation. His vision has
been translated into fact; but Count Zeppelin has shown us quite
clearly that the discovery is not an unmixed blessing. Chemistry
is, to some minds, the most interesting of studies, just because
it is, as Lord Salisbury once said of it, the science of things
as they are. Yet aconitine, strychnine, and antimony have played
their part in murders, and chloroform has been used for destruction
as well as for salvation. Dr. Lardner was one of the most conspicuous
figures in that March of Mind which Brougham and his congeners
led; and his researches into chemistry resulted in the production
of an effluvium which was calculated to destroy all human life
within five miles of the spot where it was discharged. This was
an enlargement of knowledge; but if there had been Nihilists in
the reign of William IV. they would have found in Dr.
Pages:
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284