On Monday, Lord Derby, in presenting the prizes at the
Liverpool School of Science, made one of those speeches full of clear thought and mellow wisdom which are his monopoly. We have shown cause elsewhere for differing from one of his incidental remarks ; but with the rest of the address we have little fault to find. Very happy was Lord Derby's comment upon the common notion that it is better to be totally ignorant of a thing than to know it superficially. " We cannot all be what the hideous slang of the day describes as ' scientists,' any more than we can all be poets ; but I think the answer was a good one which was given long ago to the objection : You want to make your pupil Jack of all trades, and master of none.' No,' was the reply, I want him to be Jack of all trades, and master of one." Lord Derby declared that, speaking from personal experience, he should say " the happiest lives are those which have been devoted to science. Every step is interesting, and the success of those who do succeed is lasting. What General, what orator, what statesman, what man of letters, can hope to leave a memory like that of Darwin P An invalid in health, a man who seldom stirred from home, a man until his later years very little known to the outer world, but who from his quiet study revolutionised the thought of Europe, and will be remembered as long as Newton and Bacon. If fame be ever worth working for—I do not say it is—that kind of fame is surely, of all, the most durable and the most desirable." Possibly ; but is not the suooessful poet or artist equally happy P In their case, jealousy is the cause if they are unhappy ; but so it is in that of the men of science, who often bate each other for a new discovery as much as the bards for a song.
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