As regards the attractiveness of scientific study, Sir James Paget
dwelt on the wonders that it reveals, though he admitted that the scientific man no sooner becomes acquainted with those wonders than they cease to strike him as wonder- ful,—his imagination being benumbed by his habit of turning all the mastery of natural law which he has acquired to practical use. Finally, he illustrated the wonders which science reveals by a very graphic acCount of the number of transmissions of nerve-force to and from the brain in the course of any great musician's performance. There were, he said, in Mademoiselle Janotha's performance of a piece of Mendelssohn's, no less than two hundred transmissions of nerve-force to and from the brain, outwards and inwards, in every second. That is wonderful, but hardly a wonder on which the imagination can rest with any sense of permanent delight or satisfaction.
Previous page
