A lecture delivered in King's College, London, on Tuesday, the 11th of October, 1831, being introductory to the first botanical course of the session opening the institution / by Gilbert T. Burnett.

  • Burnett, Gilbert T. (Gilbert Thomas), 1800-1835.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A lecture delivered in King's College, London, on Tuesday, the 11th of October, 1831, being introductory to the first botanical course of the session opening the institution / by Gilbert T. Burnett. 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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    / 3 froward to so great a good; to shew that true wisdom is not only valuable when obtained, but pleasing in the acquirement; that it is not only desirable as an end, but delightful in its means. The greatest philosophers are still but men by nature, and ever must remain but men in knowledge. They differ no more from their fellow-men than do such as see with just per- ceptions from such as behold without perceiving; no more than do such as seek the sun of science from such as, shroud- ing themselves in Cimmerian shades, believe all things invisi- ble they see not. Man is an inventor, not a creator; he finds, he does not form; and philosophy is the handmaid, not thp ancestor of truth. She does not make the facts that she reveals, nor do the deeds that she discloses: her utmost is to raise the shroud, or rend the veil of ignorance, and point to that which already is, to that which always has been, to that which always will be; to those realities which always have been, are, and will be, whether we know them or know them not. And should she seem ever to prefer a bitter boon, her followers may rest assured it is like the bitterness of Tobit’s gall, by which the scales of mental blindness may be shed; or by which may be absorbed the “drop serene,’ jnore dangerous by far, because, more subtile and invisible itself, it makes more surely all invisible within. Hence, as leading to a more just estimation of science, all true philanthropists will esteem it a matter of fervent con- gratulation, that “ philosophy no longer is confined to the study and the cloister, but walks abroad amongst the busy haunts of menfrequents our most public ways, and rears her splendid fanes on the banks of this our noblest river, and by the side of one of our most public streets. It is truly a subject for no slight congratulation that now it is no longer considered “ unphilosophic, and the height of ill-breeding in scholarship, to vulgarise science, by rendering it intelligible and useful;” that philosophers no longer are compelled to veil knowledge in mystery, as men no longer are content to admire the most what least they understand, but science is esteemed according to its practical utility. These, and many other features peculiar to our age, and which this institution is so well calculated to encourage and correct, are meet subjects for no common congratulation; but, grateful as the pursuit of such a theme would be, I check myself abruptly; for, after the dedicatory service, the address, and the lectures of my colleagues, to which you have already listened with so much interest and attention, and which must be still fresh in your memory, if not almost sounding in your