Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Engineers, Heroism, Methodology, Imagination, Philosphy, Reasoning, Rationalism, Charlatanry

    Responds to a Liverpool Standard article identifying Michael Faraday, Isambard K Brunel, George Stephenson, and 'other masters of science' as some of the few remaining 'great men' who have allowed 'the materialism of hard facts' to displace 'the imaginative faculties'. Points out that William Shakespeare is an example of 'superhuman wisdom' and, like Francis Bacon (1st Viscount St Alban), possessed rare qualities. Argues that Bacon's philosophy is 'precisely the basis on which modern science is cultivated' and suggests that it is 'a considerable advantage' that 'the materialism of fact' has superseded the 'imaginative faculties', because searching for truth with the latter method is foolish. Attributes the apparent deficiency in 'great men' to the paucity of 'solemn prosers and pompous mouthers'.