themselves, he had welcomed as great discoveries, likely to contribute
to his own fame and to the advantage of mankind, but which, after
having subjected them to that rigid and unsparing criticism which he
felt it his bounden duty to apply to the offspring of his own brain,
he had found to be worthless, and rejected. Now, unquestionably, the
powerful intellect of Watt went for much in this matter:
unquestionably his keen and practised glance enabled him to detect
flaws and errors in many cases where an eye equally honest, but less
acute, would have failed to discover them; but can we doubt that a
moral element was largely involved in the composition of that quality
of mind which enabled Watt to shun the sunken rocks on which so many
around him were making shipwreck--that it was his unselfish devotion
to truth, his humility, and the practice of self-control, which
enabled him to rebuke the suggestions of vanity and self-interest,
and, with the sternness of an impartial judge, to condemn to silence
and oblivion even the offspring of his own mind, for which he
doubtless felt a parent's fondness, when it fell short of that
standard of perfection which he had reared? From this incident in the
life of that great man, we may draw, I think, a most useful lesson,
which we may apply with good effect to fields of inquiry far
transcending those to which the anecdote has immediate reference.
Take, for instance, the wide region occupied with moral and political,
or, as they are styled, social questions: observe the wretched half-
truths, the perilous fallacies, which quacks, greedy of applause or
gain, and speculating on the credulity of mankind, more especially in
times of perturbation or distress, have the audacity to palm upon the
world as sublime discoveries calculated to increase, in some vast and
untold amount, the sum of human happiness; and mark the misery and
desolation which follow, when the hopes excited by these pretenders
are dispelled. It is often said in apology for such persons, that they