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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    For common occasions, common congratulations would suffice; but how unfit does oi’dinary language seem to cele- brate the extraordinary events of an age like this: when wis- dom, which so long has been despised and rejected by the many, is urged on their attention by the ardor of the few ; when all those treasures of science, which through such dan- gers have been guarded, and such labours have been earned, by the liberal, the enlightened, and the thoughtful, are now freely opened, and as freely offered, nay, not only given, but forced on the acceptance of the prejudiced, the ignorant, and the thoughtless; given by those who know their value, to such as too often esteem them not. The restoration of knowledge as their birthright to the many, which so long they had forsaken that it became the he- ritage of the few, is indeed a noble act, and one worthy no mean congratulation. It is a boon, however, which, at an earlisr epoch, might possibly have been bestowed in vain; nay more, it would probably have proved not a blessing, but an occasion of falling. May the power of knowledge, now so ge- nerally entailed, be ever hereafter rightly used; may its im- portance be always duly felt; and, to feel its worth, let them who have it, think of their state who have it not; and further, let them who will have it, but who ?iow have it not, bethink them, when they have it, that once they had it not. Gentlemen. Wisdom, our most excellent gift, is too often, and has been too long, considered, as something abstruse and difficult of attainment, as arduous in the pursuit, and repul- sive when obtained; and thus philosophy, the desire or love of wisdom, has too lightly been esteemed, and too commonly denounced as a passion little suited to the welfare of the w'orld in general, and only fit to be indulged by those who, for- swearing its pleasures, its allurements, and its cares, withdraw from intimate communion with their species, and, scarcely remaining within the pale of society, become no longer of much service either to their kind or to themselves. Philoso- phers, in accordance with this error, have too frequently been esteemed peculiar and eccentric individuals, who, dreaming by day as well as by night, are bewildered in the mazes of thriftless speculation, and engaged in the hopeless task of straining after knowledge as far beyond human reach as it would be found unfit, if gained, to further the happiness of man. Here, however, it would be a needless task to tell, that such are not philosophers, that such is not jdiilosophy. I stand not here the apologist of what neither needs to be defended nor excused: I seek but to remove a prejudice, to reconcile the