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228   ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE.   [CHAP.

opposite attitude -,is indifferentism, founded on sheer uncertainty of what is best to do, or on despair of being strong enough to achieve useful results ; a feeling such as that which has generally existed in recent years among wealthy men in respect to pauperism and charitable gifts. A common effect of indifferentism is to dissipate the energy of the nation upon trifles ; and this tendency seems to be a crying evil of the present day in our own country. In illustration of this view, I will quote the following extract from a letter of one of my correspondents, who, I should add, is singularly well qualified to form a just opinion on the matter to which he so forcibly calls attention:-" The principal hindrance

to inquiry and all other intellectual progress in

the people of whom I see much, is the elaborate

machinery for wasting time which has been

invented and recommended under the name of

` social duties.' Considering the mental and

material capital of which the richer classes have

the disposal, I believe that much more than half

the progressive force of the nation runs to waste

from this cause."