"And is that electricity too?"
"I hope to find it is."
"Oh, how slow!" exclaimed Julius,--"oh, how slow you professional
scientific men become! You begin to run on tram-lines, and you can't get
off them! Why fix yourself to call this principle you're seeking for
'electricity'? It will probably restrict your inquiry, and hamper you in
several ways. I would declare to every scientific man, 'Unless you
become as a little child or a poet, you will discover no great truth!'
Setting aside your bias towards what you call 'electricity,' you are
really hoping to discover something that was discovered or divined
thousands of years ago! Some have called it 'od'--an 'imponderable
fluid'--as you know; you and others wish to call it 'electricity.' I
prefer to call it 'the spirit of life,'--a name simple, dignified, and
expressive!"
"It has the disadvantage of being poetic," said Dr Rippon, with grave
irony; "and doctors don't like poetry mixed up with their science."
"It _is_ poetic," admitted Julius, regarding the old doctor with
interest, "and therefore it is intelligible.
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