Abstract
THE Duke of Argyll is eminent as a statesman, and has won distinction as a man of science. The mental qualities, however, which lead to success in these capacities are widely different; nay, in the opinion of some, are almost oppugnant. To the man of science, truth is as a “pearl of great price,” to buy which he is ready to part with everything previously obtained; to the statesman, success is the one thing needful, for the sake of which hardly any sacrifice appears too great. This is not said wholly as a reproach: it “takes all sorts to make a world.” The ardour of the follower of the ideal, which may degenerate into recklessness, is wholesomely checked and beneficially qualified by the calmness of one who has to deal practically with mankind, and has learned by experience that evolution rather than catastrophic change is the law of life, and is in accordance with the analogy of Nature. Still the two types of mind are commonly diverse, and the Duke of Argyll has recently afforded a remarkable instance of the extreme difficulty of combining in one person these apparently opposite characters.
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BONNEY, T. A Conspiracy of Silence . Nature 37, 25–26 (1887). https://doi.org/10.1038/037025a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/037025a0