It is by the accumulation of ideas, whether immediately applicable or otherwise, that humanity has done, and will continue to do, better to-day than yesterday, and better to-morrow than to-day.

If we live on peas and beans, which we dispute with the weevil, we also live by knowledge, that mighty kneading-trough in which the bread of progress is mixed and leavened.

Knowledge is well worth a few beans.
Among other things, knowledge tells us: "The seedsman need not go to the expense of waging war upon the weevil.

When the peas arrive in the granary, the harm is already done; it is irreparable, but not transmissible.

The untouched peas have nothing to fear from the neighbourhood of those which have been attacked, however long the mixture is left.