A PLEA FOR PURE SCIENCE. 171 



know them not, but think that they have a waving harvest, vvliile it is 

 only one of weeds after all. American science* is a thing of the future, 

 and not of the present or past; and the proper course of one in my 

 position is to consider what must be done to create a science of physics 

 in this country rather than to call telegraphs, electric lights and such 

 conveniences by the name of science. I do not wish to underrate the 

 value of all these things: the progress of the world de])ends on them, 

 and he is to be honored who cultivates them successfully. So also the 

 cook who invents a new and palatable dish for the table benefits the 

 world to a certain degree; yet we do not dignify him by the name of a 

 chemist. And yet it is not an uncommon thing, especially in American 

 newspapers, to have the applications of science confounded with pure 

 science; and some obscure American wiio steals the ideas of some great 

 mind of the past, and enriches himself by the application of the same 

 to domestic uses, is often lauded above the great originator of the idea, 

 who might have worked out hundreds of such applications, had his 

 mind possessed the necessary element of vulgarity. I have often been 

 asked, which w^as the more important to the world, pure or applied 

 science. To have the applications of a science, the science itself must 

 exist. Should we stop its progress, and attend only to its applications, 

 we should soon degenerate into a people like the Chinese, who have 

 made no progress for generations, because they have been satisfied with 

 the applications of science, and have never sought for reasons in what 

 they have done. The reasons constitute pure science. They have 

 known the application of gunpowder for centuries; and yet the reasons 

 for its peculiar action, if sought in the proper manner, would have 

 developed the science of chemistry, and even of physics, with all their 

 numerous applications. By contenting themselves with the fact that 

 gunpowder will explode, and seeking no farther, they have fallen be- 

 hind in the progress of the world; and we now regard this oldest and 

 most numerous of nations as only barbarians. And yet our own country 

 is in this same state. But we have done better; for we have taken the 

 science of the old world, and applied it to all our uses, accepting it like 

 the rain of heaven, without asking whence it came, or even acknowl- 

 edging the debt of gratitude we owe to the great and unselfish workers 

 who have given it to us. And, like the rain of heaven, this pure 

 science has fallen upon our country, and made it great and rich and 

 strong. 



To a civilized nation of the present day, the applications of science 

 are a necessity; and our country has hitherto succeeded in this line, 

 only for the reason that there are certain countries in the world where 



* In using the word 'science,' I refer to physical science, as I know nothing 

 of natural science. Probably my remarks will, however, apply to both, but I do 

 not know. 



