SCIENTIFIC FAITH AND WOKKS 12 



3 



the study of the cholera, of the plague, of the sleeping sickness. The 

 spirit of science is well illustrated by the gift to the Pasteur Institute 

 hy M. Osiris last summer of thirty millions of francs. He was led 

 to do this by the fact that the director, Doctor Boux, having won a 

 prize of one hundred thousand francs for the discovery of a diphtheria 

 serum, though not a rich man, immediately turned it over to the insti- 

 tute. Feeling that a cause capable of producing such unselfishness 

 must deserve support, M. Osiris made it this large bequest. Lord 

 Bayleigh, in like manner, donated his Nobel prize of forty thousand 

 dollars to the physical laboratory at Cambridge. 



In closing, permit me to recommend the scientific career to young 

 men as one of great satisfaction, whether one succeeds in it or not. To 

 be even a soldier in this noble army, to feel oneself the follower of 

 Faraday, of Helmholtz and of Maxwell, to push on the standard of 

 truth, is worth more than to dress in purple and fine linen and to own 

 many automobiles. There are in this country of eighty millions only 

 about five thousand scientists. The country needs you, young men; 

 it is a patriotic duty to put her where she should stand intellectually 

 among the nations. Would that I might reach the rich, and sing to 

 them the praises of this sort of service. In other lands the rich serve 

 the state, why not here? Surpass your less fortunate brothers not in 

 your pleasures, but in your achievements. And then the American 

 college will be exempt from some of the criticism that it meets to-dajr. 

 Finally let us bear in mind that while we admire the palaces of science 

 like this, they are not necessary for the performance of good work, and 

 that those of us who are obliged to work in less sumptuous abodes may 

 be concoled with the reflection that most of the great discoveries in 

 science were made with simple apparatus, in humble quarters, but by 

 great men. It is the spirit that quickeneth. For the true scientific 

 spirit may we ever pray, for the works of the Lord are great, sought 

 out of all them that have pleasure therein. 



