702 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



determine wLethcr he i:^ doing by tliose 

 Tinder him as, were he in their position, 

 he woidd wish, and might reasonably 

 ask, to be done by. This is an age in 

 wliich luxury runs wild. The capitalist 

 may faii'ly treat himself liberally ; but if 

 he has the true spirit of humanity about 

 him, he will not make of himself a 

 demigod or raise himself to Olympian 

 heights above the people. In saying 

 this we may be as the voice of one cry- 

 ing in the wilderness ; but if a message 

 has to be delivered, it is better to cry 

 out in the wilderness than not to cry 

 out at all. Socialism as a system of 

 govei'nment tills us with the most pro- 

 found apprehensions ; but, on the other 

 hand, there is a certain socialism of the 

 heart, if we may so express it, which 

 we woidd gladly do all in our power to 

 encourage that feeling which leads a 

 man, be his station what it may, to con- 

 sider that he lives not for himself alone, 

 but for the good of society at large. 

 There is much said about the duties of 

 the rich, but it is doing the rich too 

 much honor to speak and write as if 

 they alone had social duties. The wel- 

 fare of society depends in the main on 

 the good citizenship of the multitude, 

 and not on anything the rich have it in 

 Iheir power to do. To them also it is 

 given to be good citizens; but the call 

 is not more imperative to them than to 

 those of average or scanty means. It is 

 au old, and ouglit to be au exploded, 

 fallacy that a single talent is not worth 

 improving. The social millennium will 

 come, if ever, when all the single talents 

 are being improved with a distinct, even 

 if only secondary, aim to the common 

 good. 



ENDOWMENT OF BESEABCH. 



A RECENT number of Nature con- 

 tains an article which begins by lament- 

 ing the neglect of the British Govern- 

 ment to make any adequate provision 

 for the carrying on of physical and 

 chemical research, and then goes on to 



state that a wealthy manufacturer of 

 high scientific cidture. Dr. Ludwig 

 Mond, had purchased for the Royal In- 

 stitution a spacious building in which to 

 establish pliysical and chemical labora- 

 tories of the most approved kind, and 

 had undertaken to defray all expenses 

 connected with the equipment and main- 

 tenance thereof. Now, it seems to us 

 that Dr. Ludwig Mond's action in this 

 matter is highly commendable, and that 

 the action of the British Government in 

 leaving the establishment of such labo- 

 ratories to private enterprise and benefi- 

 cence is also commendable. It should 

 never be forgotten that whatever money 

 the Government spends comes from tax- 

 ation, and that tlie taxes are levied in 

 great part from tlie poor. "Whether, 

 then, is it better that the Government 

 should spend the proceeds of taxation 

 on such objects as these, or that intelli- 

 gent and cultivated men like Dr. Lud- 

 wig Mond, who have amassed great 

 wealth by the exercise of their talents, 

 should come forward and undertake the 

 duty? We say without hesitation that 

 the latter is far the better solution of 

 the question. If the Government were 

 to do everything of this kind, one of the 

 noblest uses to which private wealth can 

 be put would be at an end. Not only 

 so, but wealthy men woidd no longer 

 have any interest in studying the needs 

 of the community, and would be left 

 even more than they are at present to 

 indidgence in luxurj^ as tlie one means 

 of expressing tlie fact that they are 

 wealthy. If we want to redeem our 

 rich men from the vanity, inanity, and 

 vulgarity of self-indulgence and osten- 

 tation, the way to do it is for public 

 opinion to assign them social tasks suit- 

 ed to their means and opportunities ; 

 and this can not be done if the Govern- 

 ment is asked to shoulder all such re- 

 sponsibilities. All honor to men like 

 Ludwig Mond, who, without any spe- 

 cial urging, see what is required for the 

 public good and do it ! In this case 

 high intelligence goes hand in hand with 



