THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



APRIL, 1873. 



ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CULTIVATION OF 



SCIENCE. 1 



Bt JOSEPH HENEY, LL. D., 



SECBETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



aENTLEMEN : I beg leave to tender you my sincere thanks for 

 the honor you have conferred upon me by inviting me to preside 

 at the farewell banquet to Professor Tyndall. I need scarcely say that 

 it would give me great pleasure to be with you on that interesting 

 occasion, although I would prefer not to occupy the place your par- 

 tiality would assign to me, since I fear I should not be able, from want 

 of experience, to do justice to so conspicuous a position. 



I regret, however, to have to inform you that my official duties in 

 Washington, at this season of the year, are such as to render it im- 

 proper for me to be absent for even a single day; and, although 

 I deeply sympathize "with you in the objects of the banquet, I am 

 obliged very reluctantly to forego the pleasure and profit of accept- 

 ing your kind invitation. 



The objects of this banquet, as I understand them, are, first, to do 

 honor to our illustrious visitor, who has generously devoted so much 

 time and labor to gratify his friends and the public in this country 

 with a course of lectures ; and, second, to advocate the claims of ab- 

 stract science to higher appreciation and more liberal support. In 

 regard to these topics I ask permission to indulge in a few remarks 

 which may not be deemed inappropriate to the occasion. Dr. Tyndall 

 is eminently worthy of all the attention he has received from the 

 people and press of this country, and all the expressions of kindness 

 and regard we can now bestow upon him. As Professor of Physics in 

 the Royal Institution of Great Britain, he is the worthy successor of a 



1 Letter to the Coramittoe of Arrangements of the Farewell Banquet to Professor 

 Tyndall, at Delmonico's, New York, February 4, 1873. 

 VOL. II. 11 



