EDITOR'S TABLE. 



845 



gracious in this place, yet we can not 

 refrain from asking if it is quite appro- 

 priate to the character of such an 

 enterprise to begin by letting down 

 instead of elevating the ideal of in- 

 spiration in the pursuit of original sci- 

 ence. 



After com mending the men of the 

 past who have made eminent achieve- 

 ments in pure science in this country, 

 the writer says : " The leading feature 

 of American science, however, and that 

 which most distinctly characterizes it, is 

 its utilitarianism. True there are in our 

 country able investigators working in 

 scientific fields which do not offer the 

 promise of material reward ; but, not- 

 withstanding this, it remains still true 

 that those sciences whose principles are 

 capable of useful application are the 

 most zealously cultivated among us, and 

 attract the largest number of students. 

 Nor is this to be at all regretted. Re- 

 search is none the less genuine, inves- 

 tigation none the less worthy, because 

 the truth it discovers is utilizable for 

 the benefit of mankind. Granting even 

 that the discovery of truth for its own 

 sake is a nobler pursuit, because a less 

 purely selfish one, does it become any 

 the less noble when it is ascertained 

 that the truth thus discovered is capa- 

 ble of important applications which in- 

 crease tenfold the happiness of human 

 life? It may readily be conceded that 

 the man who discovers nothing himself, 

 but only applies to useful purposes the 

 principles which others have discov- 

 ered, stands upon a lower plane than the 

 investigator. But when the investigator 

 becomes himself the utilizer, when the 

 same mind that made the discovery con- 

 trives also the machine by which it is 

 applied to useful purposes, the com- 

 bined achievement must be ranked as 

 superior to either of its separate re- 

 sults." 



There is here a reversal of the gra- 

 dation in the motives to scientific studj- 

 which has been too long and too clear- 

 ly recognized to be lightly brushed 



aside. The most exalted incentive in 

 the pursuit of truth is that high appre- 

 ciation of it which makes its bare dis- 

 covery the supreme compensation of 

 the investigator. There is deeply im- 

 planted in the human mind a desire to 

 find out the secrets of nature; and 

 there is a pleasure in the satisfaction of 

 this desire which has ever been the 

 sharpest spur of scientific research. It 

 is, moreover, this impulse to seek the 

 truth of nature for the simple love of it 

 that has played much the most promi- 

 nent part in the progress of science. 

 But, though animated by a noble pur- 

 pose men are human still, and so they 

 have been also impelled to scientific 

 discoveries by the lower impulses of 

 personal ambition, or because of the 

 honor and fame they will confer. 

 There is, besides, an inducement to 

 scientific inquiry on account of the use- 

 fulness of its results in practical life, 

 or the motive of public utility. And, 

 finally, there is the desire to reach new 

 results for the selfish individual advan- 

 tage of turning them to profitable ac- 

 count: this is the mercenary motive, 

 and is, of course, the lowest of all. 



Now, human motives are often a 

 good deal mixed, yet dominant inten- 

 tions are not difficult to detect. In this 

 case, what a man does with his discov- 

 ery must be taken as proof of his inten- 

 tion in making it. If a man finds out 

 a new fact, makes a new observation, 

 or works out a new principle, and then 

 communicates it to the world, he is to 

 be fairly credited with the motive of 

 laboring for the increase of knowledge 

 for the sake of knowledge. If he is 

 solicitous about the priority of his re- 

 sult, we know that he prizes the per- 

 sonal honor that it will confer. If he 

 makes a discovery and applies it to 

 some useful end, and then presents it 

 to society for the promotion of the 

 public good, he is to be credited with 

 the philanthropic motive of contribut- 

 ing to the common utility. But, if he 

 makes a discovery, and, shrewdly keep- 



