EDITOR'S TABLE. 



847 



established which have now become 

 available in their useful applications. 

 Priestley's "History of Electricity," 

 published a hundred and sixteen years 

 ago, was even then a ponderous volume, 

 though it was but an epitome of older 

 successful work, and took little note of 

 the labors that failed to issue in new 

 results. Science is, indeed, a very slow 

 growth, and long periods of unremit- 

 ting toil must pass before its final stages 

 of flowering and fruiting are reached, 

 even in those comparatively few cases 

 where the fruit can be turned into gold. 

 There are those who have at length the 

 good fortune to shake the tree of scien- 

 tific knowledge when its fruit is ripe, 

 and they may be alert to clap the pad- 

 lock of the Patent-Office on their results 

 so as to be able to use them with profit ; 

 but there can be no greater mistake 

 than to assume that the time has come 

 when scientific workers generally can 

 be encouraged to devote themselves to 

 the reaping of the profitable pecuniary 

 harvest of past researches. In the broad 

 field of original scientific investigation, 

 not one part in a hundred is capable of 

 being cultivated with any possible hope J 

 of turning its results to pecuniary ac- 1 

 count. A hasty glance at the pages of 1 

 "Science" is quite sufficient to show 

 the utter futility of supposing that the 

 multifarious labors there indicated can 

 ever issue in any pecuniary advantage 

 to those who perform them. 



But the writer in " Science " pushes 

 his case still further, as follows : 



The science of to-day is in thorough ac- 

 cord with the spirit of the American peo- 

 ple. They are proud of every achievement it 

 makes, and are satisfied with the returns it is 

 giving them for their investments. To con- 

 tinue this entente eordiale should be the ob- 

 ject of every scientific worker. He may the 

 more readily concede some practical return 

 for the facilities for investigation which the 

 people have furnished, since the march of 

 discovery is not in the least hindered but 

 rather promoted by the practical application 

 of the new truth it develops. His attitude 

 toward invention should be appreciative and 

 cordial. He should cast aside all prejudice 



against the man of patents and practical de- 

 vices, and should stand ready to welcome the 

 investigator, m whatever garb he appears. 



Again we protest against this con- 

 founding of science with business. The 

 writer talks about the American people 

 investing in science, and being satisfied 

 with the returns. But science is not a 

 thing to be invested in ; people invest 

 in patent-rights and stock-companies, 

 and may be well pleased with their re- 

 turns, and proud of their inventors, 

 but they are not therefore patrons of 

 science. Let the man of patents stand 

 upon his own merits, and go for what 

 he is worth, and not construe the suc- 

 cess of his business operations as an 

 evidence of the high public apprecia- 

 tion of genuine scientific work. 



The disparagement of scientific in- 

 vestigation from its highest motive, by 

 the writer in " Science," is undisguis- 

 edly and almost offensively explicit. 

 He says, " While the scientific cynic 

 may condemn the utilitarianism of our 

 age, the more liberal man rejoices in 

 it." The devoted student, impelled by 

 the loftiest spirit, which refuses to be 

 influenced by lower considerations, is 

 not well characterized as a " scientific 

 cynic " ; nor is he who works from the 

 lowest motive entitled to applause as 

 "the more liberal man." "We reiterate 

 that the nobler motive has been a 

 thousand-fold more potent in creating 

 the great body of scientific truth than 

 the more sordid motive. The one su- 

 preme lesson taught by the history of 

 science for the last three centuries is, 

 that the world mainly owe3 its great 

 results to the single-minded devotion 

 of its cultivators, to the pursuit of 

 truth for the sake of truth alone. This 

 has ever been, and it must always con- 

 tinue to be, the most elevated and gen- 

 erous, as well as the most powerful 

 mental motor in the prosecution of 

 truly scientific investigations. That 

 there is a wide-spread and an active 

 tendency in this country to degrade 

 science to the low, money - making 



