28 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



sumed, furnish, a motive of the highest order. It is a trite saying- 

 but perhaps it can not be too often repeated, that he who lives and 

 labors in the interest of his fellows, that their lives may be bright- 

 ened, that their burdens may be lessened, is above all others 

 worthy of the highest praise. By this standard the value of a 

 discovery must at last be fixed, bearing in mind, of course, that 

 the physical comfort of man is not alone to be considered. Judged 

 by this standard, the work of Newton, of Watt, of Franklin, 

 Rumford, Faraday, Henry, and a host of others is truly great- 

 There should be, and there usually is, no controversy as to rela- 

 tive merit between the discoverer of a gem and the artist who 

 polishes and sets it. In science, the genius of the former is un- 

 questionably rarer and of a higher order, but his work will always 

 be incomplete and in a great degree useless until supplemented 

 by that of the latter. 



Another demand which the public may justly make upon the 

 man of science is that his interest in public affairs should not be 

 less than that of other men. Through his failure in this particu- 

 lar, science has long suffered and is suffering in an increasing 

 degree. This criticism is especially applicable in this country, 

 where in theory every man is supposed to bear his share of the 

 public burden and to take his part in the performance of public 

 duties. Unfortunately, the attitude of the scientific man is too 

 often one of criticism and complaint concerning matters in the 

 disposition of which he persistently declines to interfere. It can 

 not be denied, I think, that men well trained in the logic and 

 methods of scientific research ought to be exceptionally well 

 equipped for the performance of certain public duties constantly 

 arising out of local, State, or national legislation ; yet the impres- 

 sion is well-nigh universal, that the scientific man has no genius 

 for " affairs." Indeed, it has been more than once affirmed that he 

 is utterly devoid of administrative or executive ability, and even 

 that he can not be trusted with the direction of operations which are 

 almost wholly scientific in their nature. That there are many ex- 

 amples which seem to justify this belief is too true, but that there 

 are other instances in which administrative and scientific ability 

 have been combined is also true. Little search is required to re- 

 veal cases in which men of science have so ignored all ordinary 

 rules and maxims of business procedure as to merit severe criti- 

 cism, in which, unfortunately, the public does not discriminate be- 

 tween the individual and the class which he represents. It seems 

 astonishing that one who is capable of successfully planning and 

 executing an elaborate research, in which all contingencies are 

 provided for, the unexpected anticipated, and all weak points 

 guarded and protected, may utterly break down in the manage- 

 ment of some much, less complicated business affair, such as the 



