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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



sand of the seashore, so that in a 

 variety of places we might shovel them 

 up by the cart load. Then who would 

 pay even the six cents for them though 

 they had not lost one particle of their 

 beauty. I think that it will be admit- 

 ted, when one stops to consider it, that 

 it is not the beauty of the objects but 

 the spirit of selfishness felt in possess- 

 ing material of which there is not suf- 

 ficient to supply everybody. 



The naturalist admires pearls and 

 diamonds and believes them to be 

 beautiful specimens from the mineralo- 

 gical world, but he takes them at their 

 true value so far as their intrinsic 

 beauty is concerned, and if he finds 

 other things, even the wings of a beetle, 

 that are to him equally beautiful, he 

 admires them as much as he admires 

 the costly kinds. A naturalist accepts 

 beauty at its real worth and finds as 

 much satisfaction in gazing upon beau- 

 tiful objects that are supplied in pro- 

 fusion for the benefit of all human be- 

 ings, as he feels for others that are less 

 abundant. Fortunate are we that the 

 things of the world that are really the 

 most beautiful are the most plentiful, 

 but unfortunate in the extreme are we 

 if amid such riches Ave forget to appre- 

 ciate. 



What's the Use of It? 



Much has been said and written on 

 the value of pure science, and the inter- 

 relation between it and applied science. 

 There are enthusiasts, to whom prac- 

 tical application savors of desecration ; 

 somewhat more numerous are those ex- 

 tremists who see in "practical" results 

 the only justification for the pursuit of 

 pure science. It is true that these men 

 usualty lack the philosophical faculty 

 which would force them to make their 

 own position clear to themselves by 

 examining the concepts lying at its 

 foundation. What, after all, is prac- 

 tical? Is it not, in the last analysis, that 

 which brings pleasure or alleviates 

 pain ? 



To a certain type of mind, art brings 

 pleasure, and pure science the most in- 

 tense satisfaction. Unless such pleas- 

 ures are bought at an undue cost to 

 the community, art and pure science, 



then, carry their own justification. Ad- 

 ded to this is the fact that they furnish 

 the highest and most refined type of 

 recreation to the appreciative, though 

 not perhaps actively productive class, 

 suffusing, like some unperceived but 

 powerful undercurrent, higher ideals 

 among their devotees. It would seem, 

 therefore, that the advocates of pure 

 science for science's sake have a strong 

 case to plead, while the ground on 

 which the "practical" extremist stands 

 hardly passes the muster of close logi- 

 cal analysis. 



Probably the majority of broad- 

 minded, thinking men wisely take a 

 median position. They, perhaps, do 

 not side quite with the enthusiast for 

 pure science, neither do they approve 

 of an attitude of discouragement to- 

 ward all scientific work for which they 

 foresee no immediate practical appli- 

 cation. They point out how the seem- 

 ingly most abstruse scientific investi- 

 gations have again and again grown to 

 unexpected and most important useful 

 application. 



On the other hand, it has been urged 

 that the pure scientist is apt to be a 

 prophet after the event, who merely 

 analyzes the scientific principles on 

 which depends the working of the de- 

 vice constructed with intuitive wisdom 

 by the practical man. 



It cannot be denied that instances 

 are plentiful in which practice has thus 

 outstripped scientific theory; but this 

 only shows that the relation between 

 pure and applied science is of a mutual 

 character — each stimulates and ferti- 

 lizes the other. Nor is such analysis 

 of an accomplished fact a fruitless addi- 

 tion to our knowledge. — Scientific 

 American. 



At some time we are going to have 

 a chance, if we attune ourselves to the 

 desire, to see more and more of these 

 beauties of the Infinite. 1 cannot be- 

 lieve that they are around us and that 

 all we shall ever know will be the few 

 glimpses from this one short life. — Dr. 

 IV. S. Beekman, Dayton, Ohio. 



Go to Mother Nature for relief, for rest, for 

 balm, for peace. 



