\vill be able to see beyond the immediately practical problem, even 

 though it be as great a thing as the discovery of the cause and cure of 

 the plague that decimates a people. Greater even than the greatest 

 discovery is it to keep open the way to future discoveries. This can only 

 be done when the investigator freely dares, moved as by an inner pro- 

 pulsion, to attack problems not because they give promise of immedi- 

 ate value to the human race, but because they make an irresistible 

 appeal by reason of an inner beauty. 



"Some of the greatest investigators indeed have been fascinated by 

 problems of immediate utility as well as by those that deal with ab- 

 stract conceptions only. Helmholtz invented the ophthalmoscope and 

 thus made modern ophthalmology possible, and at the same time did 

 work of the highest order in theoretical physics and wrote on the 

 nature of mathematical axioms and the principles of psychology. Lord 

 Kelvin took out patents on great improvements in the compass and on 

 oversea telegraphy and also made contributions to our knowledge of 

 the ultimate constitution of the atom and the properties of the ether. 



From this point of view the investigator is a man whose inner life 

 is free in the best sense of the word. In short, there should be in re- 

 search work a cultinal character, an artistic quality, elements that give 

 to painting, music, and poetry their high place in the life of man." 



