64 THE PATH OF SCIENCE 



The scientist, whether his work is the creation of knowl- 

 edge without thought of its application or is the application 

 of scientific knowledge to the use of mankind, may adopt as 

 his motto and guide the words of Thomas Henry Huxley: 



* 



Thus, without for a moment pretending to despise the 

 practical results of the improvement of natural knowledge, 

 and its beneficial influence on material civilization, it must, 

 I think, be admitted that the great ideas, some of which I 

 have indicated, and the ethical spirit which I have en- 

 deavoured to sketch, in the few moments which remained 

 at my disposal, constitute the real and permanent signifi- 

 cance of natural knowledge. 



If these ideas be destined, as I believe they are, to be 

 more and more firmly established as the world grows older; 

 if that spirit be fated, as I believe it is, to extend itself into 

 all departments of human thought, and to become co- 

 extensive with the range of knowledge; if, as our race 

 approaches its maturity, it discovers, as I believe it will, 

 that there is but one kind of knowledge and but one 

 method of acquiring it; then, we, who are still children, 

 may justly feel it our highest duty to recognize the ad- 

 visableness of improving natural knowledge, and so to aid 

 ourselves and our successors in our course towards the 

 noble sfoal which lies before mankind. 



* Thomas Henry Huxley, "On the Methods and Results of Ethnol- 

 ogy," Collected Essays, VII, London, Macmillan and Co., 1899. 



