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firmament of Natural History, we must leave this historic review to 

 present some other aspects of our subject. Before dismissing them let 

 us remember their toils along a tedious road, along which they had 

 glimmerings of light and hope from that glorious prospect and clearer 

 mental atmosphere which their efforts opened up for our gratification, 

 our intellectual enjoyment and general welfare. Let us be grateful and 

 worthy our inheritance. 



Now, scientific truth is not the property of tbe few, for it is a part 

 of the woof of common life, and all await the solution of the problem 

 and mystery of existence. Since all science is tending this way it must 

 be generally diffused, and this can be done in no better way than by 

 making it a part of the intellectual culture afforded by our common 

 educational systems. 



There will be, as there always have been, those with particular apti- 

 tudes for the study of Nature, who will pursue it with the noble inte- 

 rest that its truths inspire rather than for the sake of its usefulness to 

 humanity, but their labors are woven into the practical resources of our 

 life. Other abilities, other qualities are required by those who use the 

 truths and principles evolved by the scientist in their practical adapta- 

 tions to man's material wants and daily uses. One is the researcher, 

 who communes with Nature to allure from her secrets and laws which 

 the mechanical genius readily seizes upon and incorporates in his inven- 

 tions. The world is most appreciative of the latter, and showers upon 

 him her praises and emoluments, while man in his short-sighted selfish, 

 ness is too prone to forget and neglect the scientist, who is thus kept 

 behind the scenes of the world's stage. However, such minds are 

 recompensed by the pleasures they find in the discoveries of Nature's 

 truths and in the assured feeling that they are bettering the 

 condition of the masses. Those who pursue science for its own 

 sake x-ather than from a utilitarian point of view should be fostered and 

 encouraged by the Government of the land and by society's most in- 

 fluential classes It is from the prevailing tendency of our age to be 

 material and practical that more assistance is not given to naturalists, 

 and the study made more a part of the curriculum of our Public School 

 systems. To be sine, the students of our universities have oppor- 

 tunities to develop scientific tastes, but they form a very small fraction 



