VALUES IN SCIENCE. 627 



Avorth and (li<;-nity of kiiowlcdjiv l)y its utility in niatorial thing-s, that 

 is, by its importance to industrial life and its relation to man's physical 

 welfare in giving- him increased control over his environment, then it 

 is clear that applied science is in this respect the all-important and 

 triumphant factor of the twentieth-century civilization. 



But there are those who protest that these utilitarian applications of 

 knowknlge are its inferior uses, and that the ti'ue test of its higher 

 value is secured when it becomes an instrument for developing intel- 

 lectual st i-ength and an inspirational force in stimulating men to high 

 thinking and to the acceptance of lofty ideals. To this protest it may 

 be answered that ])livsical well-l)eing and material prosperity are con- 

 ditions essential to the nourishment of the best fruits of civilization, 

 and that in (•()ntril)uting to industrial achievements and to the comfV)rt 

 and independence of the indi\ ichial. science is inilirectly a powerful 

 aid ill cultivating man's intellectual and moral attributes. More than 

 this, 1 am not convinced that our higher natures are more profoundly 

 moved by the consideration of })rinciples and law in the abstract than 

 1)V a contemplation of their operations as manifested in the world of 

 matter and force. A study of mathematics and of the principles of 

 physics is a disciplinary intellectual exercise, but the concrete results 

 of their application in the dynamo, the twentieth century express, the 

 ocean liner, and the Brooklyn lu-idge arouse our pride, fire our 

 imagination, and stimulate our aml)ition. 



The abstractions of chemistry and t)f biology appeal with little 

 force to man's esthetic and moral nature, ])ut an insight into the oper- 

 ations of law and the phi}' of forces in their relations to man and his 

 activities not only strengthens us intellectually but points us to the 

 wonderful harmonies of created things, exemplifies and exalts obe- 

 dience to the Divine edicts, and moves to reverent worship. Abstract 

 truths are cold, inanimate, and devoid of human relation. They may 

 delight the intellectual recluse through the mere pleasure that comes 

 from their mastery, but they are not joined to human need and effort. 

 It is the student of the activities that surround us, from the profound 

 prol)lenis of the reproduction and maintenance of life to the devices 

 and instrinuentalities with which we earn our daily bread, who feels 

 the pulsations of infinite energy and sees most clearly the essential 

 relations of dependence and control which man sustains. The study 

 of specific problems that touch human living, even though they relate 

 to material welfare, discloses human needs, cultivates the altruistic 

 spirit, and, I am convinced, promotes, as pure science can never do, 

 "the inculcation of those supi-eme ideals through which the human 

 race is uplifted and ennobled — the ideals of beauty, honor, duty, and 

 love." For we should count science as among the humanities, since 

 it emerged from the laboratory and laid its beneficent hand upon man's 

 daily life and avocations. 



18909— No. 7—03 2 



