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47" 



of matter and the whole philo.sophy of the universe, would have 

 attracted little general notice biit for the hope that radium might 

 he applied to the cure of certain previously incurable complaints 

 The discovery of the nature of malaria and other insect-borne 

 diseases, with its wide and growing significance relative to the 

 prevention and cure of numerous ills to which men and animals 

 are subject, for the time compelled acknowledgment of the value 

 of research in the field of pure Science. 



But results quickly obscure causes. The fruits of hidden 

 and little appreciated research appropriated by the practical man, 

 soon appear as ameliorations and improvements of the conditions 

 of our existence, and become commonplaces of daily life. The 

 author of the new theory, or the discoverer of the new principle 

 or fact, is forgotten. Indeed, the rapidity w^ith which fresh 

 knowledge is to-day assimilated and utilized is both remarkable 

 and encouraging, and full of promise to the advance of the 

 human race. It may seem a matter of secondary importance 

 that every new stone added to the structure of civilization is 

 brought to the building by the so-called theorist, or, at least, is 

 quarried from a mine i^ointed out by him. He may care little 

 for the building himself, and his share may be overlooked, but 

 the fact remains that the supply of material depends upon the 

 continuance of his work. The persistence, the insight, and the 

 imagination of Darwin did not perish with him, nor do they Hve 

 only in his eternal fame as a man of genius. They survive to- 

 day in the operations of the stock-breeder wdien, as a matter of 

 course, he applies Darwinian principles to the improvement of 

 his herds ; while their latest and not least significant develop- 

 ment is seen in the birth of the new science of Eugenics. 



Things which but a few years ago would have been 

 incredible, and, if considered at all, regarded as impossibilities, 

 are now accepted a,s accomplished facts and put to common uses. 

 Mankind, which benefits by discovery and invention, may forget 

 that each step in advance is initiated by, or made possible by, the 

 labour of pure scientists, but it is proper to stimulate the devotees 

 of science by reminding them of this truth, and we must not 

 neglect to instruct our statesmen so that they may realize that 

 no nation can keep in the van of progress unless research be 

 regularly and adequately endowed. Audible conversation at a 

 distance and the transmission of pictures by wire, marvellous 

 as each seemed in its turn, are now eclipsed in wonder and utility 

 by wireless telegraphy. The first sun-pictures were crude, 

 evanescent and artistically disappointing, and gave little indica- 

 tion of the perfection to which photography would attain. But 

 what shall we say of the more recent success in recording and 

 reproducing of life in movement, an art that lends itself not 

 only to amusement, but has also become the handmaiden, of 

 science in the study of animals in motion and the flight of birds? 



