SUPPLEMENT. 



NOTE A. (From p. 263.) 



THE WORTH OF ABSTRACT RESEARCH. 



The eminent natural pliilosoplier Dr. Thomas Young, has well romarkod : "No dis- 

 covery however remote in its nature from the subjects of daily observation, can with 

 reason be declared wholly inapplicable to the benefit of mankind. . . . Those 

 who possess the genuine spirit of scientific investigation and who have tasted the pure 

 satisfaction arising from an advancement in intellectual acquirements, are contented 

 to proceed in their researches without inquiring at every step what they gain by their 

 newly discovered lights, and to what practical purposes they are applicable. They 

 receive a sufficient gratification from the enlargement of their views of the cons^tution 

 of the universe, and experience in the immediate j)ursuit of knowledge that pleasure 

 which others wish to obtain more circuitously by its means." * 



In a similar spirit. Oersted expressed his clear jierception in an anniversary address 

 delivered in 1814, before the University of Copenhagen, that "The real laborer in 

 science chooses Icnowledge as his highest aim. A love of knowledge, (which some are 

 frequently obliged to place secondary to other duties,) with the man of science must 

 be the occupation of his life ; he is dedicated to nourish the holy flame of wisdom 

 which shall dift'use its rays amidst the rest of mankind; it is his nightly lamp which 

 shall enlighten the earth." t 



And Avith no less earnestness and force, our own Henry declared : " While we rejoice 

 that in our country above all others so much attention is paid to the diffusion of 

 knowledge, truth compels us to say that comparatively little encouragement is given 

 to its iiicrease. ... As soon as any branch of science can be brought to bear on 

 the necessities, conveniences, or luxuries of life, it meets with encouragement and 

 reward. Not so with the discovery of the incipient principles of science : the investi- 

 gations which lead to these receive no fostering care from the government, and are 

 considered by the superficial observer as trifles unworthy the attention of those who 

 place the supremo good in that which immediately administers to the physical needs 

 or luxuries of life. But he who loves truth for its own sake, feels that its highest 

 claims are lowered and its moral influence marred by being continually siunmoned 

 to the bar of immediate and palpable utility."}; 



In a plea for the endowment of abstract science, William Swainson, the naturalist, 

 justly observes: "If the depth.s of science are to be fathomed, and new discoveries 

 brought to light, the task can only be achieved by those whose time is at their own 

 command, whose attention is not divided or distracted by avocations purely worldly, 

 and whose circumstances are such as to make them free from pecuniary cares. Tal- 

 ents fitting their possessors for such speculations must bo of a high order, and they 

 are consecj^uently I'are : ^ yet still more rare it is to find superadded to them the gifts 

 of fortune. From whom then if abstract science is to be fostered and rewarded, i3 



* Lectures on Natural Philosoplnj, lect. i, vol. i, p. 2. 



t The Soul in Nature. Bohn's Scientific Library, 1852, p. 141. 



t Smithsonian Report for 1853, p. 8. 



[\S Dr. Peter Mark Roget has well observed: ''Important discoveries in science seem 

 often to arise from accident ; but on closer examination it is found that they always 

 imply the exercise of profound thought. As the fertility of the soil is essential to the 

 germination and growth ofthesefd which tlio Avind may have scattered on its surface, 

 so it is principally from the qualities of mind in the observer that an observation de- 

 rives its value and may be made eventually to expand into an important bi'anch of 

 science." (^Galvanism, 8vo, London, 1832, chap, i, p. 1.)] 



327 * 



