117 
that there would be nothing to apply unless pure science had 
discovered it, If we had only applied science, it would soon 
become sterile. It is pure or fundamental science that keeps ap- 
plied science alive, that makes progress possible. For example, 
if Faraday had not worked in pure science, Edison would have 
had no basis for his wonderful inventions. And so it is through- 
out the whole range of the practical things we are using today. 
To neglect pure science and support only applied science would 
be like wanting children and eliminating parents. When I hear 
those who are regarded as practical men lauding our practical 
achievements, which certainly deserve praise, but speaking lightly 
of work in fundamental research, I think of them as those who 
would praise the practical electric light and forget the impractical, 
because unseen, power house. Scientific research is the power 
house that generates all the energy we apply in developing what 
may be called the machinery of our civilization. 
I wish now to indicate, by a single illustration, how such an 
‘nstitution as this may become a great laboratory for public 
service. My illustration is intended only to indicate how funda- 
mental research is of the greatest service to public welfare, a 
source of energy to be called upon and applied as needs arise. 
It is not intended to indicate the specific kind of work that any 
given garden should undertake, this may well vary, but itisea 
good illustration of the value of research work in general. 
T have indicated the problem of food production that our nation 
is facing today. In some way our food production must overtake 
our population. Over a century ago certain men were speculat- 
ing about evolution. The subject of evolution was not a science, 
because men were meditating rather than investigating. Cer- 
tainly nothing could have seemed farther removed from general 
human interest than this ‘speculation. About a century ago, 
speculation about evolution merged into the science of evolution, 
when men began to observe the facts upon which such a theory 
could be based. For a century, observation and inference went 
on until they had reached the limit of usefulness. Near the 
beginning of this century, men concluded that the only way to 
secure further progress was to test by experiment whether one 
kind of plant could actually produce another kind. In observing 
