INSTRUCTION IN THEORY 289 



branches. Its theory is held up as the first great aim 

 of instruction, and its practical applications are made 

 subsequent and subordinate. Divisions of science are 

 taught here which may have few practical applications, 

 but which are necessary for a comprehensive survey of 

 the whole circle of scientific truth. Now, you may 

 possibly have heard, and in the midst of a busy in- 

 dustrial community you are not unlikely to hear, 

 remarks made in criticism of this system or method 

 of tuition. The importance of scientific training will 

 be frankly acknowledged and even insisted upon, but 

 you will sometimes hear this admission coupled with 

 the proviso that the science must be of a practical 

 kind ; must, in short, be just such and no other, as 

 will fit young men to turn it to practical use in the 

 manufactures or industries to which they may be 

 summoned. The critics who make this limitation 

 boast that they are practical men, and that in their 

 opinion theory is useless or worse for the main pur- 

 poses for which they would encourage and support 

 a great scientific school. 



Now I am quite sure that those science students 

 who have passed even a single session in Mason 

 College can see for themselves the utter fallacy of 

 such statements and the injury that would be done 

 to the practical usefulness of this institution, and to 

 the general progress of the industrial applications of 

 science, if such short-sighted views were ever carried 

 into effect. There can be no thorough, adequate, and 

 effective training in science unless it be based on a 

 comprehensive study of facts and principles, altogether 

 apart from any economic uses to which they may be 



