PRACTICAL SCIENCE 291 



our own, but to widen the boundaries of applied 

 science, to perfect our manufactures, and to bring 

 new departments of Nature into the service of man, 

 it is by broad, thorough, untrammelled scientific re- 

 search that our success must be achieved. 



When, therefore, you are asked to explain of what 

 practical use are some of the branches of science in 

 which you have been trained, do not lose patience 

 with your questioner, nor answer him as you think 

 such a Philistine deserves to be answered. Give him 

 a few illustrations of the thousands of ways in which 

 science, that might have been stigmatised by him as 

 merely abstract and theoretical, has yet been made to 

 minister to the practical needs of humanity. Above 

 all, urge him to attend some of the classes of Mason 

 College, where he will learn, in the most effectual 

 manner, the intimate connection between theory and 

 practice. If he chance to be wealthy, the experiment 

 may possibly open his eyes to the more urgent needs 

 of the institution and induce him to contribute liber- 

 ally towards their satisfaction. 



Among the advantages and privileges of your life 

 at college there is one, the full significance and value 

 of which you will better appreciate in later years. 

 You have here an opportunity of acquiring a wide 

 general view of the whole range of scientific thought 

 and method. If you proceed to a science degree you 

 are required to lay a broad foundation of acquaintance 

 with the physical and biological sciences. You are 

 thus brought into contact with the subjects of each 

 great department of natural knowledge, and you learn 

 enough regarding them to enable you to understand 



