234 INTRODUCTION TO SCIENCE 



relation to various kinds of fisheries; and the 

 utilization of Mendel's principles of heredity in 

 the practical improvement of domestic animals 

 and cultivated plants. 



In his Wonderful Century Dr. Alfred Russel 

 Wallace made an interesting comparison between 

 the practically important applications of science 

 in the nineteenth century and those in all pre- 

 ceding centuries. Among new departures of the 

 nineteenth century he reckoned thirteen as of 

 first importance, namely railways, steam-navi- 

 gation, electric telegraphs, the telephone, friction 

 matches, gas lighting, electric lighting, photog- 

 raphy, the phonograph, Rontgen rays, spectrum 

 analysis, the use of anaesthetics, and the use of 

 antiseptics. In all preceding time he reckoned 

 only five inventions of the first rank the tele- 

 scope, the printing press, the mariner's compass, 

 Arabic numerals, and alphabetical writing, to 

 which may be added the steam-engine and the 

 barometer, "making seven in all, as against 

 thirteen in one single century." Perhaps this 

 estimate was a little more generous to the nine- 

 teenth century than to those before it, but it is 

 certainly fair enough to bring out in a very inter- 

 esting way the concomitance of the progress of 

 science and practically important inventions. 



DANGER OF UTILITARIAN CRITERIA. The list 

 of practical benefits which Science has con- 



