138 SCIENCE AND CULTURE VI 



of ichor, celestial or otherwise, he is no whit the 

 worse. So, if any of these opponents be left, I 

 will not waste time in vain repetition of the 

 demonstrative evidence of the practical value of 

 science ; but knowing that a parable will some- 

 times penetrate where syllogisms fail to effect an 

 entrance, I will offer a story for their consideration. 



Once upon a time, a boy, with nothing to de- 

 pend upon but his own vigorous nature, was 

 thrown into the thick of the struggle for existence 

 in the midst of a great manufacturing population. 

 He seems to have had a hard fight, inasmuch as, 

 by the time he was thirty years of age, his total 

 disposable funds amounted to twenty pounds. 

 Nevertheless, middle life found him giving proof 

 of his comprehension of the practical problems he 

 had been roughly called upon to solve, by a career 

 of remarkable prosperity. 



Finally, having reached old age with its well- 

 earned surroundings of " honour, troops of friends/' 

 the hero of my story bethought himself of those 

 who were making a like start in life, and how he 

 could stretch out a helping hand to them. 



After long and anxious reflection this successful 

 practical man of business could devise nothing 

 better than to provide them with the means of 

 obtaining " sound, extensive, and practical scien- 

 tific knowledge." And he devoted a large part 

 of his wealth and five years of incessant work to 

 this end. 



