158 



NATURE 



[February 7, 1901 



and I will help you with all my straigth, but I shall hold you 

 responsible for results." Scientific men should honour James 

 Wilson for the introduction of this novel principle in the 

 administration of a Government scientific bureau . . . • 



The old popular idea of a scientific man — that he lacks what 

 is called "common sense," that he is unpractical — is an unfor- 

 tunate estimate gained from unappreciative observation of 

 workers in pure science, but it no longer holds. Henry, 

 Agassiz, Baird — all men of affairs, now gone— did much to 

 change this popular estimate, and the host of brilliant men who 

 have succeeded them — men of high scientific rank, who control 

 the destinies and shape the policies of great institutions, and 

 who turn out work of great and important practical value— have 

 demonstrated beyond the slightest doubt that scientific men are 

 the broadest men of affairs, that they are practical men, and 

 that they are fit to be leaders, not only in thought, but in action. 



It is doubtful whether any Government in existence does as 

 much for the encouragement and development of science as does 

 our own. This has repaid her a thousandfold, and the sound 

 judgment of the American people and their patriotic pride in 

 national attainment will effect a steady increase in governmental 

 support of scientific work in spite of temporary checks. With 

 scientific men, however, must come the initiative. They must 

 point out the needs and the ways and means by which these 

 needs must be supplied. 



Dr. B. T. Galloway spoke as follows : — 

 Is it not true that the altitude of the State toward science and 

 scientific research is at all times greatly influenced by the 

 shaping of public Sentiment through the work of scientific men 

 themselves ? This is a practical age, and in America especially 

 th-e tendency is inore and more to give a practical trend to 

 almost every line of research. We find, therefore, as a matter 

 of fact, that there is a general lack of interest in, and support 

 of, matters having to do with pure science alone, while on the 

 other hand all questions having practical application, and even 

 those in which the practical end is remote, are received with 

 commendable liberality. Taking the field of botany, for ex- 

 ample, it would be difficult, if not impracticable, to secure 

 support for the preparation and publication of purely floristic 

 monographs, unless it could be pretty clearly shown that such 

 a project had some practical end in view. 



In so far, therefore, as the attitude of the State towards all 

 work of this nature is concerned, there is a great deal of con- 

 servatism to be overcome, and this conservatism is especially 

 pronounced where pure science is brought strongly to the front. 

 The reason for this is not far to seek, for its roots lie imbedded 

 in the selfishness of human nature, which, acting through or- 

 ganisation in the shape of government, sees, or thinks it sees, 

 in the aggressiveness of science a menace to existing institu- 

 tions in some form or other. While science in its nature is 

 aggressive, the men who do most to advance it often lack 

 aggressiveness, and for this reason the far-reaching effect of 

 science as an educational factor at the present time is not fully 

 understood or appreciated. 



This brings me more particularly to the main question I wish 

 to raise in this discussion, namely, what should be the attitude 

 of the scientific man toward the cause he represents. I am 

 strongly of the opinion that he owes it to himself and to his 

 work to put forth every legitimate effort to advance the interests 

 of the cause. He should, of course, keep constantly before him 

 the fact that to bring honour and credit to the work he must 

 recognise the duties of life. This will not allow him, however, 

 to sit calmly down and wait for the material things of the world 

 to come to him. The men who have it in their power to aid 

 him are too busy to go out of their way to render help unless 

 that help is sought. . . . 



With the distinctly utilitarian sentiment towards science, as 

 pointed out, the question arises as to what stand should be 

 taken by those charged with the guidance of the work with 

 respect to shaping a general policy which will meet the demand 

 for practical ends, and at the same time advance the cause of 

 science to the fullest extent. Extremes must be avoided, for 

 if the tendency is too strong toward pure science, opportunities 

 will be lost through lack of support, and if toward ultra- 

 utilitarianism, science itself will be endangered through the 

 development of false views, erroneous statements and lack of 

 judgment — rocks and reefs that must by all means be avoided. 

 There is always a medium ground, however, where science and 

 practice can each be made to help the other and each be the 

 stronger for the support thus gained. This is the stand, I may 



NO. 1632, VOL. 63] 



say, that is now taken by those charged with most of the work 

 conducted under the auspices of the Government, and which, 

 during the past fifteen years at least, has resulted in a rapid 

 development of all work along broad and safe lines. Most of 

 the departments of the Government, wherein scientific work is 

 carried on, owe their existence to a demand for greater know- 

 ledge on problems concerning the interests and welfare of the 

 people. In the early days of this work too much attention was 

 given to a mere diffusion of knowledge without regard to its 

 source, and as a result of this original research did not receive 

 the attention it deserved. In later years, however, the import- 

 ance of research is becoming more and more appreciated, and 

 as a result the work has increased in strength and now 

 commands the respect it deserves. . . . 



Prof. W. T. Sedgwick referred to the attitude of the people 

 toward scientific investigation, and the hindrance inflicted upon 

 scientific research by the tariff upon the requisite books and 

 instruments. He added : — 



I have been very much interested to hear the quotation from 

 the " Message of Washington " urging upon our people the im- 

 portance of promoting scientific investigation and research. I 

 believe that the American people are, in iiicreasing nu.uhers, 

 large-minded enough to look through and beyond the nearer 

 every-day phenomena, and to realise that the promotion of dis- 

 covery, no less than the promotion of learning, pays in every 

 sense of the word. They perceive thit it pays in the highest 

 sense, in the enrichment of intellect and the cultivation of 

 faculty. They perceive also that it pays in the utilitarian sense, 

 in that it gives leadership among the nations of the earth in the 

 applications of science which always follow hard upon the heels 

 of discovery. Prof. Osborn has done well to point out that 

 those nations which support research most liberally are those 

 which are taking the lead in the industrial world to-day. 



The barrier between pure and applied science is fading away, 

 because they are constantly drawing nearer together and over- 

 growing one another. Pure science has given to applied science 

 the fundamental elements of truth, perfection, knowledge and 

 skill. Applied science, on the other hand, has developed so 

 prodigiously as to react favourably upon pure science, furnishing 

 for it rich sustenance and fertile soil in which it may flourish. 

 An hour might well be spent in pointing out, not only the aid 

 which pure science has given to applied science, but reciprocally 

 the enormous development of pure science and scientific investi- 

 gation wrought by applied science. It is one of the marvels of 

 the day that taany highly organised and differentiated industries, 

 and even many of the coarser arts, find their narrow but suffi- 

 cient basis of profit in the employment of the results of the latest 

 and most advanced researches in pure science. 



Our age has been called by one of the speakers who has pre- 

 ceded me a practical age, and so it is ; but it is an age which 

 has discovered in science the Promethean fire. The highest and 

 truest utilitarianism of to-day is a generous cultivation of 

 scientific investigation, not indeed for its own sake, but for the 

 sake of the results which are sure to follow from it. As to the 

 pursuit of science for its own sake, Prof. Osborn has, it seems to 

 me, used a happy illustration in referring to the scientific inves- 

 tigations of the Government as an investment rather than an 

 immediate outlay for current expenses. As to pure science 

 pursued strictly for its own sake, I think we may rather 

 describe it as an investment from which we still expect ulti- 

 mately some return. Science for its own sake is, alter all, much 

 like investment for its own sake ; which has never been made, 

 I fancy, even by the least practical of philanthropists. 



For illustration of public appreciation of scientific research as 

 a necessity for practical results, I may give an example. When 

 in 1886 the newly organised Slate Board of Health of Massa- 

 chusetts attacked scientifically the problem of protection of the 

 purity of inland waters, they reported to the people of that State 

 that in order to do the work required by the Legislature it would 

 be necessary to ing.ugurate and prosecute special and novel 

 investigations, and for this and other purposes they 

 asked for an appropriation of 30,000 dollars. This sum was 

 immediately and cheerfully granted by the people for this 

 purpose and has ever since been continued, annually, with 

 the result that the Massachusetts experiments are referred 

 to with commendation and advantage by bacteriologists and 

 engineers all over the world. Again, when it became clear that 

 antitoxin for diphtheria had become a public necessity and its 

 proper preparation a public duty, the same State Board of 

 Health secured the services of one of the most distinguished 



