A PLEA FOR PURE SCIENCE 609 



must be better contented with the approval of our own consciences, and 

 of the very few who are capable of judging our work, than of the whole 

 world beside. Let us look to the other physicists, not in our own town, 

 not in our own country, but in the whole world, for the words of praise 

 which are to encourage us. or the words of blame which are to stimulate 

 us to renewed effort. For what to us is the praise of the ignorant? Let 

 us join together in the bonds of our scientific societies, and encourage 

 each other, as we are now doing, in the pursuit of our favorite study; 

 knowing that the world will some time recognize our services, and 

 knowing, also, that we constitute the most important element in human 

 progress. 



But danger is also near, even in our societies. When the average tone 

 of the society is low, when the highest honors are given to the mediocre, 

 when third-class men are held up as examples, and when trifling inven- 

 tions are magnified into scientific discoveries, then the influence of 

 such societies is prejudicial. A young scientist attending the meetings 

 of such a society soon gets perverted ideas. To his mind, a molehill is 

 a mountain, and the mountain a molehill. The small inventor or the 

 local celebrity rises to a greater height, in his mind, than the great 

 leader of science in some foreign land. He gauges himself by the 

 molehill, and is satisfied with his stature; not knowing that he is but 

 an atom in comparison with the mountain, until, perhaps, in old age, 

 when it is too late. But, if the size of the mountain had been seen at 

 first, the young scientist would at least have been stimulated in his 

 endeavor to grow. 



We cannot all be men of genius; but we can, at least, point them out 

 to those around us. We may not be able to benefit science much our- 

 selves; but we can have high ideals on the subject, and instil them into 

 those with whom we come in contact. For the good of ourselves, for 

 the good of our country, for the good to the world, it is incumbent on 

 us to form a true estimate of the worth and standing of persons and 

 things, and to set before our own minds all that is great and good and 

 noble, all that is most important for scientific advance, above the mean 

 and low and unimportant. 



It is very often said, that a man has a right to his opinion. This 

 might be true for a man on a desert island, whose error would influence 

 only himself; but when he opens his lips to instruct others, or even 

 when he signifies his opinions by his daily life, then he is directly 

 responsible for all his errors of judgment or fact. He has no right to 

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