612 HENKY A. ROWLAND 



In conclusion, let me say once more that I do not believe that our 

 country is to remain long in its present position. The science of physics, 

 in whose applications our country glories, is to arise among us, and make 

 us respected by the nations of the world. Such a prophecy may seem 

 rash with regard to a nation which does not yet do enough physical work 

 to support a physical journal. But we know the speed with which we 

 advance in this country: we see cities springing up in a night, and other 

 wonders performed at an unprecedented rate. And now we see physical 

 laboratories being built, we see a great demand for thoroughly trained 

 physicists, who have not shirked their mathematics, both as professors 

 and in so-called practical life; and perhaps we have the feeling, common 

 to all true Americans, that our country is going forward to a glorious 

 future, when we shall lead the world in the strife for intellectual prizes 

 as we now do in the strife for wealth. 



But if this is to be so, we must not aim low. The problems of the 

 universe cannot be solved without labor; they cannot be attacked with- 

 out the proper intellectual as well as physical tools; and no physicist 

 need expect to go far without his mathematics. No one expects a horse 

 to win in a great and long race who has not been properly trained; and 

 it would be folly to attempt to win with one, however pure his blood 

 and high his pedigree, without it. The problems we solve are more diffi- 

 cult than any race; the highest intellect cannot hope to succeed without 

 proper preparation. The great prizes are reserved for the greatest 

 efforts of the greatest intellects, who have kept their mental eye bright 

 and flesh hard by constant exercise. Apparatus can be bought with 

 money, talents may come to us at birth; but our mental tools, our mathe- 

 matics, our experimental ability, our knowledge of what others have 

 done before us, all have to be obtained by work. The time is almost 

 past, even in our own country, when third-rate men can find a place as 

 teachers, because they are unfit for everything else. We wish to see 

 brains and learning, combined with energy and immense working 

 power, in the professor's chair; but, above all, we wish to see that high 

 and chivalrous spirit which causes one to pursue his idea in spite of all 

 difficulties, to work at the problems of nature with the approval of his 

 own conscience, and not of men before him. Let him fit himself for 

 the struggle with all the weapons which mathematics and the experi- 

 ence of those gone before him can furnish, and let him enter the arena 

 with the fixed and stern purpose to conquer. Let him not be contented 

 to stand back with the crowd of mediocrity, but let him press forward 

 for a front place in the strife. 



