CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 



by the maintenance of fertility or by its increase. On the basis 

 of the present value of corn, you have calculated in millions of 

 dollars the annual addition to our state income thru Hopkins' 

 discoveries. You have seen the corn kernel modified as a 

 result of his studies so as to give us a product varying in 

 character according to our wishes, and so have seen, in your 

 minds, the needs of men better met as a result. 



But with all this I propose tonight to have nothing to do, 

 and about it I have nothing to say. My purpose is only to fix 

 your attention as members of a democratic people upon the 

 attitude, the frame of mind, the spirit that Professor Hopkins 

 brought to his work, and in which he did his work. For the 

 cultivation and extension of that spirit among the members 

 of a democracy so that it shall become the general attitude 

 and the general spirit, will, in the long run, be of greater ad- 

 vantage than will all the material results of the scientific 

 achievements of Cyril G. Hopkins. So far as his influence and 

 example lead us to adopt his attitude and spirit and method, 

 he will be doing his countrymen and the world still another 

 service of a different character from, but no less important 

 than, the service that he rendered thru his scientific achieve- 

 ments. For his attitude, his spirit, and his example loudly pro- 

 claim to us the necessity of substituting the ideal of service for 

 the ideal of personal gain in our dealings with our fellow men. 



What, then, was this spirit of service as shown in Pro- 

 fessor Hopkins' career? As a servant of the people he was a 

 teacher and an investigator. In his research work he sub- 

 ordinated his own gain to the love of his work and the good 

 he was trying to do. Undoubtedly he could have made a large 

 income if he had been willing to put his talents at the service 

 of private individuals or corporations, but he thought of the 

 good of the community. His fellow citizens were dear to him ; 

 he wanted them to live well ; he wanted the next generation to 

 enjoy the benefit of the natural wealth that God has given this 

 generation. To that end he sacrificed his personal ambition 



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