CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 



of science, for he had both courage and faith in them and he 

 was not deterred by quibbles and doubts. 



He employed science as a means rather than an end. He 

 sought its practical applications in explaining the meaning and 

 the true significance of facts. He himself quoted the great 

 chemist Liebig, who said : "Agriculture is of all industrial 

 pursuits the richest in facts and the poorest in their compre- 

 hension. Facts are like grains of sand which are moved by the 

 wind, but principles are the same grains cemented into rocks." 

 He sought diligently the comprehension of these facts and 

 their development into principles of action. 



To this faith in science and courage in its application he 

 added the vision and imagination essential to any epoch- 

 making or revolutionary effort. His view of practical ques- 

 tions was not warped or foreshortened by temporary advan- 

 tage ; but enabled him to see them in their true perspective in 

 the light of permanent benefits or effects. And so he early 

 discerned some of the typical problems of his state and saw 

 the drift of the method of farming in the Middle West in its 

 ultimate effect. Selecting a few lines which could be studied 

 thoroly in all their relations, he threw the whole force of his 

 energy and enthusiasm into their pursuit, holding on with bull- 

 dog pertinacity to a phase of the problem which for the time 

 being baffled him, or to a proposition which he was striving 

 to advance. An obstacle was to him something to be over- 

 come and turned into a stepping-stone to progress. 



Perhaps his strongest trait as an investigator and that 

 which teaches the most powerful lesson was his devotion to an 

 idea, his concentration of effort on its development and sub- 

 stantiation. It gave purpose and direction to all his work. He 

 refrained from undertaking too many unrelated things at once. 

 He paid little attention to experiments which were merely 

 comparative or to narrowly limited trials. His effort was wide 

 in range and variety, but it dealt with large rather than trivial 

 or disconnected matters — never with the commonplace or scat- 



54 



