The Promise of Science 



great scale of the earth's ele6tricity, and thus 

 directing the weather. We may discuss such 

 projects, as the opening of those immense tracts 

 in Northern Siberia and Canada, that at present 

 stand starved and sterile. Breeds of wheat may 

 be evolved that will bear the coldest weather, 

 or indigenous crops may be adapted to our 

 requirements. Certain it is that the cultivation 

 of the land and the presence of man can modify 

 a climate and thus whole territories now frozen 

 may smile and be gracious. 



The tropical deserts of Africa, Asia, and 

 Australia — millions of square miles — await our 

 attention. They need but moisture to bloom 

 incredibly, as Egypt testifies, or any oasis assures. 

 The interior of Australia or the Sahara may yet 

 be inhabited, by the tapping of underground 

 water much deeper than at present essayed, or 

 by the irrigation of sea water, distilled by the 

 sun on a gigantic scale. These are a few of the 

 promises that science makes. The future belongs 

 to the experimenter, the man of brain and fore- 

 sight; the tiller of the soil will no more be an 

 easy-going conservative fellow, but an alert and 

 thoughtful citizen. Science is organized thought, 

 and if we accept all that it would give we should 

 work not wonders but miracles. 



J 53 



