A FLEA FOR PURE SCIENCE. 33 



until the man is no higher than his fellows. Hence the world, through 

 the abundance of its intercourse, is reduced to a level. What was 

 formerly a grand and magnificent landscape, with mountains ascend- 

 ing above the clouds, and depths whose gloom we can not now appre- 

 ciate, has become serene and peaceful. The depths have been filled, 

 and the heights leveled, and the wavy harvests and smoky factories 

 cover the landscape. 



As far as the average man is concerned, the change is for the bet- 

 ter. The average life of man is far pleasanter, and his mental con- 

 dition better, than before. But we miss the vigor imparted by the 

 mountains. We are tired of mediocrity, the curse of our country. 

 We are tired of seeing our artists reduced to hirelings, and imploring 

 Congress to protect them against foreign competition. We are tired 

 of seeing our countrymen take their science from abroad, and boast 

 that they here convert it into wealth. We are tired of seeing our 

 professors degrading their chairs by the pursuit of applied science in- 

 stead of pure science ; or sitting inactive while the whole world is 

 open to investigation ; lingering by the wayside while the problem of 

 the universe remains unsolved. We wish for something higher and 

 nobler in this country of mediocrity, for a mountain to relieve the 

 landscape of its monotony. We are surrounded with mysteries, and 

 have been created with minds to enjoy and reason to aid in the un- 

 folding of such mysteries. Nature calls to us to study her, and our 

 better feelings urge us in the same direction. 



For generations there have been some few students of science who 

 have esteemed the study of nature the most noble of pursuits. Some 

 have been wealthy, and some poor ; but they have all had one thing 

 in common — the love of nature and its laws. To these few men the 

 world owes all the progress due to applied science, and yet very few 

 ever received any payment in this world for their labors. 



Faraday, the great discoverer of the principle on which all machines 

 for electric lighting, electric railways, and the transmission of power, 

 must rest, died a poor man, although others and the whole world have 

 been enriched by his discoveries. And such must be the fate of the 

 followers in his footsteps for some time to come. 



But there will be those in the future who will study nature from 

 pure love, and for them higher prizes than any yet obtained are wait- 

 ing. We have but yet commenced our pursuit of science, and stand 

 upon the threshold wondering what there is within. We explain the 

 motion of the planet by the law of gravitation ; but who will explain 

 how two bodies, millions of miles apart, tend to go toward each other 

 with a certain force ? 



We now weigh and measure electricity and electric currents with 

 as much ease as ordinary matter, yet have we made any approach to 

 an explanation of the phenomenon of electricity ? Light is an undu- 

 latory motion, and yet do we know what it is that undulates ? Heat 



▼OL. XXIV. — 3 



