A PLEA FOR PURE SCIENCE. 43 



change public opinion in our favor ; and, indeed, we must always 

 seek to lead it, and not be guided by it. For pure science is the 

 pioneer who must not hover about cities and civilized countries, but 

 must strike into unknown forests, and climb the hitherto inaccessible 

 mountains which lead to and command a view of the promised land — 

 the land which science promises us in the future ; which shall not 

 only flow with milk and honey, but shall give us a better and more 

 glorious idea of this wonderful universe. We must create a public 

 opinion in our favor, but it need not at first be the general public. 

 We must be contented to stand aside, and see the honors of the world 

 for a time given to our inferiors ; and must be better contented with 

 the approval of our own consciences, and of the very few who are ca- 

 pable of judging our work, than of the whole world besides. Let us 

 look to the other physicists, not in our own town, not in our own 

 country, but in the whole world, for the words of praise which are to 

 encourage us, or the words of blame which are to stimulate us to re- 

 newed effort. For what to us is the praise of the ignorant ? Let us 

 join together in the bonds of our scientific societies, and encourage 

 each other, as we are now doing, in the pursuit of our favorite study ; 

 knowing that the world will some time recognize our services, and 

 knowing, also, that we constitute the most important element in 

 human progress. 



But danger is also near, even in our societies. When the average 

 tone of the society is low, when the highest honors are given to the 

 mediocre, when third-class men are held up as examples, and when 

 trifling inventions are magnified into scientific discoveries, then the 

 influence of such societies is prejudicial. A young scientist attending 

 the meetings of such a society soon gets perverted ideas. To his 

 mind, a mole-hill is a mountain, and the mountain a mole-hill. The 

 small inventor or the local celebrity rises to a greater height, in his 

 mind, than the great leader of science in some foreign land. He 

 gauges himself by the mole-hill, and is satisfied with his stature ; not 

 knowing that he is but an atom in comparison with the mountain, 

 until, perhaps, in old age, when it is too late. But, if the size of the 

 mountain had been seen at first, the young scientist would at least have 

 been stimulated in his endeavor to grow. 



We can not all be men of genius ; but we can, at least, point them 

 out to those around us. We may not be able to benefit science much 

 ourselves ; but we can have high ideals on the subject, and instill them 

 into those with whom we come in contact. For the good of ourselves, 

 for the good of our country, for the good to the world, it is incumbent 

 on us to form a true estimate of the worth and standing of persons 

 and things, and to set before our own minds all that is great and good 

 and noble, all that is most important for scientific advance, above the 

 mean and low and unimportant. 



It is very often said that a man has a right to his opinion. This 



