288 HENRY HILL GOODELL 



claim to be practically wise as were observations in geology 

 and experiments in electricity a century ago. "Every great 

 advance in practical science in the last half-century has 

 been simply the combining or utilizing of materials and re- 

 sults wrought out as isolated products of facts, after long 

 years of careful investigation, by the patient truth-search- 

 ers in all portions of the world." The studies of Franklin, 

 Volta, Arago, Henry, and Faraday in accumulating facts, 

 discovering laws, and inventing instruments, made the 

 electric telegraph a possibility in our day. 



Those men prosper best in this world of universal in- 

 quiry who sit silent, watch longest, and accept most quickly 

 each suggestion of change. The thrifty trees hug the earth 

 and rocks with a thousand rootlets, feed on air with ten 

 thousand leaves, and feel everywhere through and through 

 them the throbbing force of life; but who can tell the count- 

 less generations through which they have stood, silently 

 drinking in the sunshine of heaven and gathering and ma- 

 turing their strength. 



All theories are open to ceaseless inquiry and correction 

 and we can expect to progress only by the patience, the 

 breadth and the sagacity of our work in uncovering laws 

 and methods of life in themselves very secret and obscure. 



The fundamental working conceptions of science change 

 with the changing knowledge of the facts they interpret, but 

 the foundation remains the same, and he interprets best 

 who penetrates most deeply to its heart and questions most 

 closely its workings. The good agriculturist stands in a kind 

 of awe of living things. He is diffident in the suggestions 

 he makes to them, and if the hint is not taken he withdraws 

 it at once. If any predisposition appears, he humors it 



