SCIENCE: J. J. CARTY 5 



urging upon us the importance of scientific research conducted 

 for the sake of utility and for increasing the convenience and com- 

 fort of mankind, that there is danger of losing sight of another 

 form of scientific research which has for its primary object none 

 of these things. I refer to pure scientific research conducted for 

 the sake of extending the boundaries of knowledge. 



Pure scientific research is conducted with a philosophic purpose, 

 for the discovery of the truth, and for the advancement of learning. 

 The investigators in pure science may be likened to e'xplorers 

 who discover new continents or islands, or hitherto unknown 

 territory. They are continually seeking to push forward the frontiers 

 of knowledge. The work of the pure scientists is conducted without 

 any utilitarian motive, for as Huxley says, "that which stirs their 

 pulses is the love of knowledge and the joy of discovery of the 

 causes of things. . . .the supreme delight of extending the realm 

 of law and order ever farther toward the unattainable goals of the 

 infinitely great and the infinitely small, between which our little 

 race of life is run." 



The pure scientists are the advance guard of civilization. By 

 their discoveries, they furnish to the engineer and industrial chemist 

 and other applied scientists the raw material to be elaborated into 

 manifold agencies for the amelioration of the condition of man- 

 kind. Unless the work of the pure scientist is continued and 

 pushed forward with ever increasing energy, the achievements of the 

 industrial scientist will diminish and degenerate. Many practical 

 problems now confronting mankind cannot be solved by the in- 

 dustrial scientist alone, but must await further fundamental dis- 

 coveries and new scientific generalizations. 



When considered with reference to a single branch of industry, 

 no particular discovery in pure science appears as a rule to be of 

 appreciable benefit. When, however, the total contributions of 

 pure science are reviewed with regard to the industries as a whole, 

 it is found that they have become of incalculable value through 

 adaptation to practical uses by the industrial scientist, with whom 

 I class the engineer and the industrial chemist. 



I do not jay this because a new incentive is necessary for the 

 pure scientist, for in him there must be something of the divine 

 spark and for him there is no higher motive than the search for the 

 truth itself. But his motive will be intensified by the knowledge 

 that, when his search is rewarded, there is sure to be found contained 



