XL PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
man!” Now, it is one thing to seek one’s own pleasure, and quite 
another thing to pride one’s self upon doing so. « The men who do 
their scientific work for the love of it do some of the best work, and, 
as a rule, do not pride themselves on it, or feel or express contempt 
for those who seek their pleasure and amusement in other direc- 
tions. It is only from a certain class of eulogists of pure science, so 
called, that we get such specimens of scientific “dudeism” as the toast 
just quoted, opposed to which may be cited the Arab saying that 
“A wise man without works is like a cloud without water.” 
There are other men who devote themselves to scientific work, 
but who prefer to seek information that may be useful; who try to 
advance our knowledge of Nature’s laws in order that man may 
know how to adapt himself and his surroundings to those laws, and 
thus be healthier and happier. They make investigations, like the 
men of pure science—investigations in which they may or may not 
take pleasure, but which they make, even if tedious and disagree- 
able, for the sake of solving some problem of practical importance. 
These are the men who receive from the public the most honor, for 
it is seen that their work benefits others. After all, this is not 
peculiar to the votaries of science. In all countries and all times, 
and among all sorts and conditions of men, it has always been 
agreed that the best life, that which most deserves praise, is that 
which is devoted to the helping others, which is unselfish, not stained 
by envy or jealousy, and which has as its main pleasure and spring 
of action the desire of making other lives more pleasant, of bringing 
light into the dark places, of helping humanity. 
But, on the other hand, the man who makes a profession of doing 
this, and who makes a living by so doing, the professional philan- 
thropist, whether he be scientist or emotionalist, is by no means to 
be judged by his own assertions. Some wise German long ago re- 
marked that “Esel singen schlecht, weil sie zu hoch anstimmen” —that 
is, “asses sing badly because they pitch their voices too high,” and 
it is a criticism which it is well to bear in mind. 
In one of the sermons of Kin O* the preacher tells the story 
of a powerful clam who laughed at the fears of other fish, saying 
that when he shut himself up he felt no anxiety ; but on trying this 
method on one occasion when he again opened his shell he found 
himself in a fishmonger’s shop. And to rely on one’s own talents, 
* Cornhill Magazine, August, 1869, p. 196. 
