president's address. 23 



appeasing it. The duty to work, the right to Hve, and the leisure to 

 think are the three prime necessities of our existence, and when one of 

 them fails we only live an incomplete life. 



I should have no difficulty in illustrating by examples, drawn from 

 personal experience, the power which the revelations of science can 

 exert over a community steeped in the petty conflicts of ordinary life; 

 but I must bring these remarks to a conclusion, and content myself 

 with the account of one incident. 



An American friend, who possessed a powerful telescope, one 

 night received the visit of an ardent politician. It was the time of a 

 Presidential election, Bryan and Taft being the opposing candidates, 

 and feeling ran high. After looking at clusters of stars and other 

 celestial objects, and having received answers to his various questions, 

 the visitor turned to my friend : 



' And all these stars I see,' he asked, 'what space in the heaven 

 do they occupy? ' 



' About the area of the moon. ' 



' And you tell me that every one of them is a sun like our own ? ' 



•Yes.' 



' And that each of them may have a number of planets circulating 

 round them like our sun ? ' 



' Yes. ' 



' And that there may be life on each of these planets? ' 

 We cannot tell for certain, but it is quite possible that there may 

 be life on many of them.' 



And after pondering for some time, the politician rose and said: 

 ' It does not matter after all whether Taft or Bryan gets in.' 



Happy were the times when it could be said with truth that the 

 strife of politics counted as nothing before the silent display of the 

 heavens. Mightier issues are at stake to-day : in the struggle which 

 convulses the world, all intellectual pursuits are vitally affected, and 

 Science gladly gives the power she wields to the service of the State. 

 Sorrowfully she covers her face because that power, acquired through 

 the peaceful efforts of the sons of all nations, was never meant 

 for death and destruction; gladly she helps, because a war wantonly 

 provoked threatens civilization, and only through victory shall we 

 achieve a peace in which once more Science can hold up her head, proud 

 of her strength to preserve the intellectual freedom which is worth 

 more than material prosperity, to defeat the spirit of evil that destroys 

 the sense of brotherhood among nations, and to spread the love of truth. 



