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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1290 



outlook, and wide sympathies — may not, at 

 such a time, be an urgent immediate need; 

 nor is preparation for such a life possible un- 

 der the stress of an emergency calling for the 

 quick, effective solution of pressing practical 

 problems; but in normal times this is one of 

 the most (if not the most) fundamental needs, 

 of society and of individuals alike. A course 

 a study possible under the more leisurely 

 circumstances of normal conditions may be 

 made not only to minister to these larger and 

 deeper requirements of the spirit, but, if 

 properly planned and administered, will at the 

 same time supply the information to be ap- 

 plied under the stress of an unforeseen 

 emergency. 



Herein lies the superior advantage of plan- 

 ning pur public education, not solely with 

 reference to utilitarian demands, but on a 

 basis of broad culture. If we wish a com- 

 spicuous example of the pitifid and deplorable 

 results of a system of public education organ- 

 ized chiefly with a view to securing practical 

 efficiency, at whatever cost, we have only to 

 look at the sorry spectacle of Germany during 

 the past four terrible years. The great world 

 conflict, recently terminated, has emphasized 

 no fact more clearly than the need of pur- 

 suing truth for its own sake, as well as for 

 specific ends and results, and of planning our 

 educational programs with a view to having 

 truth taught from the same angle. 



As to investigation and instruction in 

 " pure " botany for its own ends — what should 

 be the rational attitude of several odd thou- 

 sands of wounded soldiers (and their friends 

 and families) whose very lives have been 

 saved because a number of people (misguided 

 and impractical, no doubt, in the eyes of some 

 of their contemporaries) found wholesome 

 pleasure and recreation in studying the struc- 

 ture, ecology and geographical distribution of 

 sphagnum moss, without the slightest thought 

 as to whether that information might ever 

 have any use, except to give them and others 

 intellectual and spiritual satisfaction, to widen 

 a bit the circle of man's intellectual horizon, 

 and to throw some ray of light on the course 

 of plant evolution. Or what should be the at- 



titude of thousands of aviators, the strength 

 of whose aeroplane propeller blades could be 

 insured only by the application of knowledge 

 (of the structure of wood) resting in part 

 upon investigations in pure botany. 



The discovery of X-rays was not the result 

 of trying to find a way to see bullets imbedded 

 in human flesh, nor to ascertain the exact con- 

 dition of hidden bones fractured by shrapnel; 

 they were discovered in the endeavor of cer- 

 tain men of science to find out all they could 

 about electricity, just because they preferred 

 to spend their time that way than otherwise. 

 Similar statements could be made with refer- 

 ence to the discovery of TNT; of the prin- 

 ciple of electromagnetic induction, which un- 

 derlies the telephone, now so vital in war as 

 well as in peace; of the properties of chlorine 

 gas, which made possible the rapid perfection 

 of effective gas masks; of the classification, 

 life history, and ecology of such insignificent 

 objects as mosquitoes, on a knowledge of 

 which is based a vital part of modern sanitary 

 practise, which made it possible to reduce the 

 death rate from disease to 17 per thousand in 

 the present war (A. E. F.), as against 65 per 

 thousand in the American Civil War; of bac- 

 teria and the modern science of bacteriology, 

 without which aseptic surgery and antisepsis 

 would be impossible, for Pasteur's early stud- 

 ies of germ life were made in order to demon- 

 strate the fallacy of the current theory of 

 spontaneous generation — or, in other words, 

 to settle a question of pure science. 



On the relation of pure to applied science it 

 will be apposite here to quote Pasteur's state- 

 ment, in his inaugural address as dean of the 

 new Paeulte des Sciences, at Lille. He said: 



Without theory practise is but routine born of 

 habit. Theory alone can bring forth and develop 

 the spirit of invention. It is to you specially that 

 it will belong not to share the opinion of those 

 narrow minds who disdain everything in science 

 which has not an immediate application. You 

 know Franklin's charming saying? He was wit- 

 nessing the first demonstration of a purely scien- 

 tific discovery, and people round him said: "But 

 what is the use of it ? " Franklin answered them : 

 " What is the use of a new-horn child?" Yes gen- 

 tlemen, what is the use of a new-born child? And 



