328 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1422 



are long, infrequent, and so radical that one 

 step may require the recasting of a whole 

 science. A hundred such instances stare us in 

 the face, each one having sent a lot of the old 

 apparatus of research to the scrap-heap. Such 

 may some day be the fate of half the apparatus 

 of this laboratory. If and when it comes it must 

 be welcomed; if it will mean the achievement 

 of vital economies for mankind — the exchange 

 will be profitable, and the trade will be a good 

 one. And you will then probably buy new and 

 better apparatus, and go on with yoiu* research, 

 but with new angles and for newly discovered 

 purposes. 



It was to be expected that such an expansion 

 and elaboration in exacting education would 

 occur here, on this hill — and with some such an 

 institution as this. For, eons ago Providence, 

 by the forces of the stars, made it certain that 

 some day there 'would be here a great com- 

 munity of people, capable of such achievements 

 as this movement represents, provided the land 

 could be blessed with a stable and enduring 

 government. Ages ago it was foredained to 

 happen; it was bound to come, and come here 

 — but with the indispensable peace-protecting 

 and industry-protecting government. 



Millions of years ago — ^yesterday morning it 

 was, by the calendar of geologic time — the 

 nearby mountains were lifted up by the buckling 

 forces from below; and the oft'-shore currents 

 of the more distant sea were then ordained to 

 flow southward, and to flow cold. Then it was 

 that the good luck of the low latitude and the 

 right width of the low littoral, made it as sure 

 as fate that here would be a wholesome cli- 

 mate, highly conducive to work and achieve- 

 ment, and that superior people would one day 

 come hither in great numbers^-given always a 

 protecting government. 



The influence of the mountains and the 

 ocean — the shape and height of the mountains 

 and the currents of air and sea; the width of 

 the plain between, and the fortunate latitude, 

 have made an ideal atmosphere on one lofty 

 spot on the mountain for astronomical study — 

 which study in our time has been realized in 

 astounding fashion. In that day those forces 

 also created here a midtitude of engineering 



problems that are good for instruction, and for 

 a challenge to research by some far-off genera- 

 tion of men. We stand to-day in the mid- 

 period of that generation; and it would be a 

 shame for us to fail. 



Providence seems to have guided the human 

 hands that have developed this institution as it 

 is to-day. Reallj', it was a late discovery of a 

 few people that nature had provided here the 

 best conditions to make it the logical spot for a 

 movement of this kind. 



The first inspiration came to Amos Throop, 

 a rugged, great soul with a far-reaching vision, 

 who had been enticed here by the natural ad- 

 vantages for health and comfort. He knew how 

 great these advantages are, and he knew that 

 before many decades there would come about in 

 this Southland the rapid growth of cities and 

 the beehive of activity that we now see aU about 

 us. He saw that this community needed and de- 

 served the best adva,ntages of education and 

 power. No such advantages had been provided 

 for Pasadena. He had an ideal of a school to 

 equip men to do things as well as to think and 

 remember. His life had been keyed to practical 

 in contradistinction to scholastic achievements. 

 So he founded a Polytechnic Institute, and gave 

 it all the money he had. By the measures of 

 today the gift was not large, but it was greater 

 than Mr. Carnegie or Mr. Rockefeller ever gave 

 — for it was all he had. And he did what many 

 givers of money forget to do; he gave himself 

 with his gifts. 



From that laudable beginning, this school of 

 high college grade has grown. Now it summons 

 from afar, and ofttimes invents, tools for its 

 art unheard of before; and it calls from the 

 ends of the earth the ablest experts into its fac-, 

 ulty. Moreover, men famous in science come 

 here to pursue further research with its facili- 

 ties, under the inspiration of its work, and in 

 the midst of its many advantages. 



With all this development, the Institute has 

 never departed from the original ideas of Mr. 

 Throop ("Father Throop," as he was lovingly 

 called) that it must in the highest degree pos- 

 sible give an education that shall fit men to do 

 things in this rushing world of useful achieve- 

 ments — and a new civilization. 



