242 



SCIENCU. 



[Vol. II., No. 29. 



PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION B. — PHYSICS. 



ADDRESS OF H. A. ROWLAND OF BAL- 

 TIMORE, MD., VICE-PRESIDENT OF 

 SECTION B, AUG. 13, 188S. 



A PLEA FOR PURE SCIENCE.i 

 The question is sometimes asked us as to the time 

 of year we like the best. To my mind, the spring is 

 the most dehghtful; for nature then recovers from 

 the apathy of winter, and stirs herself to renewed 

 life. The leaves grow, and the bitds open, with a 

 suggestion of vigor delightful to behold; and we 

 revel in this ever-renewed life of nature. But, this 

 cannot always last. The leaves reach their limit; 

 the buds open to the full, and pass away. Then we 

 begin to ask ourselves whether all this display has 

 been in vain, or whether it has led to a bountiful 

 harvest. 



So this magnificent country of ours has rivalled the 

 vigor of spring in its growth. Forests have been 

 levelled, and cities built, and a large and powerful 

 nation has been created on the face of the earth. 

 We are proud of our advancement. We are proud of 

 such cities as this, founded in a day upon a spot over 

 which, but a few years since, the red man hunted the 

 buSalo. But we must remember that this is only the 

 spring of our country. Our glance must not be back- 

 ward ; for however beautiful leaves and blossoms are, 

 and however marvellous their rapid increase, they are 

 but leaves and blossoms after all.- Rather should we 

 look forward to discover what will be the outcome of 

 all this, and what the chance of harvest. For if we 

 do this in time, we may discover the worm which 

 threatens the ripe fruit, or the barren spot where the 

 harvest is withering for want of water. 



I am required to address the so-called physical 

 section of this association. Fain would I speak pleas- 

 ant words to you "on this subject; fain would I re- 

 count to you the progress made in this subject by my 

 countrymen, and their noble efforts to understand 

 the order of the universe. But I go out to gather 

 the grain ripe to the harvest, and I find only tares. 

 Here and there a noble head of grain rises above the 

 weeds; but so few are they, that I find the majority 

 of my countrymen know them not, but think that 

 they have a waving harvest, while it is only one of 

 weeds after all. American science is a thing of the 

 future, and not of the present or past; and the prop- 

 er course of one in my position is to consider what 

 must be done to create a science of physics in this 

 country, rather than to call telegraphs, electric lights, 

 and such conveniences, by the name of science. I do 

 not wish to underrate the value of all these things: 

 the progress of the world depends on tbem, and he is 

 to be honored who cultivates them successfully. So 

 also the cook wbo Invents a new and palatable dish 

 for the table benefits the world to a certain de- 



1 In using the word * science,' I refer to physical science, as I 

 Ijnow nothing of natural science. Probably my remarlia will, 

 however, apply to both, but I do not know. 



gree; yet we do not dignify him by the name of a 

 chemist. And yet it is not an uncommon thing, 

 especially in American newspapers, to have the ap- 

 plications of science confounded with pure science: 

 and some obscure American who steals the ideas of 

 some great mind of the past, and enriches himself 

 by the application of the same to domestic uses, is 

 often lauded above the great originator of the idea, 

 who might bave worked out hundreds of such appli- 

 cations, had his mind possessed the necessary ele- 

 ment of vulgarity. I have often been asked, which 

 was the more important to the world, pure or applied 

 science. To have the applications of a science, the 

 science itself must exist. Should we stop its prog- 

 ress, and attend only to its applications, we should 

 soon degenerate into a people like the Chinese, who 

 have made no progress for generations, because they 

 have been satisfied with the applications of science, 

 and have never sought for reasons in what they have 

 done. The reasons constitute pure science. They 

 have known the application of gunpowder for cen- 

 turies; and yet the reasons for its peculiar action, if 

 sought in the proper manner, would have developed 

 the science of chemistry, and even of physics, with 

 all their numerous applications. By contenting them- 

 selves with the fact that gunpowder will explode, 

 and seeking no farther, they have fallen behind in 

 the progress of the world; and we now regard this 

 oldest and most numerous of nations as only bar- 

 barians. And yet our own country is in this same 

 state. But we have done better; for we have taken 

 the science of the old world, and applied it to all our 

 uses, accepting it like the rain of heaven, without 

 asking whence it came, or even acknowledging the 

 debt of gratitude we owe to the great and unselfish 

 workers who have given it to us. And, like the rain 

 of heaven, this pure science has fallen upon our 

 country, and made it great and rich and strong. 



To a civilized nation of the present day, the appli- 

 cations of science are a necessity; and our country 

 has hitherto succeeded in this line, only for the reason 

 that there are certain countries in the world where 

 pure science has been and is cultivated, and wbere 

 the study of nature is considered a noble pursuit. 

 But such countries are rare, and those who wish to 

 pursue i^ure science in our own country must be 

 prepared to face public opinion in a manner which 

 reqtiires much moral courage. They must be prepared 

 to be looked down upon by every successful inventor 

 whose shallow mind imagines that the only pursuit of 

 mankind is wealth, and that he who obtains most has 

 best succeeded in this world. Everybody can com- 

 prehend a million of money; but how few can com- 

 prehend any advance in scientific theory, especially 

 in its more abstruse portions! And this, I believe, 

 is one of the causes of the small number of persons 

 who have ever devoted themselves to work of the 

 higher order in any human pursuit. Man is a grega- 

 rious animal, and depends very much, for his liappi- 

 ness, on the sympathy of those around him; and it is 



