August 24, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



243 



rare to find one with the courage to pursue his own 

 ideals in spite of his surroundings. In times past, men 

 were more isolated than at present, and each came in 

 contact witlj a fewer number of people. Hence that 

 time constitutes the period when ilie great sculptures, 

 paintings, and poems were produced. Each man's 

 mind was comparatively free to follow its own ideals, 

 and the results were tlie great and unique works of 

 the ancient masters. To-day the railroad and the 

 telegraph, the books and newspapers, have united 

 each individual man with the rest of the world: in- 

 stead of his mind being an individual, a thing apart 

 by itself, and unique, it has become so influenced by 

 the outer world, and so dependent upon it, that it 

 has lost its originality to a great extent. The man 

 who in tiiues past would naturally have been in the 

 lowest depths of poverty, mentally and physically, 

 to-day measures tape behind a counter, and with 

 lordly air advises the naturally born genius how he 

 may best bring his outward appearance down to a 

 level with his own. A new idea he never had, but 

 he can at least cover his mental nakedness with ideas 

 imbibed from others. So the genius of the past soon 

 perceives that his higher ideas are too high to be 

 appreciated by the world : his mind is clipped down 

 to the standard form; every natural offshoot upwards 

 is repressed, until the man is no higher than his fel- 

 lows. Hence the world, through the abundance of 

 its intercourse, is reduced to a level. What was 

 formerly a grand and magnificent landscape, with 

 mountains ascending above the clotuls, and depths 

 whose glnom we cannot now appreciate, has become 

 serene and peaceful. Tlie depths have been filled, 

 and the heights levelled, and the wavy harvests and 

 smoky factories Ci>ver the landscape. 



As far as the average man is concerned, the change 

 is for the better. The average life of man is far 

 pleasanter, and his mental condition better, than be- 

 fore. But we miss the vigor imparted by the moun- 

 tains. We are tired of mediocrity, the curse of our 

 country. We are tired of seeing our artists re<luced 

 to hirelings, and imploring congress to protect them 

 against foreign competition. We are tired of seeing 

 our countrymen take their science from abroad, and 

 boast that they here convert it into wealth. We are 

 tired of seeing our professors degrading their chairs 

 by the pursuit of applied science instead of pure 

 science; or sitting inactive while the whole world 

 is open to investigation; lingering by the wayside 

 while the problem of the universe remains unsolved. 

 We wish for something higher and nobler in this 

 country of mediocrity, for a mountain to relieve the 

 landscape of its monotony. We are surrounded with 

 mysteries, and have been created with minds to enjoy 

 and reason to aid in the unfoldipg of such mysteries. 

 Nature calls to us to study her, and our better feel- 

 ings urge us In the same direction. 



For generations there have been some few students 

 of science who have esteemed the study of nature the 

 most noble of pursuits. Some have been wealthy, 

 and some poor; hut they have all had one thing in 

 common, — the love of nature and its laws. To these 

 few men the world owes all the progress due to ap- 



plied science, and yet very few ever received any 

 payment in this world for their labors. 



Faraday, the great discoverer of the principle on 

 which all machines for electric ligliling, electric rail- 

 ways, and the transmission of power, must rest, died 

 a poor man, although others and the whole world 

 have been enriched by his discoveries. And such 

 must be the fate of the followers in his footsteps for 

 some time to come. 



But there will be those in the future who will study 

 nature from pure love, and for them higher prizes 

 than any yet obtained are wailing. We have but 

 yet commenced our pursuit of science, and stand 

 upon the threshold wondering what there is within. 

 We explain the motion of the planet by the law o{ 

 gravitation; but who will explain how two bodies, 

 millions of miles apart, tend to go toward each other 

 with a certain force '! 



We now weigh and measure electricity and electric 

 currents with as much ease as ordinary matter, yet 

 have we made any approach to an explanation of the 

 phenomenon of electricity ? Light is an undulatory 

 motion, and yet do we know what it is that uiulu- 

 lates ? Heat is motion, yet do we know what it is 

 that moves? Ordinary matter is a common sub- 

 stance, and yet who shall fathom the mystery of its 

 internal constitution ? 



There is room for all in the work, and the race has 

 but commenced. The problems are not to be solved 

 in a moment, but need the best work of the best 

 minds, for an indefinite time. 



Shall our country be contented to st.and by, while 

 other countries le.ad in the race ? Shall we always 

 grovel in the dust, and pick up the crumbs which 

 fall from the rich man's table, considering ourselves 

 richer than he because we have more crumbs, while 

 we forget that he has the cake, which is llie s<iurceof 

 all crumbs ? Shall we be swine, to whom the corn and 

 husks are of more value than the pearls'? If I read 

 aright the signs of the times, I think we shall not 

 always be contented with our inferior position. 

 From looking down we have almost become blind, 

 but may recover. In a new country, the necessities 

 of life must he attended to first. The curse of Adam 

 is upon us all, and we must earn our bread. 



But it is the mission of applied science to render 

 this easier for the whole world. There is a story 

 which I once read, which will illustrate the true posi- 

 tion of applied science in the world. A boy, more 

 fond of reading than of work, was employed, in the 

 early days of the steam-engine, to turn the valve at 

 every stroke. Necessity was the mother of invention 

 in his ca<e: his reading was disturbed by his work, 

 and he soon discovered that he might become free 

 from his work by so tying the valve to some mov- 

 able portion of the engine, as to make it move its 

 own valve. So I consider that the true pursuit of 

 mankind is intellectual. The scientific study of na- 

 ture in all its branches, of mathematics, of mankind 

 in lis past and present, the pursuit of art, and the 

 cultivation of all that is great and noble in the world, 

 — these are the highest occupation of mankind. Com- 

 merce, the applications of science, the accumulation 



