248 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. n., No. 20. 



talk about equality can ever subvert the order of the 

 universe. 



I know of no institution in this country viihere as- 

 sistants are supplied to aid directly in research. Yet 

 why should it not be so? And even the absence of 

 assistant professors and assistants of all kinds, to aid 

 in teaching, is very noticeable, and must be remedied 

 before we can expect much. 



There are many physical problems, especially those 

 requiring exact measurements, which cannot be 

 carried out by one man, and can only be success- 

 fully attacked by the most elaborate apparatus, and 

 with a full corps of assistants. Such are Regnault's 

 e.xperiments on the fundamental laws of gases and 

 vapors, made thirty or forty years ago by aid from the 

 French government, and which are the standards to 

 this day.. Although these experiments were made 

 with a view to Die practical calculation of the steam- 

 engine, yet they were carried out in such a broad 

 spirit that they have been of the greatest theoretical 

 use. Again, what would astronomy have done with- 

 out the endowments of observatories? By their 

 means, that science has become the most perfect of 

 all branches of physics, as it should be from its sim- 

 plicity. There is no doubt, in ray mind, that similar 

 institutions for other branches of physics, or, better, 

 to include the whole of physics, would be equally suc- 

 cessful. A large and perfectly equipped physical 

 laboratory with its large revenues, its corps of pi'o- 

 fessors and assistants, and its machine-shop for the 

 construction of new apparatus, would be able to ad- 

 vance our science quite as much as endowed ob- 

 servatories have astronomy. But • such a laboratory 

 should not be founded rashly. The value will de- 

 pend entirely on the physicist at its head, who has to 

 devise the plan, and to start it into practical work- 

 ing. Such a man will always be rare, and cannot 

 always be obtained. After one had been successfully 

 started, others could follow; for imitation requires 

 little brains. 



One could not be certain of getting the proper man 

 every time, but the means of appointment should be 

 most carefully studied so, as to secure a good average. 

 There can be no doubt that the appointment should 

 rest with a scientific body capable of judging the high- 

 est work of each candidate. 



Should any popular element enter, the person 

 chosen woidd be either of the literary-scientific order, 

 or the dabbler on the outskirts who presents his small 

 discoveries in the most theatrical manner. What is 

 required is a man of depth, who has such an insight 

 into physical science that he can tell when blows will 

 best tell for its advancement. 



Such a grand laboratory as I describe does not exist 

 in the world, at present, for the study of physics. But 

 no trouble has ever been found in obtaining means to 

 endow astronomical science. Everybody can appre- 

 ciate, to some extent, the value of an observatory; as 

 astronomy is the simplest of scientific subjects, and 

 has very quickly reached a position where elaborate 

 instruments and costly computations are necessary to 

 further advance. The whole domain of physics is so 

 wide that workers have hitherto found enough to do. 



But it cannot- always be so, and the time has even 

 now arrived wlien such a grand laboratory should be 

 founded. Shall our country take the lead in this mat- 

 ter, or shall we wait for foreign countries to go be- 

 fore ? They will be built in the future, but when and 

 how is the question. 



Several institutions are now putting up laboratories 

 for physics. They are mostly for teaching, and we 

 can expect only a comparatively small amount of 

 work from most of them. But they show progress; 

 and, if the progress be as quick in this direction as in 

 others, we should be able to see a great change before 

 the end of our lives. 



As stated before, men are influenced by the sym- 

 pathy of those with whom they come in contact. It 

 is impossible to immediately change public opinion 

 in our favor; and, indeed, we must always seek to 

 lead it, and not be guided by it. For pure science is 

 the pioneer who must not hover about cities and 

 civilized countries, but must strike into unknown 

 forests, and climb the hitherto inaccessible mountains 

 which lead to and command a view of the promised 

 land, — the land which science promises us in the 

 future; which shall not only flow with milk and honey, 

 but shall give us a better and more glorious idea of 

 this wonderful universe. We must create a public 

 opiriion in our favor, but it need not at first be the 

 general public. We must be contented to stand aside, 

 and see the honors of the world for a time given to 

 our inferiors ; and must be better contented with the 

 approval of our own consciences, and of the very few 

 who are capable of judging our work, than of the 

 whole world beside. Let us look to the other physi- 

 cists, not in our own town, not in our own country, 

 but in the whole world, for the words of praise which 

 are to encourage us, or the words of blame which are 

 to stimulate us to renewed effort. For what to us is 

 the praise of the ignorant ? Let us join together in 

 the bonds of our scientific societies, and encourage 

 each other, as we are now doing, in the pursuit of 

 our favorite study ; knowing that the world will some 

 time recognize our services, and knowing, also, that 

 we constitute the most important element in human 

 progress. 



But danger is also near, even in our societies. 

 When the average tone of the society is low, when the 

 highest honors are given to the mediocre, when third- 

 class men are held up as examples, and when trifling 

 inventions are magnified into scientific discoveries, 

 then the influence of such societies is prejudicial. A 

 young scientist attending the meetings of such a so- 

 ciety soon gets perverted ideas. To his mind, a mole- 

 hill is a mountain, and the mountain a molehill. The 

 small inventor or the local celebrity rises to a greater 

 height, in his mind, than the great leader of science 

 in some foreign land. He gauges himself by the 

 molehill, and is satisfied with his stature ; not knowing 

 that he is but an atom in comparison with the moun- 

 tain, until, perhaps, in old age, when it is too late. 

 But, if the size of the mountain had been seen at 

 first, the young scientist would at least have been 

 stimulated in his endeavor to grow. 

 We cannot all be men of genius; but we can, at 



