228 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1158 



ministers to our material needs. The dis- 

 tinction, therefore, is based upon material 

 output. In other words, pure science only 

 knows things, while applied science knows 

 how to do things. Since the modern Amer- 

 ican community believes chiefly in doing 

 things, pure science seems to it useless, and 

 the reaction of this sentiment upon oppor- 

 tunities for the cultivation of pure science 

 is obvious. 



I must confess that this feeling is too 

 often intensified by those of us who are 

 university investigators. "We believe in 

 knowing things, quite apart from their 

 usefulness ; and therefore we are in danger 

 of regarding applied science as a waste of 

 investigative energy, and its devotees ap- 

 pear to be unscientific; very useful, but 

 not to be recognized as belonging to the 

 scientific cult, the cult of explorers. 



I wish now to outline a campaign of 

 education which should lead to a general 

 appreciation of the fact that botanical ex- 

 ploration can be made our most important 

 national asset. The relation between pure 

 and applied botany can be presented in a 

 series of illustrations by outlining the 

 usual steps that have been taken in ■ the 

 material service of botany to mankind. 



In one case an investigator is attracted 

 by a problem. No thought of its usefulness 

 in a material way is in his mind ; he wishes 

 simply to make a contribution to knowl- 

 edge. He succeeds in solving his problem 

 and is satisfied. Later, perhaps many years 

 later, some other scientific man discovers 

 that the results of the former may be used 

 to revolutionize some empirical practise of 

 agriculture. The application is made, but 

 the public hears only of the second man, 

 the one who made the practical applica- 

 tion. Obviously, however, both men were 

 of great material service. The ratio that 

 exists between scientific men of the first 

 type and those of the second is not known, 

 but there is very great disparity. 



In another case, an investigator is at- 

 tracted by a problem whose solution may 

 serve the community. He succeeds in solv- 

 ing it, perhaps makes his own application, 

 and is satisfied. Later another scientific 

 man discovers that the results of the former 

 may be used to revolutionize certain funda- 

 mental conceptions of biological science. 

 His statement is made and the scientific 

 world recognizes only the second man, the 

 pure scientist, but both men were of large 

 scientific service. 



It is evident that responsibility for the 

 practical results of our science is to be 

 shared by those engaged in pure science 

 and those engaged in applied science. The 

 only distinction, therefore, is not in the re- 

 sult, but in the intent. In fact., the differ- 

 ence between pure science and applied sci- 

 ence in their practical aspects resolves it- 

 self into the difference between murder and 

 manslaughter; it lies in the intention. In 

 every end result of science that reaches the 

 public there is an inextricable tangle of 

 contributions. Between the source of 

 energy and the point of application there 

 may be much machinery, and perhaps none 

 of it can be eliminated from the final esti- 

 mate of values. And yet the public has 

 been gazing at the practical electric light, 

 and forgetting the unseen and therefore 

 apparently impractical power house. 



All science is one. Pure science is often 

 immensely practical, applied science is 

 often very pure science, and between the 

 two there is no dividing line. They are 

 like the end members of a long and inter- 

 grading series; very distinct in their iso- 

 lated and extreme expression, but com- 

 pletely connected. If distinction must be 

 expressed in terms where no sharp distinc- 

 tion exists, it may be expressed by the terms 

 "fundamental" and "superficial." They 

 are terms of comparison and admit of every 

 intergrade. In general, a university de- 

 voted to research should be interested in 



