82 
at its expense, to augment the stock of such 
knowledge as may serve to promote indus- 
trial enterprise, to increase wealth, to adorn 
life, to improve political and social relations 
and to further the moral development of in- 
dividual citizens. After the immediate 
practical results of their work we forbear 
to inquire; that we leave to the unin- 
structed. Weare convinced that whatever 
contributes to the knowledge of the forces 
of nature or the powers of the human mind 
is worth cherishing, and may, in its own 
due time, bear practical fruit, very often 
where we should least have expected it.” 
Helmholtz in this most influential essay 
enforces his point by citing Galvani and 
Galileo and continues: ‘‘ Whoever, in the 
pursuit of science, seeks after immediate 
practical utility may generally rest assured 
that he will seek in vain. All that science 
ean achieve is a perfect knowledge and a 
perfect understanding of the action of nat- 
ural and moral forces. * * * At the same 
time we must acknowledge that the value 
of scientific discoveries is now far more fully 
recognized than formerly by public opinion, 
and that instances of the authors of great 
advances in science starving in obscurity 
have become rarer and rarer. On the con- 
trary, the government and peoples of Eu- 
rope have, asarule, admitted it to be their 
duty to recompense distinguished achieve- 
ments in science by appropriate appoint- 
ments or special rewards.” 
Upon the general contention of Helm- 
holtz as to the ultimate practical importance 
of pure scientific work, Dr. Galloway will 
speak from the standpoint of botany and 
Dr. Howard from the standpoint of applied 
entomology. 
Of European countries Germany places 
in its budget the largest productive invest- 
ments of this kind; France is not far behind, 
England is perhaps fourth and affords a 
conspicuous example of blindness and fatu- 
ity in the matter of unproductive invest- 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Vo. XIII. No. 316. 
ment; she has, it is true, established textile 
schools, but has not sufficiently supported 
technical schools ; the cost of a single bat- 
tleship would establish four splendidly 
equipped technical schools ; England secures 
the ship and postpones the construction of 
the schools. All this is through no fault of 
her prophets of science, who have been as 
persistent as Jeremiah in foretelling the 
consequences which are sure to follow. 
Yet England gave Darwin his schooling 
upon the Beagle; Huxley secured his upon 
the Rattlesnake. As a sea-faring nation 
marine zoology appeals to her imagination, 
and the single notable departure from her 
short-sighted policy in the encouragement 
of pure science is the magnificent service 
she has rendered in the Challenger expedi- 
tion. Our own Dana was trained upon the 
Wilkes expedition; the French Government 
equipped the Talisman; the German govern- 
ment is supporting the highly successful 
cruise of the Valdivia and its publications 
under Chun; the U. S. Government has a 
permanent exploring vessel in the Albatross. 
In this rivalry of foresightedness the Ger- 
man and French governments have been 
our keenest competitors both on sea and 
land, and have probably surpassed us in the 
recognition of the ultimate economy of pure 
research. In Germany, quite apart from the 
extension of the technical school system 
which to-day is placing her in the lead 
of all the manufacturing states of Europe, 
one recalls the annual grant to the Naples 
Zoological Station. Her most admirable 
recent action is the subvention of Profes- 
sor Abbe for his investigations upon optics. 
Abbe’s work was not in the nature of 
invention, but of research and discovery 
in the highest sense resulting in the pro- 
duction of an illuminating stage, apochro- 
matic and achromatic immersion lenses, 
which have fairly revolutionized biology. 
What we owe to these lenses in a theoret- 
ical sense could not be stated in a single 
