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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 201 



the aQiount of knowledge he possesses, or in what 

 he does with it, as in the intensity and purity of 

 his desire for knowledge. 



This so-called thirst for knowledge must be 

 closely analogous to an instinctive desire for exer- 

 cise of an organ or faculty, such as that which 

 leads a rat to gnaw or a man of fine physique to 

 delight in exercise. Such instincts should not be 

 neglected. If the rat does not gnaw, his teeth 

 will become inconvenient or injurious to himself, 

 but it is not clear that he deserves any specia,! 

 eulogium merely because he gnaws. 



It will be observed that the definition of a scien- 

 tific man or man of science, says nothing about 

 his manners or morals. We may infer that a man 

 devoted to science would have neither time nor 

 inclination for dissipation or vice ; that he would 

 be virtuous either because of being passionless or 

 because of his clear foresight of the consequences 

 of yielding to temptation. 



My own experience, however, would indicate 

 that either this inference is not correct or that 

 some supposed scientific men have been wrongly 

 classified as such. How far the possession of a 

 scientific mind and of scientific knowledge com- 

 pensates, or atones for, ill-breeding or immorality, 

 for surliness, vanity, and petty jealousy, for neg- 

 lect of wife or children, for uncleanliness, physical 

 and mental, is a question which can only be an- 

 swered in each individual case ; but the mere fact 

 that a man desires knowledge for its own sake 

 appears to me to have little to do with such ques- 

 tions. I would prefer to know whether the man's 

 knowledge and work are of any use to his fellow- 

 men, whether he is the cause of some happiness 

 in others which would not exist without him. 

 And it may be noted that while utility is of small 

 account in the eyes of some eulogists of the man 

 of science, they almost invariably base their claims 

 for his honor and support upon his usefulness. 



The precise limit beyond which a scientist 

 should not make iconey has not yet been pre- 

 cisely determined, but in this vicinity there are 

 some reasons for thinking that the maximum 

 limit is about $5,000 per annum. If there are any 

 members of the Philosophical society of Washing- 

 ton who are making more than this, or who, as 

 the result of careful and scientific intro.-pection, 

 discover in themselves the dawning of a desire to 

 make more than this, they may console them- 

 selves with the reflection that the precise ethics 

 and etiquette which should govern their action 

 under such painful circumstances have not yet 

 been formulated. The more they demonstrate 

 their indifference to mere pecuniary considera- 

 tions, the more creditable it is to them ; so much 

 all are agreed upon ; but this is nothing new, nor 



is it specially applicable to scientists. Yet while 

 each may and must settle such questions as re- 

 gards himself for himself, let him be very cautious 

 and chary about trj ing to settle them for other 

 people. Denunciations of other men engaged in 

 scientific pursuits on the ground that theii* motives 

 are not the proper ones, are often based on insuf- 

 ficient or inaccurate knowledge, and seldom, I 

 think, do good. 



This is a country and an age of hurrj-, and there 

 seems to be a desire to rush scientific work as well 

 as other things. One might suppose, from some 

 of the literature on the subject, that the great ob- 

 ject is to make discoveries as fast as possible ; to 

 get all the mathematical problems worked out ; 

 all the chemical combinations made : all the in- 

 sects and plants properly labelled ; all the bones 

 and muscles of every animal figured and described. 

 From the point of view of the man of science 

 there does not seem to be occasion for such haste. 

 Suppose that every living thing were known, 

 figured, and described. Would the naturalist be 

 any hapjiier? Those who wish to make use of the 

 results of scientific investigation of course desire 

 to hasten the work, and when they furnish the 

 means we cannot object to their urgency ; more- 

 over, there is certainly no occasion to fear that 

 our stock of that peculiar forui of bliss known as 

 ignorance will be soon materially diminished. 



Frcm my individual point of view, one of the 

 prominent features in the scientific procession is 

 that part of it which is connected with govern- 

 ment work. Our society brings together a laige 

 number of scientific men connected with the 

 various departments ; some of them original in- 

 vestigators ; most of them men whose chief, 

 though not only, pleasure is study. A few of 

 them have important administrative duties, and 

 are brought into close relations with the heads of 

 departments and with congress. Upon men in 

 such positions a double demand is made, and they 

 are subject to ci'iticism from two very different 

 stand-points. On the one hand are the scientists, 

 calling for investigations which shall increase 

 knowledge without special reference to utility, 

 and sometimes asking that employment be given 

 to a particular scientist on the ground that the 

 work to which he wishes to devote himself is of 

 no known use, and therefore will not support him. 

 On the other hand is the demand from the business 

 men's point of view, — that they shall show prac- 

 tical results ; that in demands for appropriations 

 from the public funds they shall demonstrate that 

 the use to be niade of such appropriations is for 

 the public good, and that their accounts shall show 

 that tLe money has been properly expended, — 

 'properly' not meiely in the sense of usefully, 



