December 10, 1886.J 



SCIENCJE, 



549 



At all events, I think it veiy doubtful whether 

 the jealousies and desire for position for one's self 

 or one's friends which exist under present circum- 

 stances would be materially diminished inider any- 

 other form of organization, even under a depart- 

 ment of science. 



Some conflict of interests now exists, it is ti'ue ; 

 some work is dviplicited ; but neither the conflict 

 nor the duplication are necessarily wholly evil in 

 themselves, nor in so far as they are evil are they 

 necessai-y parts of the present system . This system 

 is of the nature of a growth ; it is organic, and not 

 a mere pudding-stone aggregation of heterogeneous 

 materials, and the wise course is to correct improper 

 bendings and twistings gradually, prune judicious- 

 ly, and go slow in trying to secure radical changes 

 lest death or permanent deformity result. 



It will be seen that in what I have said I have 

 not attempted to eulogize science or scientists in 

 the abstract. I should be very sorry, however, to 

 have given any one the impression that I think 

 they should not be eulogized. Having read a 

 number of eloquent tributes to their importance 

 by way of inducing a proper frame of mind in 

 whicli to prepare this address, it is possible that I 

 overdid it a little, and was in a sort of reaction 

 stage when I began to write. But the more I 

 have thought on the subject, and the more care- 

 fully I have sought to analyze the motives and 

 character of those of my acquaintances who are 

 either engaged in scientific work or who wish to 

 be considered as so doing, and to compare them 

 with those who have no pretensions to science, 

 and who make none, the more I have been con- 

 vinced that upon the whole the eulogium is the 

 proper thing to give, and that it is not wise to be 

 critical as to the true inwardness of all that we 

 see or hear. 



Ac least nine-tenths of the praises which have 

 been heaped upon sci entitle men as a body are 

 thoroughly well deserved. Among them are to 

 be found a very large proportion of true gentlemen, 

 larger, I think, than is to be found in any other 

 class of men, — men characterized by modesty, un- 

 seltishness, scrupulous honesty, and truthfulness, 

 and by the full performance of their family and 

 social duties. 



Even their foibles may be likable. A little 

 vanity or thirst for publicity, zeal in claiming 

 priority of discovery, or undue wrath over the 

 other scientist's theory, does not and should not 

 detract from the esteem in whicli we hold them. 

 A very good way of viewing characteristics which 

 we do not like is to bear in mind that different 

 parts of the brain have different functions ; that 

 all of them cannot act at once, and that their ten- 

 dencies are sometimes contradictory. 



There are times when a scientific man does not 

 think scientifically, when he does not want to so 

 think, and possibly when it is best that he should 

 not so think. There is wisdom in Sam. Lawson's 

 remark that "folks that are always telling you 

 what they don't believe are sort o' stringy and 

 dry. There ain't no 'sorption got out o' not be- 

 lieving nothing." At one time the emotional, at 

 another the intellectual, side of the scientific man 

 has the ascendency, and one must appeal from 

 one state to the other. Were scientific thinking 

 rigorously carried out to practical results in every- 

 day life, there would be some very remarkable 

 social changes, and perhaps some very disagree- 

 able ones. 



That scientific pursuits give great pleasure with- 

 out reference to their utility, or to the fame or 

 profit to be derived from them, that they tend 

 to make a man good company to himself and to 

 bring him into pleasant associations, is certain ; 

 and that a man's own pleasure and happiness are 

 things to be sought for in his work and compan- 

 ionship is also certain. If in this address I have 

 ventured to hint that this may not be the only, 

 nor even the most important, object in life, — 

 that one may be a scientific man, or even a man 

 of science, and yet not be worthy of special rev- 

 erence because he may be at the same time an in- 

 tensely selfish man, and even a vicious man, — I 

 hope that it is clearly understood that it is with 

 no intention of depreciating the glory of science, 

 or the honor which is due to the large number of 

 scientific gentlemen whom I see around me. A 

 scientific gentleman ! All praise to him who 

 merits this title : it is the blue ribbon of our day. 



We live in a fortunate time and place, — in the 

 early manhood of a mighty nation, and in its 

 capital city, which every year makes more beauti- 

 ful, and richer in the treasures of science, litera- 

 ture, and art, which all the keels of the sea and 

 the iron roads of the l-and are bringing to it. 

 Life implies death ; growth presages decay ; but' 

 we have good reasons for hoping that for our 

 country and our people the evil days are yet far 

 off. Yet we may not rest and eat lotus ; we may 

 not devote oar lives to our own pleasure, even 

 though it be pleasure derived from scientific in- 

 vestigation. No man lives for himself alone : the 

 scientific man should do so, least of all. There 

 never was a time when the world had more need 

 of him, and there never was a time when more 

 care was needful lest his torch should prove a fire- 

 brand and destroy more than it illuminates. 



The old creeds are quivering ; shifting ; chan- 

 ging like the colored flames on the surface of the 

 Bessemer crucible. They are being analyzed, and 

 accounted for, and toned down, and explained, 



