THE DEBT OF THE WORLD TO PURE SCIENCE. 331 



found more tliau liiigeiiug doubts iu the minds of their constituents. 

 But when the marls were proved to contain materials which the 

 chemist Liebig had shown to be all imi^ortaut for plants, the condi- 

 tions were changed and criticism ceased. The dismal sands of eastern 

 ISTew Jersey, affording- only a scanty living for pines and grasses, were 

 converted by application of the marl into gardens of unsurpassed 

 fertility. Yanuxem's study of the stratigraphy and Morton's study of 

 the fossils had made clear the distribution of the marls, and the survey 

 scattered the information broadcast. 



Morton and Conrad, with others scarcely less devoted, labored in 

 season and out of season to systematize the study of fossil animals. 

 There were not wanting educated men who wondered why students 

 of such undoubted ability wasted themselves in trifling employment 

 instead of doing something worthy of themselves so as to acquire money 

 and fame. Much nearer to our own time there were wise legislators 

 who questioned the wisdom of "wasting money on pictures of clams 

 and salamanders," though the same men appreciated the geologist who 

 could tell them the depth of a coal bed below the surface. But the 

 lead diggers of Illinois and Iowa long ago learned the use of paleon- 

 tology, for the " lead fossil" was their guide in prospecting. The impor- 

 tance and practical application of this science, so largely the outgrowth 

 of unappreciated toil in this country as well as in Europe, is told best 

 in Professor Hall's reply to a patronizing politician's query : "And what 

 are your old fossils good for"?" "For this: Take me blindfolded in a 

 balloon; drop me where you will; if I can find some fossils I'll tell you 

 in ten minutes for what minerals you may look and for what minerals 

 you need not look." 



Many regard botany as a pleasing study, well fitted for women and 

 dilletanti, but hardly deserving attention by strong men. Those who 

 speak thus only exercise the prerogative of ignorance, which is to 

 despise that which one is too old or too lazy to learn. The botanist's 

 work is not complete when the carefully-gathered specimen has been 

 placed in the herbarium with its proper label. That is but the begin- 

 ning, for he seeks the relations of plants in all phases. In seeking these 

 he discovers facts which often prove to be of cardinal importance. The 

 rust which destroys wheat in the last stage of ripening, the disgusting 

 fungus which blasts Indian corn, the poisonous ergot in rye, the blight 

 of the pear and other fruits, fall as much within the botanist's study 

 as do the flowers of the garden or the Sequoias of the Sierra. IsTot a few 

 of the plant diseases which have threatened famine or disaster have 

 been studied by batanists unknown to the world, whose explanations 

 have led to palliation or cure. 



The ichthyologist, studying the habits of fishes, discovered charac- 

 teristics which promptly commended themselves to men of practical 

 bent. The important industry of artificial fertilization and the trans- 

 portation of fish eggs, which has enabled man to restock exhausted 



