270 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 504. 



should study what makes life of man good 

 and happy, is occupied in justifying the 

 existing evil conditions, while another part 

 spends its time solving questions of idle 

 curiosity. ' ' He does not apparently realize 

 that science promotes a certain continuity 

 of ideas, as well as the intellectual and 

 moral education of the nations. 



There exist, indeed, and always will exist, many 

 deplorable things, much suffering, and much 

 wickedness in the world; but it is to the credit 

 of science that, instead of lulling mortals with 

 the feeling of their powerlessness into passivity 

 of resignation, it has urged them to react against 

 destiny, and has taught them the sure way by 

 which they can diminish the sum of woe and 

 injustice, and increase their happiness and that 

 of their fellows. It has not accomplished this 

 by means of verbal exhortations or a priori rea- 

 soning, but by virtue of processes and words really 

 efficacious, because they are acquired from the 

 study of conditions of existence and the causes 

 of evil. 



Further, as the editor of The Popular 

 Science Monthly has said: 



The advance of science is evidenced in number- 

 less ways, but our weightiest proof of it is foimd 

 in the gradual acceptance of enlarged in place of 

 narrower views of the subject. New discoveries 

 are important; the widening of the ranges of re- 

 search is important; the extension of generaliza- 

 tion and better organization of positive knowledge 

 are important; but more important still is the 

 growing general recognition that science is the 

 grand agency in modern times for reshaping the 

 common opinions of the community. 



The local elevating effect of work in pure 

 science is the taking a man away from the 

 sordid things of the world, and 



No life can be pure in its purpose, and strong in 



its strife, 

 And all life not be purer and stronger thereby. 



By this I would not be understood as 

 placing him who works only in pure science 

 on a pedestal, or intimate that he is su- 

 perior to the other who makes a practical 

 outcome of his scientific work the main 

 object. I am well aware of the eloquent 

 statements about this being an industrial 



age and the duty of young men to seek a 

 technological education. Far be it from my 

 purpose to exhibit the least antagonism to 

 the general spirit of such appeals, for I 

 endeavor to teach much of the same thing, 

 but in it all and with it all, I would urge 

 that the pure science be either kept ahead 

 or abreast of commercial progress. Neither 

 the pure nor the practical deserves to be 

 developed alone. They are inter-dependent 

 and have always grown together. The pure 

 research has been utilized later in practise. 

 Industrial demands have stimiilated in- 

 vestigation. Illustrations abound. The 

 destiny of nations has been changed by 

 scientific investigations prompted either by 

 search for research sake or by a commer- 

 cial call. The history of indigo reads like 

 a novel, for chemists have accomplished the 

 task, not of producing artificial indigo, but 

 the genuine indigo by artificial means. 

 The modern spirit of pure science thus ele- 

 vates man's ideals and that of the applied 

 adds to his comfort, pleasure and happiness. 

 In advocating Du Bois Reymond's 'Hel- 

 lenism ' or the love of humanistic and scien- 

 tific culture for its own sake, apart from all 

 considerations of profit and advantage, I 

 would not be understood as 



Nourishing a youth sublime 

 With the fairy tales of science. 



While I maintain that the dollar should 

 not be the guiding star, there is no objec- 

 tion to dwelling upon the practical value 

 of science; for, as Huxley has said: "It 

 has become obvious that the interests of 

 science and industry are identical; that 

 science can not make a step forward with- 

 out, sooner or later, opening up new chan- 

 nels for industry; and, on the other hand, 

 that every advance of industry facilitates 

 those experimental investigations upon 

 which the growth of science depends. ' ' 



It is well understood by those who have 

 knowledge of the problem that the first line 



