SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 262. 



This far we have considered only Orton's 

 work in pure science, but his work in ap- 

 plied science was of equal or greater im- 

 portance, and it was in this field that his 

 personality was most marked. I trust that 

 you will bear with me in another digression 

 at this point, for his life serves to illustrate 

 certain peculiarities of the relation of man 

 to science which are not always kept clearly 

 in view. 



It is a matter of common understanding 

 that scientific knowledge, or knowledge of 

 nature, is the foundation of the material 

 progress of the race, but the method 

 through which it serves this purpose is 

 perhaps less bi'oadly understood. Through 

 research the body of ' natural knowledge ' 

 has been created and is constantly increased. 

 This body of knowledge is a storehouse 

 from which men may draw that which 

 they find useful, and from which they do, 

 in fact, make drafts at every stage of prog- 

 ress. But the store of knowledge grows 

 quite independently of the drafts which are 

 made upon it. The utility of the individ- 

 ual grains of knowledge is not foreseen, and 

 their accumulation is always much faster 

 than their utilization. So far as we may 

 judge the future by the past, only a small 

 portion of the garnered knowledge will ever 

 find practical application, and thus, from 

 the purely utilitarian standpoint, there is 

 an immense waste of energy in the prosecu- 

 tion of research. This only illustrates the 

 general fact that mankind is a part of 

 nature, for in nature the ways of progress 

 are ever wasteful. The acorn is nature's 

 device to prevent the extermination of the 

 oak, and an oak tree in its long lifetime 

 produces a myriad of fertile acorns, but 

 only one of these, on the average, escapes 

 all the dangers of immaturity so as to de- 

 velop a perfect tree ; the others fail for lack 

 of opportunity, and, so far as the continu- 

 ance of the species is concerned, are wasted. 



The gathering of this great store of nat- 



ural knowledge, only part of which can 

 serve the purposes of mankind, is called 

 pure science. The utilization of such por- 

 tion as may be found available constitutes 

 applied science. If the practical ends of 

 applied science constituted the only motive 

 for labor in pure science, mankind would 

 be appalled and discouraged by the enor- 

 mity of the waste ; but, fortunately for 

 human progress, another motive exists in 

 the love of knowledge for its own sake. 



Every activity which is so often repeated 

 as to become habitual affects mental con- 

 stitution and may result in a corresponding 

 sentiment, appetite or instinct, which in 

 turn becomes a motive for the activity. 

 Take, for example, the fundamental act of 

 eating, which is essential to preservation of 

 life and is common to all animals. There 

 has been developed in connection with it a 

 desire to eat, or appetite, which for most 

 sentient beings is the actual motive, there 

 being no perception of the relation of food 

 to life. Men associated in communities 

 find acivantage in the classification and 

 division of labor so that each shall perform 

 some one function for others as well as for 

 himself, being repaid through equivalent 

 service by others. In order to exchange 

 labor, or the products of labor, good faith 

 is necessary, and cooperative living has 

 accordingly developed the sentiment of 

 honesty. Moreover, as industrial organiza- 

 tion makes each individual continually 

 work for others more -than for himself, 

 there is developed in him a sentiment im- 

 pelling him to do for others, the sentiment 

 of altruism. Again, the importance of 

 social aggregation in the evolution of all 

 phases of human culture has led to the 

 creation of great nations, and national ex- 

 istence has engendered national sentiment, 

 the sentiment of patriotism, but the masses 

 actuated by patriotism as a motive have 

 little conception of the value of aggrega- 

 tion as a factor in human development. 



