Men of Science and the General Public. 217 



huge dynamo illuminating the tower of a light-house. That 

 which he had given to the world as an infant, in his splen- 

 did discovery of induction, had, through the fostering care 

 of others, grown to a brilliant manhood, and he experienced 

 exquisite pleasure in the reflection that it might be the 

 means of saving the lives of his fellow-men. The ideal of 

 duty which ought to be present in the mind of every man 

 of science may well be higher than that growing out of mere 

 selfish pleasure in the acquisition and possession of know- 

 ledge. 



Perhaps it is hardly becoming in me, at this time and in 

 some sense representing this large body of scientific men, 

 to make even a simple remark in criticism of the general 

 public, the party of the second part of the question which 

 we have considered to-night. I venture to suggest, how- 

 ever, that whenever the public is disposed to consider its 

 obligations to science and her votaries, there are some 

 things which must not be forgotten ; — things so important 

 and so numerous, indeed, that many volumes would be in- 

 adequate to their enumeration. Prove this by comparing 

 the world with science with the world without science. Take 

 as an illustration that which less than two hundred years 

 ago was but a spark, a faint spark, exhibited on rare occa- 

 sions by the scientific man of the time. With this spark, 

 thanks to science, the whole world is now aflame. Time 

 and space are practically annihilated ; night is turned into 

 day; social life is almost revolutionized, and scores of things 

 which only a few years ago would have been pronounced 

 impossible, are being accomplished daily. Many millions of 

 dollars of capital, and many thousands of men, are engaged 

 in the development of this agent, so purely a creation of 

 science, that the Supreme Court of the land has already de- 

 cided that it has no material existence. Surely science, 

 which has brought us all these blessings, together wilh thou- 

 sands besides, is worthy of every care and consideration at 

 the hands of a generous and appreciative public. 



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