190 STEVENSOAr, 



duties of science teaching, involving too often much physical 

 labor, from which teachers of other subjects are happily free,. 

 should conduct investigations at their own expense and in hours 

 devoted by others to relaxation. Even were the pecuniary cost 

 comparatively small, to impose that would be unjust, for, with 

 few exceptions, the results are given to the world without com- 

 pensation. Scientific men are accustomed to regard patents 

 much as regular physicians regard advertising. 



America owes much to closet students as well as to educated 

 inventors who have been trained in scientific modes of thought. 

 The extraordinary development of our material resources — our 

 manufacturing, mining and transporting interests — shows that 

 the strengthening of our educational institutions on the scientific 

 side brings actual profit to the community. But most of this 

 strengthening is due primarily to the unremunerated toil of men 

 dependent on the meagre salary of college instructors or gov- 

 ernment officials in subordinate positions. Their aptitude to fit 

 others for usefulness, coming only from long training, was ac- 

 quired in hours stolen from sleep or from time needed for re- 

 cuperation. But the labors of such men have been so fruitful 

 in results that we can no longer depend on the surplus energy 

 of scientific men, unless we consent to remain stationary. If 

 the rising generation is to make the most of our country's op- 

 portunities it must be educated by men who are not compelled 

 to acquire aptness at the cost of vitality. The proper relation of 

 teaching labor to investigation labor should be recognized, and 

 investigation, rather than social, religious or political activity, 

 should be a part of the duty assigned to college instructors. 



Our universities and scientific societies ought to have en- 

 dowments specifically for aid in research. The fruits of investi- 

 gations due to Smithson's bequest have multiplied his estate 

 hundreds of times over to the world's advantage. He said well 

 that his name would be remembered long after the names and 

 memory of the Percy and Northumberland families had passed 

 away. Hodgson's bequest to the Smithsonian is still too re- 

 cent to have borne much fruit, but men already wonder at the 

 fruitfulness of a field supposed to be well explored. NobeL 



