598 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



wrong and the judgment of the public not to be trusted. Some praise 

 may very well be given to the manufacturer and a great deal more to the 

 inventor, for the work of each is essential to the good of the public ; but, 

 after all, the real honor is due the investigator who, by patient research 

 and keenness of insight, discovered the laws that made possible the in- 

 vention and its uses. Only let some genius discover electrical waves and 

 in time there will be devised many systems of wireless telegraphy, or let 

 the mysterious X-ray and how to produce it be revealed and soon there 

 will be hundreds of clever devices for its practical use. And so it is 

 through all the arts and all the sciences, where there is one to lead and 

 discover there are many to follow and apply, and countless millions to 

 enjoy. A Newton, a Darwin, a Pasteur, rarely is found, but wherever 

 he may be there are, besides himself, many others who can and who do 

 perform the necessary, but always secondary, function of turning his 

 discoveries to every-day uses so that all mankind, as long thereafter as 

 the race may last, can live more securely and more happily. 



It is man's power of investigation and of discovery that enables him 

 to bring the forces of nature to his aid, without which help he would 

 perish wholly or at best live only as the beasts of the forest. It is 

 science that makes two blades of grass grow where but one grew before, 

 and this is basic, for by it we conquer in the struggle for existence. It 

 is basic because self-preservation is everywhere and always the first law 

 of nature, and because whatever else happens, and before any higher 

 development is possible, our physical needs must be provided for. 



The author fully concurs in every claim that can be made for the 

 intellectual and the moral uplift due to the beautiful and the artistic, 

 whether in literature, music, painting or any other form whatsoever in 

 which they can find expression; but these are apart from his present 

 discussion which concerns the knowledge of nature's laws and their ap- 

 plication to human affairs. Neither is he unmindful of nor without ap- 

 preciation for the great good, other than material, that follows in the 

 wake of scientific study and investigation. He believes that the declara- 

 tion : " The truth shall make you free," is as applicable and as necessary 

 to things intellectual as to things spiritual ; but he also holds that those 

 truths of nature that aid in providing for our daily needs are just as 

 effective as any others in freeing the human mind from the bondages of 

 fear and of superstition, and that therefore only those truths that offer 

 definite applications, and those essential to a better understanding of 

 nature and a fuller control of her forces, are really worthy to be sought 

 after patiently and diligently. 



However, the possible usefulness of an investigation is a point to 

 be considered, if ever at all, in determining what question to take up 

 and how to attack it, for the scientific genius investigates, as the poet 

 writes, along any line that appeals to him. In a sense he can not help 

 it, for to him research and experiment are life and happiness ; he is still 



