1880. | Editors Table. 655 
It is easy to understand that access to the national resources is as 
open to place hunters as to scientific men, and that personal jeal- 
Ousies and private ambition may hope for easier successes than 
under any other form of government. 
We allude to this subject for the purpose of pointing out two 
prominent instances of the introduction of demagoguery into 
scientific politics, so to speak, in the belief that unless “ eternal 
vigilance” is exercised in this direction, scientific interests will 
undoubtedly lose that influence in the councils of the govern- 
ment, which has hitherto proven so beneficial to the progress of 
knowledge 
The sentiment has been propagated that our government should 
not foster scientific research, because it thus becomes “a crushing 
competitor” of private scientific enterprise.! While such an ex- 
pression as this could not emanate from a scientific man, it might 
have some influence did not scientific men distinctly repudiate it. 
We are aware that it has been used with effect in some quarters, 
by persons who would like to be regarded as scientific men. . We 
maintain that such a sentiment as the above, effectually settles 
their claim to such consideration. Such language would indeed 
be quite inexplicable had it not been accompanied by the additional 
assertion that Congress should employ scientific research for the 
evelopment of the material resources of the country. This looks 
like an appeal to the cupidity of legislators in faver of certain 
kinds of science as against other kinds. If this be so, we believe 
that this is the first time in our history that any one has sought suc- 
cess for a scientific enterprise by such methods. The custom has 
been hitherto to appeal to material interests in justification of pure 
Science; and to such a policy on the part of scientists are we in- 
debted for most of our great government works on purely scientific 
subjects, . . 
But the appearance of tampering with the interests of pure 
Science has been still more evident in certain official documents 
pense of much talent and toil, may be destroyed through the 
Jealousies of a few unpatriotic persons calling themselves scientific 
MRP oe i 
„See AM. Naruratist, March, 1879. i 
Report on the Methods of Surveying the Public Domain, Oct., 1878. 
