ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 37 



her of having sought out Minerva with unworthy motive. The 

 splendid sacrifices, with which her history is replete, for the 

 attainment of preeminence in all that ennobles a people; the un- 

 qualified respect which nationally and individually she pays to 

 intellectual achievement, the opportunity she offers for the cultiva- 

 tion of great talents, the generous way in which she nurtures 

 every impulse to advancement, these are the secret of her renown, 

 these are the occasion of her consciousness of dignity and power, 

 and these are what have made her a signal example of the reward 

 of noble purpose. 



It has been said by moralists that the world is so constituted 

 that they who seek higher ends, will incidentally reach the lower 

 also. Be that as it may, Germany's devotion to science, art, and 

 literature has certainly been compatible with preeminence in rate 

 of industrial development, for during the latter part of this century 

 her advance has been such as must satisfy even the most sanguine 

 of her patriots. It is no mere matter of opinion, that this has 

 been the result of her attitude to scientific progress. Nowhere 

 have so many discoveries been made in all departments of science : 

 nowhere have the most recondite elements of knowledge been so 

 ardently discussed and analysed. To this is due the great generality 

 of her attainments, and the fine development of her scientific 

 prescience and intuition ; and to this is due also her keen appreci- 

 ation of the advantage of utilizing that body of knowledge won 

 by the genius and assiduity of the mathematician and the inves- 

 tigator of Nature. 



The evidence of German appreciation of the value of science is 

 characteristically shewn in the scientific equipment, both in 

 respect of personnel and material, of those great industrial 

 works whose operations are guided by its great results. Their 

 laboratory equipment is even more splendid than that of the 

 universities. The prosecution of research in them is conducted 

 on no narrow basis, nor with regard to immediate issue in results 

 of commercial value. No where in the world is the recognition 

 so keen that in the end the most unpromising accessions of know- 



