662 
A Plea for Pure Science . 
[November, 
obtained are waiting. We have but yet commenced our 
pursuit of Science, and stand upon the threshold wondering 
what there is within. We explain the motion of the planet 
by the law of gravitation ; but who will explain how two 
bodies, millions of miles apart, tend to go toward each 
' other with a certain force ? 
We now weigh and measure electricity and eleCtric cur- 
rents with as much ease as ordinary matter, yet have we 
made any approach to an explanation of the phenomenon of 
electricity ? Light is an undulatory motion, and yet do we 
know what it is that undulates ? Heat is motion, yet do we 
know what it is that moves ? Ordinary matter is a common 
substance, and yet who shall fathom the mystery of its in- 
ternal constitution ? 
There is room for all in the work, and the race has but 
commenced. The problems are not to be solved in a mo- 
ment, but need the best work of the best minds, for an 
indefinite time. 
Shall our country be contented to stand by, while other 
countries lead in the race ? Shall we always grovel in the 
dust, and pick up the crumbs which fall from the rich man’s 
table counting ourselves richer than he because we have 
more crumbs, while we forget that he has the cake, which 
is the source of all crumbs ? Shall we be swine, to whom 
the corn and husks are of more value than the pearls ? If 
I read aright the signs of the times, I think we shall not 
always be contented with our inferior position. From look- 
ing down we have almost become blind, but may recover. 
In a new country the necessities of life must be attended to 
first. The curse of Adam is upon us all, and we must earn 
our bread. 
But it is the mission of Applied Science to render this 
easier for the whole world. There is a story which I once 
read which will illustrate the true position of Applied Science 
in the world : — A boy, more fond of reading than of work, 
was employed, in the early days of the steam-engine, to turn 
the valve at every stroke. Necessity was the mother of in- 
vention in his case : his reading was disturbed by his work, 
and he soon discovered that he might become free from his 
work by so tying the valve to some movable portion of the 
engine as to make it move its own valve. So I consider 
that the true pursuit of mankind is intellectual. The sci- 
entific study of Nature in all its branches, of mathematics, 
of mankind in its past and present, the pursuit of art, and 
the cultivation of all that is great and noble in the world — 
these are the highest occupation of mankind. Commerce, 
