THE TEXAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
[ANNUAL ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT.] 
THE INFLUENCE OF APPLIED SCIENCE. 
J. C. NAGLE, 
Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, 
College Station, Texas. 
Were I qualified to attempt it, an exhaustive review even of the most 
salient features of the subject of this address is precluded by the shortness 
of the time available. My purpose, therefore, is to touch upon a few only 
of the general features of the world’s progress in which applied science 
has been an aid not only to material development hut to researches in 
pure science as well, and to suggest, if possible, some means by which the 
workers in applied science may be brought to contribute more largely 
towards advancing the purposes and usefulness of the Texas Academy of 
Science. 
If the recorded history of the world’s progress in thought and material 
prosperity for the last two thousand years be roughly divided into two 
parts — the latter one dating practically from the beginning of the nine- 
teenth century— and if the causes making for the amelioration of man’s 
condition during these two periods be examined, we shall see that a single 
century of applied, science has done more for the world’s direct advance- 
ment in enlightenment, tolerance and real culture, as well as in material 
progress, than was accomplished in the preceding nineteen hundred years. 
Furthermore, a comparison of the opportunities and advantages possessed 
by man at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the nineteenth cen- 
tury will show how much the rate of progress was accelerated during the 
latter half of the century, and if, judging by this, any predictions for the 
future may be ventured, we may gain some faint idea of the place applied 
science is destined to fill during the next fifty years. 
Applied science has placed the world’s store of accumulated knowledge 
in more accessible form, has disseminated it throughout the world, and 
has caused it to be greatly augmented by reason of the facilities afforded 
