THE TEXAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
[annual address by the president.] 
THE SOCIAL SCIENCES. 
DR. MILTON BROCKET!' PORTER.* 
We often hear it said, nowadays, especially by those that confuse 
the applications of science with science itself, that the dominant ideal 
of the modern world is scientific rather than esthetic or ethical. 
The varied and brilliant applications of scientific theories to qnestions 
concerning the physical well-being of man has bred in some quarters a 
certain self-complacent philistinism which pronounces nothing worth 
while which is not practical, with the implicaton, of course, that only 
those things are practical which concern physical needs and satisfac- 
tions. 
These people often speak of what they call applied science with the 
bated breath of unintelligent admiration, the names of financially suc- 
cessful inventors are often on their lips, while of the artists whose imag- 
inations created the splendid theories which made these inventions pos- 
sible they have never even heard. Thousands know the names of Edison ; 
Bell, and Tesla who never heard of Faraday or Maxwell. Nay, since 
the exploiter of the applications of scientific theories brings the good 
things within the reach of the consumer, it not infrequently happens 
that the latter thinks the blessings due solely to the financier that sup- 
plied the funds, on the same principle doubtless that the waiter and not 
the cook usually gets the tip ! 
The reason for all this is fairly plain; the appreciation of the in- 
trinsic beauties of a scientific theory is the reward of those that culti- 
vate the science, while a recognition of the bearing and importance of 
scientific theories on social progress could only be expected of those 
who have intelligently read the lessons of the past. 
As a matter of fact the essence of the latter day scientific ideal has 
been a matter of slow development. No doubt in the beginning, when 
men lived in caves, the accident of some blind experiment may have led 
"Professor of Mathematics, University of Texas. 
