CLARENCE E. DUTTON-RELATION OF SCIENCE TO CIVILIZATION. 41 
* chemistry. The chemist will best understand how absolutely indispensi- 
ble have been discoveries in the laws and facts of chemistry to the de¬ 
velopment of the modern metallurgy of iron and steel, gold and silver, 
copper and lead, zinc, nickel, and mercury; to inventions in photography, 
in acids and alkalis, in paints and oils, in the derivatives of petroleum 
and coal tar, in materials for scouring, cleansing, bleaching and dyeing, 
in pottery and glassware, in drugs and medicines, in starch, soap, sugar, 
gelatine, in the products of the brewery and distillery, in tanning, pre¬ 
serving, and decorating. By many people this dependence of invention 
upon scientific discovery is but little thought of. These manifold pro¬ 
ducts of human ingenuity and industry are looked upon solely with ref¬ 
erence to their utility, and the man who first confers one of them upon 
the community in available form and condition is regarded as the true 
originator of them. In reality he is but one of a series of scientific 
workers all of whom are equally essential. Thus the inventor figures 
prominently before the public gaze while the scientific discoverer is either 
unperceived or but faintly seen in the distant background. 
On the other hand, while discovery precedes invention as a general 
rule, it is very often indebted to invention for suggestions which lead to 
discovery. Before a discovery can be regarded as complete and estab¬ 
lished upon a secure basis it is necessary to test it experimentally. Every 
invention furnishes such a test, and it will generally bring to light some 
facts not at first suspected, and which suggest amplifications of the orig¬ 
inal and central idea involved in the discovery. These hints at further 
knowledge are quickly followed up, and new truths are revealed. Thus 
the two divisions of science constantly stimulate and strengthen each 
other, and progress continually accelerates progress. 
I must not be understood, however, as urging that every invention 
must be preceded by a new discovery. Far from it. A single principle 
may be followed by numberless applications of it, and may be fruitful of 
new inventions for generations of men after its discovery, even though 
no fresh discoveries are made. A very large proportion of modern in¬ 
ventions are applications of discoveries made perhaps a century or two 
ago. But this in no degree alters the nature or reality of the depend¬ 
ence. Discoveries being made without reference to their future utilities 
may remain indefinitely without useful application. Perhaps a more 
striking illustration of this could not be found than the discovery by 
Volta, which was known for nearly a century before its first application 
for utilitarian purposes. 
Thus far I have dwelt chiefly upon the material results of science, and 
its agency in promoting progress in the useful arts and in the material 
comfort and enjoyment of mankind. The effects of science upon human 
ethics, though they have not been so conspicuous, have still been pro- 
