TRT7E position of veterinary science. 
307 
beaconless ocean to within an eighth of a mile, by methods that 
astronomy has taught 11 s ? Where would be our means of so ac¬ 
curately measuring time, of such incalculable advantage to us, 
had it not been for the pursuit of astronomy simply as a means of 
seeking truth for its own sake ? The practical results derived 
cannot be measured, yet did Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, Her- 
schell, or Laplace think of them when they made their grand dis¬ 
coveries? The science of geology has been studied with the view 
of learning the true history of the earth from a scientific stand¬ 
point, yet has it not unfolded sufficient mineral wealth to com¬ 
pensate for the time and labor spent in the discovery of abstract 
truth ? Chemistry and physics have been followed for the sake of 
the grand secrets they might yield to pure knowledge, but does 
not every useful art or industry existing owe something to them ! 
Did Galileo, Marriotte, Boyle, Avogadro, Lavoisier, Priestly, 
Davy or Tyndall dream of the practical results of their investiga¬ 
tions, pursued purely for the love of truth ? Who would have 
believed that Newton and Young, studying the laws of light, would 
eventually prepare the way for Daguerre, Draper, and photogra¬ 
phy. When Galvani and Volta were conducting their primitive 
experiments on electricity, with the legs of a frog and a bit of 
metal, did they have the vaguest presentment that they were the 
pioneers of Morse’s electric telegraph, the Atlantic cable and Edi¬ 
son’s electric light? Or did Yesalius think of what would follow 
when he practiced his first dissection on the human body, alone in 
his attic, and knowing that at any moment he might be discovered 
and condemned to death? When lie thus laid the real foundation 
of practical anatomy for the sake of anatomical knowledge itself, 
did he dream that Hunter would dissect out any artery at will, 
and ligate it in its course for the cure of aneurism, or that Valen¬ 
tine Mott would tie the arteria innorninata ? 
But there is no necessity to multiply examples. It is clear 
that to raise a science to its true position it must be cultivated to 
a large extent for its own sake, for the purpose of learning what 
abstract truths it may 3 7 ield. Although these facts may seem of 
no practical utility for the time, they will not always remain bar¬ 
ren, but be productive of abundant harvests, In veterinary science 
