New-York tribune., 1873-01-01

intellect as well as Joys OF tho body or that hese pleas
Of the spirit constituted the reward OF our great in
truth through pain and selfdenia they often pursued
their work With the ruling passion strong In death
some OF them, when no longer able 10 hod pen oic
ated to their friends the results of their labors and
then rested from them forever
Could we have seen these men at work without any
knowledge OF the consequences OF their work. what
should we have thought OF them TO many OF their
c0temporaries 1t would have appeared simply ridiculous
10 see men whose names are now stars IN the rament
OF science straining their attention 10 observe an eect
OF experiment almost too minute for detection TO the
uninihated, they might we'll appear as big children
playing with not very amusing toys. IL is so to this
hour. Could you watch the true nyestigator-your
Henry Draper. for exampe-in his laboratory,
unless animated by his spirit, you could hardly
understand what keeps him there Many OF the objects
which riyet his attention might appear to you ut
tery trivial and II You were 70 step forward and ask
him what Is the Of his work. the chances are that
press the use OF IL in ntegble terms He might not
be able To you that IL will put dollar into the
pocket OF any human being living or To come That
scientific discovery may put not only dollars into the
pockets Of individuals but millions into the exchequers
of nations the history of science amply proves but
the hope OF Its doing the motive power of the
investigator IL Aeyer can be his motive power.
know that risk in speaking thus before prac
tical men.
SCIENCE WHOLESOME SOURCE oF KNOWLEDGE.
I know what De TOcqueyille says Of you. The man
Of the North" ne says, has not only experience, but
knowledge He however. does not care for science az
pleasure and only embraces it with avidy when 1t
leads 10 useful applications" I wonder whether the
great historian and analyst Of democratic institutions
would repeat these words todayf II So would ask
him what are the hopes of useful applications which
have you many times together in spite of snow
drifts and biting cold What, I would ask, arc
useful applications Is mans body alone TO be the
object and arbter Of what is usefu L. there naked
ness of the mind TO be clothed as we'll as nakedness
the body i-no hunger and thirst the intellect TO
satisfy Surely no two terms much dis
torted and misapplied with reference to in his
higher relations than these terms useful and practical
Let us expand the definitions OF these terms until they
embrace all the needs OF man. his highest intellectual
needs inclusive IL is specially on this ground OF Its ad-
minlsterng TO the higher needs OF the intellect; IL Is
mainly because believe 1t To be wholesome source
OF KNOWLEDGE and as means OF discipline, that urge
the claims OF science upon your attention.
But with reference TO material needs and joys. surely
pure science has also word 10 say People sometimes
speak n steam had not been studied before James
Watt electricity before Wheatstone and Morse where
in point OF fact, Watt and Mheatsonc and Morse;
with ali their practically. were the mere outcome OF
antecedent forces which acted without reference to
practical ends This also, think, merits moments
attention. You delighted, and with good reason,
with your electric teegraphs, proud OF your steam
ductiOns Of photography. T0u see daily, with just
elaton, the creation OF new forms of indnstry-new
powers OF adding to te wealth and comfort of society
Industrial England is heaving with forces tending
to this end, and the pulse of industry beats
still stronger in the United States And yet when
anay zed, what industrial America and industrial
England II yOu tolerate freedom of speech my
part, will answer this question by illustration.
Strip q strong arm, and regard the knotted muscles
when the hald IS cnched and the arm bent. Is this
exhibition OF energy the work of the muscle alone
BY no means. The muscle Isl the channel OF infu-
ence without which il would bo as powerless as lump
of plastic dough- 1t is the delicate unseen
unloeks the power OF the muscle. And without those
flaIlents of genius which have been shot like nerves
through the body OF society by the original dscoverer,
industrial America and Industrial England would, L
fear, be very much IN the condition of that plastic
dough. At the present time there a cry in England
for technical educaon and 1t Is the expression O true
national want but there no outcry Tor original inVes
tgatlon. Still without this as surely as the
dwindes when the spring dries surely will their tech
production Our great Investigators have given us suf
"A
sha find ourselves eventually In the condition Of those
Chinese mentioned by De Tocqucvile, Who having for
gotten tho scientific origin OF what they did, were
length compelled 10 copy without variation the inyen
tOns OF an ancestry wno wiser than themselves, had
drawn their inspiration direct from Nature.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS DEPESDEsT UPON ANTECEDESr
DISCOVERY.
To keep society as regards science IN healthy play,
three classes Of workers necessary Firstly the in
vestigator OF natural truth whose vocation pur
that truth and extend the ed iof discovery for the
truths sake. and whoutsany reference to practi
cal ends Secondly the teacher Of natural TRUTH whose
vocation 1t is TO give public diffusion to the knowledge
already won by the discoverer Thirdly, the spper of
natural truth whose vocation it to make scientific
knowledge available for the needs, comforts, and luxu
res of fe These three classes ought to cOexst and in
teract upon each other. NOW, the popular notion Of
SCIENCE both I'm this country and in England often
lates science strictly called, but 10 the app
cations OF science. Such applications especially on this
continent arc astOundng-they spread themselves
largely and umbTageOusly before the public eyeas 10
shut out from view those workers VINO are engaged In
the profOunder business OF discovery.
Take the electric telegraph as An example, which has
been repeatedly forced upon my attention Of late am
here to attenuae in the slightest degree the services
of those whO in England and America have given the
telegraph "a power 80 wonderfully fitted up for pubic
use Assuredy they earned great reward and assured
ly they have received IT, But should be TO you
and to myself If failed TO tell you that however high in
particular respects their claims aud quality may be,
practical did not discover the electric telegraph.
The discovery Of the electric telegraph implies the dis
covery OF electricity itself and the development OF its
Ia and DheQOmeQa such discoveries not manB
by practical men, and they never Will Dc made
Nv Them because their minds are beset by ideas
which, though of the highest value from
point of view not those which stimulate the original
amber aud Gilbert In the year l60O extended the force
to other bodies. Then followed other inqurers, your
own Franklin among the d num0eT @ But TINS @ form Of
VIZ who discoYared the sonree of Electricity which
bears name, and applied the most profound insight
and .he most delicate experimental skill 70 its develop
ment Then arose the man who added to the powers Of
his intellect all tho OF the human heart Michael
Faraday the dscOyerer OF the great domain OF magnets
electricity qrsted discovered the deheeuon OF the
cation Of iron by the electric current. The votaic cir
cult finally found It's the0retic Newton in Ohm while at
Princeton Henry pushed forward the of expert
mental inquiry.
FRUITS OF THE DIsCovERERs LABORs.
Here you have all the materials employed at this hour
in all the forms the electric telegraph. Nay, more;
Gruss the celebrated astronomer, and Weber the cele
brated natural philosopher both professors In tho Uni
versity of G6ttingen Wishing establish rapid mode OF
communication between tho observatory and the phys
cal cabinet of the university did this by Of an
electric telegraph The force short had been dscoy
ored its laws investigated and made sure the most
pete mastery Of its phenomena had been attained nay
its applicability TO teegraphio purposes demonstrated
by whose sole reward for their labOr the noble
JOY Of discovery your practical men appeared
at all upon the scene
Are we TO ignore all this We DO at peril. For
say again, that, behind all your practca applications,
region Of intellectual action to which practical
have rarely contributed but from which they draw
all their supplies Cut them of from this region, and
they become eventually helpers In case is the
adage truer, "Other men labored but ye entered
into their ab0rs than IN the OF the dscOverer and
the appler Of natural truth. But now a word the
other side. While say that practical men not the
make the necessary antecedent discoveries the
cases rare in which the discoverer knows how
turn his labors TO practical account. Different
"a nd I xpiaht N