Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1873-02-16
ENCOURAGEMENT TO SCIENTIFIC STUDY
AND INVESTIGATION.

Prof. Tyndall having completed the
who have come to US this season from
foreign shores, to enlighten us on matters
of Art, Literature, History or Science,
sailed a few days since for his native land.
1t is now pertinent to inquire what consti-
tutes the measure Of that success? 1t is
not simply that he has delivered the best
illustrated course of lectures ever given in
this country, though as an experimental
lecturer he has no superior; nor is it that
he has made plain to the most ordinary
and unrefecting mind the phenomena of
light and its kindred subjects yet he is
the most lucid expounder of scientific
truths of modern times; nor yet again is
1t that he has promulgated facts
that are commonly accepted as practical,
for of the immense crowds that have at
tended his lectures, we venture to assert,
there Is not one that has been able to turn
any of the great truths set forth by the
lecturer into single dollars commercial
value. In what then does consist the sue.
cess of his visit to us? IT has opened the
way for the education of our people up to
higher appreciation of Science, for
Sciences own sake, and imbued us with a
love of truth, because it is the truth and
not becauseit will add 80 many dollars and
cents to our annual income. With his char
acteristic, far.sightedness, Prof. Tyndall
saw that ours was to be the country of the
future, and with philanthropic thought
fulness determined to do all in his power
towards laying the foundation for great
national scientific usefulness.
How can this most desirable result be
brought about ? How can we make our
country take a first rank among the scien-
tific nations of the world? A great step
towards it and the one that must be
frst taken is the encouragement
of original research and investigation.
Never insult q scientific man when he has
brought to light new truth, by the ques-
ton: "Of what use is ito" It's of the very
greatest use and importance. The silent,
laberious so-called impractical scientific
investigation to whom the monetary value
of his work is mover considerations in
truth the power behind the throne of Prac-
ticality, that is greater than the throne
itself. Stop his work and our onward
progress is instantly arrested. Those facts
were present to the mind of Prof. Tyndall
when he left his work at home and came
ID us, and it was solely for the purpose
of showing the matter to US in that light
that he consented to come at all. We trust
he may live to see the full fruition of his
labor. We can not better conclude those
remarks than by giving an extract from
his speech at the Banquet given in his
honor just before his departure fol
England. 1t shows the motives that have
actuated him and sustained him during
his long and successful scientific career.
He says that in 1S4S he went to the Uni.
versity of Marburg to study. He lodged
In small room and lived in the plainest
manner-for he was very poor. At six
every morning he took his bath, winter
and summer. He says: q.
For good portion of the time 1 rose at
4:30, working by lamp light at the differ
entail calculus when the world was slum-
bering around me. And / risked this
breach in my pursuits and this expenditure
of time and money, not because | had any
definite prospect of material profit in view,
but because / thought the cultivation of
the intellect impOrtant-because, more
over, / loved my work, and entertained
the sure and certain hope that, armed with
knowledge, one can successfully fight
ones way through the world. 1t is with
the view of giving others the chance that
then enjoyed that l propose to devote
the surplus of the money which you have
80 generously poured in upon me to the