Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-11-19
A Scientists Devotion.

But few can conceive the motive
which causes the scientist to devote a
weary life to the arduous duties of his
chosen pursuit. Page after page of the
writings OF scientists reveals nothing
but dry unvarnished facts, unalloyed
with anything which makes ordinary
literature fascinating to the mind, or
capable OF carrying the attention with
pleasing or novel Incidents. The en-.
tomologist will devote pages to the de.
scription of one species of an insect of
the most diminutive size. The psteon.
tolegist devotes years to the research of
the hidden things of earth. Rocks are
rent asunder and fossils extracted. the
minutest differences are marked and
classified till the fossil as we'll as the
living animals have received their dis
tinguishing characteristics and been
appropriated to the proper family,
genus and species. It is a matter Of
wonder at first thought, that men will
spend life time on some small point
in science. Their field is narrow. and
their work when completed compre.
bends but a few facts for inuuirinp
people. But still with untiring patience
year in, year out, the process of investi.
cation continues, till at last another
truth has been discovered, or some fact
established.
There is something in the mind of
man which delights in investigation and
exults in discovering. Men would sit
for hours trying to solve the crack
brain puzzle of last winter. Cold, hun
ger and fatigue were forgotten in the
effort to get the "13, IA, Is rightly ar
ranged; still the player or the world
was no better for the prolonged effort.
A man will persevere increasingly over
his game of solitaire till at last the
numbers come out in the desired order,
and yet he has profited nothing by his
repeated trials and final success. It is
this same principle which causes the
thu ughtless and uneducated to devote
their time to the unraveling of puzzles
and riddles, solving catch problems
and working out games. But in the
thoughtful mind the pleasure is directed
toward purposes of more worthy aims,
and results of more useful nature.
No matter what the surroundings, this
desire is satisfied when investigation
leads on from fact to fact till ultimately
some great and beneficial principle has
been adopted, based upon the truths
discovered. No man takes greater de-
light in his works than the scientist.
His reward comes when the long
searchcd-for truth dawns upon him
and by the evidence OF irrefutable testi-
mony he compels the world to accept
the discovery. 1t is not marvellous.
then, that so many dry facts are culled
from nature and that small portion of
our scholars continue to consecrate
their lifelong energies to the cause of
science.
And yet, no class of writing is ef-
fected more by the mutability of the
times than writing on scientific subjects.
1t is true that fact once established is
goood for all time. But so much per-
tanning to our sciences is yet unknown,
and as each year adds new treasures to
the store-house of scientific knowledge,
an author soon grows out of date, or
his works must undergo constant re-
vision. While there are few writer's
who will probably remain authority in
the different sciences, their number is
limited to few when compared to al
most any other class of authors
Haerkeye.