Milford chronicle., 1889-11-15
SCIENCE AND EQUALITY.
Professor Flower's Reply to an Address Of
the Newcastle Trades Council


the Newcastle Trades Council
Previous to the lecture to worlxingmen on
the Forth bridge, by Mr.. Benjamin Baker, in
the Drill hall, Newcastle an address was pre-
sented by the trades council to Professor
Flower, as president Of the British associa-
ton Professor Flowers reply is Of more
than scientific interest lie said:
1t is most gratifying to us--to all Of us who
believe in the beneficial results upon human
life conferred by the diffusion Of scientific
knowledge, as all members Of this great asso-
citation must do--to find that their work and
the object Of their meeting are so highly APP
preciated by such a wide circle as that repre-
sented 10y the signatories TO this address It
is, however, particularly gratifying TO us to
find such recognition-where, perhaps at
first sight, We might hardly have expected it
of the advantages of pure or abstract
science, apart from its practical application
TO the material welfare of mankind
You have recognized what is certainly
known to those who have followed most close
ly the history Of science, but what is not gen
orally known or appreciated by the multi
tude-namely, that nearly all the marvellous
benefits which have been conferred on man
by the application Of scientific discovery or
scientific knowledge have been the result Of
the discoveries Of philosophers who are pur-
suing knowledge wholly for its own sake
without any hope Of reward, without any
hope of its benefting, perhaps, themselves or
others, and very often amid the indifference,
the neglect, and even the scorn Of their con-
temporaries. The particular branch of sci
ence which have the honor Of representing
is, at first sight. very little specially connect
ed with the general welware Of man, and is
looked upon by many as little more than idle
speculation or curiosity.
/ well remember-it is certainly many
years ago now-one who, more than any one
else living in this country, has advanced that
branch of science-Professor Huxley, in
lecture which he delivered at the Royal insti-
tuition, saying the common idea of a natural
ist was That dirty man poking about the
seashore, with a net in one hand and bottle
in the other, a perfectly innocent and harm
less individual, but a very useless onen Well, /
l may say that that description was made
some thirty years ago, before Professor Hux-
ley himself had done so much to raise the
character Of naturalists and natural history
in this country, yet it still holds good with
many at the present time.
But you must recolloct, however, that the
researches of naturalists of that type, men
serving the ways and habits and studying the
structure of animals Of a low type or organi-
zation have produced elready marvellous re
suits upon the happiness and welfare Of man
kind. Through researches Of this kind we are
getting only now TO the causes and prevention
Of disease which, when further advanced
for they are only beginning now-will, have
no doubt, lead to an enormous saving Of
health and of life. Moreover, through the re-
searches Of such naturalists, greater results
still have been produced
They have produced effects upon our mode
Of thinking on many subiects-on our rela-
tions to each other and TO the universe-ef
fects the end OF which we hardly see at pres
ent. And they have taught us one great les
son. one that l alluded to in the address
which had the honor Of giving here the
other night-namely, that it is a great prin
ciple Of nature that progress in liying-in
animal and plant nature at all events-has
been due in great measure to the principle
which Darwin most popularized, if he did not
first enunciate, which he, at all events,
brought into the condition in which we now
know it-that Of the struggle for existence
and the survival of the fittest
Now, it is a law in nature that there should
be a certain amount of individual differences /
or variations in the different animals and
plants, and that the progress from the lower
to the higher forms Of animals and plants
has been due to the opportunity Of those in
dividuals who are a little superior in some
respects to their fellows of asserting that su-
periorty, of continuing to live and of prop
agating as an Inheritance that superiority /
That law established in nature is, / believe, |
equally applicable to ourselves; and this is |
the message which pure and abstract biologi /
cal research has sent to help us on in some Of
the commonest problems of human life.
The lesson of it is this-that there is always
a certain amount Of variability, that there is |
no such thing as equality-equality in powers
of work, equality in powers of endurance, or
equality in the powers Of men for doing great ]
things in the world; and that progress de- |
pends on giving full liberty to that superior
ity, wherever it asserts itself having full
fling. Now, supposing this law did not exist
in the animal kingdom, instead Of the world ]
being filled with all the diversity and beauty |
which it now possesses, everything would |
have been in the condition of Shiny poyps at
the bottom of the sea, and we should all still /
be in the condition Of flint chipping savages.
will leave it 70 you to apply 10 yourselves
in your own social condition and social life |
the application Of that law. viii not press
it any further at present, but leave you to
think it out afterwards. 1t means that there !
should be no attempt whatever to keep down |
the capacities Of the superior to the level OF
the inferior Any man who gets a little rise !
above his fellows helps on the progress Of the |
world and brings all the others on with him
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