The morning call., 1891-08-24
SCIENCE AND WEALTH.
Practical Way of Aiding the
First by Use of the Last.

1t is admitted on all hands that the role of
science in the modern world has been
splendid and beneficent one, and that if our
present civilization differs for the better in
many important respects from that of any
preceding age the fact is mainly due to
progress in scientific knowledge. says the
Popular Science Monthly. The world had
greater poets in past times than 1t can
boast to-day-at least this is generally as
sumed - and greater artists and greater
metaphysicians; but who would wish to 60
back to the age of Shakespeare, or that of
Dante, or that of Phidias and Plato We
all prefer world in which an extensive
knowledge of natural law prevails, in
which natural forces have been bent, as we
see them bent to-day, to human uses, in
which man has decisively gained a victory
over the principal destructive agencies which
once were a constantly recurring menace to
his life and happiness. Tie basis, the firm
foundation OF this civilization, which, in
spite of any drawbacks attaching to it, we
all prize so highly, is knowledge-sifted,
verified, definitely acquired knowledge of
the laws of nature. The adjustments of
modern life are dependent in The most alb
soiute manner on the facilities which scien-
tifc discovery has furnished for the prodrc-
ton and interchange OF commodities and
for communication between individuals.
Aud Just as knowledge advances does So
ciety as whole assume toward its c0mp0-
nent units more and more the character of
an earthly Providence. Comte spoke of it
in this character fifty years ago, and, with
every passing year, the term becomes more
aud more appropriate. Society,"" says Pro-
fessor Toy, in a recent article in the Inter-
national journal of Ethics, has come to be
an efficient moral guide and support 1t
has worked out great ideals which have
hal tfnrr of httt II
ling section Of the race. 1t offers great re-
wards for well-doing, and infiicts terrible
punishment for ill-doing. The individual
is not a moral orphan in the world; society
stands to him in the place of a parent, with
all of parents power and none of pa
rents weaknesses" Society, we may aid,
aided by science, is every day improving
and beautifying the environment into which
the individual is born, every day surround
ing his life with new safeguards, every day
bringing within his reach wider ranges of
thought and increased means of enjoyment.
A French savant, NJ. Cahours, has lately
beQueathed the sum of 100000 francs to the
French Academy of Sciences for the pur-
pose of assisting young men of scientific
bent of mind to pursue original researches
or experiments for which they may not
themselves possess the means. This we re-
gard as one of the most hopeful ways in
which wealth seeking useful social
application could be expended. Much
work that would be valuable
remains undoue simply because the person
possessing the germ idea is unable, through
lack of pecuniary resources, to develop it.
Or the man with the idea puts himself
in the hands of others, who, taking ad-
vantage of his poverty, make such terms as
leave him only vestige Of interest in the
product of his own brain. There is room
for much Improvement in the attitude of men
of wealth. and indeed of society at large, to-
ward science; and, as Professor Mendelhall
showed last year in his address at Indianapo-
lis, there is room for improvement in the at
titude of men of science toward the commll-
nifty at large. The best fruits of science will
not be reaped and society will not undergo
its great transformation, until, on both
sides, the needed improvement is accom-
plished-until science receives the place of
honor in the thoughts of all, and those who
are its ministers wait on their ministering
with due sense of the sacredness of their
calling.