The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1894-06-28

meet these tendencies whether he re.
mains at home or not The university
AIDS him to resist them and preserve
his purity and rectitude by all the in
huences of noble pursuit, of exalted
themes OF thought, of chaste example.
OF wise and kindly counsel. But even
these may fail to cleanse and sweeten
natures already prostituted and
impure, even as the perfumed breath
OF nature too often fails to re-
suscltate the poisoned invalid. To
neal the heart-sick and the soulS>ick is
the mission not of the college, but of
the church, and the health conserving
influences of university life are not to
DE denied because they do not accom-
pllsh tas ks for which they are not de
slgned-because they often leave the
hithy and unjust to be unjust and
filthy still. Only divine power can
perfect the rescue of the tainted soul.
We turn with greater interest to the
positive and hopeful aspects of our
theme, and ask now what are the SER
vices that the University may be ex-
pected and should be enabled to rem
der to the state? | should esteem nv
self unfaithful to the supreme objects
of the teachers life if / neglected to
lay stress upon one great point--the
forwarding of original research. When
l recall the enormous value to human
ity of a single discovery of that illus
trious professor, Sir Humphry Davy,
the miners safety lamp, which has
doubtless preserved more human lives
than all the enginery of modern war;
fare has destroyed; when l remember
the result Of those 16 years of patient
experimental research, which enabled
Edward Jenner to give to the world
his great discovery of incubation, and
thus to put security against dreadful
disease within the reach OF unnum.
bered millions; | feel that these two
scientific discoveries alone have paid
the world thousand fold for all it's
bounties to all the institutions of learn.
ing which have ever existed. Yet
these, although two of the most bene-
ficient, are but two from myriads of
such discoveries inventions which
have changed the face of all civilized
countries, prolonged life, augmented
its comforts and ameliorated its woes
Men are prone to conclude that these
accessions TO comfort and security are
due solely to those practical minds,
which apply the abstract conclusions
OF science to the production of useful
inventions. But reflection will con-
vince us that this is far from being
true. Every practical application OF
knowledge has for its germ some scien-
tific curiosity. Every inventor uses
more or less consciously and consist
emily the results of scientific specula-
tioD, The steamengine, the telegraph,
the telephone, the electric light, the
dynamo, the storage battery, were
once the toys of the labratory. Quench
the Unsuitable curiosity of the student
of pure science. stop his investigations,
terminate his discoveries and your man
of practice would find that he himself
had been scarce more than an automa.
ton. The vital currents which actua-
ted him came from that retired thinker
and student, whose discoveries seemed
the mere curiosities of a fantastic
leisure, useless to himself and unprofit-
able to the world. Abolish the man of
science and the man of practice must
discover him anew.
On the other hand, the results of
scientific speculation are not salable in
the market. They can not be pat.
ented, and once announced become
public property, a part of the com
mon treasury of all civilized races.
Hence we find the necessity for the
endowment of research, a necessity
which has impressed itself upon
thoughtful men from the earliest Pc
RODS. Kings and queens have been
among the patrons of discovery.
Churches have utilized the gifts of the
religious for the advancement of secu-
lar learning. And the rich and noble
have expended their treasures in thus
promoting the happiness and comfort
of mankind. But in our own land,
where there can be neither royal so~
cieties nor imperial Institutes for the
advancement of learning, we have
been thrown back upon that greatest
of all human agencies, the state, and
are trusting the people in their collec'
tive capacity to promote those studies
whose results are essential to continue
the material elevation of the human
race.
In America the state has added to
it's other great functions that of guar
dian of the higher learning. Let us
as citizens take care that this guardi-
anship is wisely administered, not in
alternating fits of profuse generosity
and senseless parsimony, but with q
wise, continuous, thoughtful liberality
proportional to the unspeakable im-
port of the trust itself.
Nature herself seems to teach us the
true lesson. We see her produce in a
few weeks of luxuriant growth some
fragile, swiftly fading flower. some
Haunting, unsubstantial weed. But
when she sets about the creation of
the giant oak how different her pa
thence, her hopefulness, her care. The
acorn lies for months beneath the sod
ere the tender Seeding shows its head.
Summers and winters pass and years
roll by and yet we find but sturdy
sapling. Through all this time she
has never relaxed her tender care.
Each rootlet is fed with the elements
of growth Light and heat and moist.
ure are shed upon this plant of prom
Use without stint. And at last, whep
decades have heightened to century
we have the superb consummation of
her work--that stately trunk whose
strong fibres defy the onset of
storm and tempest, that crown
of foliage beautiful to the eye
and consoling us by its cooling shade,
those spreading roots fixed forever in