1、A plea for pure science By H. A. ROWLAND PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS IN JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY. ADDRESS OF H. A. ROWLAND OF BALTIMORE, MU., VICE-PRESIDENT OF SECTION B, AUG. 15, 1883. The question is sometimes asked us as to the time of year we like the best. To my mind, the spring is the most delightful
2、; for Nature then recovers from the apathy of winter, and stirs herself to renewed life. The leaves grow, and the buds open, with a suggestion of vigor delightful to behold; and we revel in this ever-renewed life of Nature. But this can not always last. The leaves reach their limit; the buds open to
3、 the full, and pass away. Then we begin to ask ourselves whether all this display has been in vain, or whether it has led to a bountiful harvest. So this magnificent country of ours has rivaled the vigor of spring in its growth. Forests have been leveled, and cities built, and a large and powerful n
4、ation has been created on the face of the earth. We are proud of our advancement. We are proud of such cities as this, founded in a day upon a spot over which, but a few years since, the red-man hunted the buffalo. But we must remember that this is only the spring of our country. Our glance must not
5、 be backward ; for however beautiful leaves and blossoms are, and however marvelous their rapid increase, they are but leaves and blossoms, after all. Rather should we look forward to discover what will be the outcome of all this, and what the chance of harvest. For, if we do this in time, we may di
6、scover the worm which threatens the ripe fruit, or the barren spot where the harvest is withering for want of water. I am required to address the so-called physical section of this Association. Fain would I speak pleasant words to you on this subject ; fain would I recount to you the progress made i
7、n this subject by my countrymen, and their noble efforts to understand the order of the universe. But I go out to gather the grain ripe to the harvest, and I find only tares. Here and there a noble head of grain rises above the weeds ; but so few are they that I find the majority of my country- men
8、know them not, but think that they have a waving harvest, while it is only one of weeds, after all. American science is a thing of the future, and not of the present or past ; and the proper course of one in my position is to consider what must be done to create a science of physics in this country,
9、 rather than to call telegraphs, electric lights, and such conveniences, by the name of science. I do not wish to underrate the value of all these things : the progress of the world depends on them, and he is to be honored who cultivates them successfully. So also the cook who invents a new and pala
10、table dish for the table benefits the world to a certain degree ; yet we do not dignify him by the name of a chemist. And yet it is not an uncommon thing, especially in American newspapers, to have the applications of science confounded with pure science : and some obscure American who steals the id
11、eas of some great mind of the past, and enriches himself by the application of the same to domestic uses, is often lauded above the great originator of the idea, who might have worked out hundreds of such applications, had his mind possessed the necessary element of vulgarity. I have often been aske
12、d which was the more important to the world, pure or applied science. To have the applications of a science, the science itself must exist. Should we stop its progress, and attend only to its applications, we should soon degenerate into a people like the Chinese who have made no progress for generat
13、ions, because they have been satisfied with the applications of science, and have never sought for reasons in what they have done. The reasons constitute pure science. They have known the application of gunpowder for centuries ; and yet the reasons for its peculiar action, if sought in the proper ma
14、nner, would have developed the science of chemistry, and even of physics, with all their numerous applications. By contenting themselves with the fact that gunpowder will explode, and seeking no further, they have fallen behind in the progress of the world ; and we now regard this oldest and most nu
15、merous of nations as only barbarians. And yet our own country is in this same state. But we have done better ; for we have taken the science of the Old World, and applied it to all our uses, accepting it like the rain of heaven, without asking whence it came, or even acknowledging the debt of gratit
16、ude we owe to the great and unselfish workers who have given it to us. And, like the rain of heaven, this pure science has fallen upon our country, and made it great and rich and strong. To a civilized nation of the present day, the applications of science are a necessity ; and our country has hithe
17、rto succeeded in this line, only for the reason that there are certain countries in the world where pure science has been and is cultivated, and where the study of nature is considered a noble pursuit. But such countries are rare, and those who wish to pursue pure science in our own country must be
18、prepared to face public opinion in a manner which requires much moral courage. They must be prepared to be looked down upon by every successful inventor whose shallow mind imagines that the only pursuit of mankind is wealth, and that he who obtains most has best succeeded in this world. Everybody ca
19、n comprehend a million of money; but how few can comprehend any advance in scientific theory, especially in its more abstruse portions ! And this, I believe, is one of the causes of the small number of persons who have ever devoted themselves to work of the higher order in any human pursuit. Man is
20、a gregarious animal, and depends very much, for his happiness, on the sympathy of those around him; and it is rare to find one with the courage to pursue his own ideals in spite of his surroundings. In times past, men were more isolated than at present, and each came in contact with a fewer number o
21、f people. Hence that time constitutes the period when the great sculptures, paintings, and poems were produced. Each mans mind was comparatively free to follow its own ideals, and the results were the great and unique works of the ancient masters. To-day the railroad and the telegraph, the books and
22、 newspapers, have united each individual man with the rest of the world : instead of his mind being an individual, a thing apart by itself, and unique, it has become so influenced by the outer world, and so dependent upon it, that it has lost its originality to a great extent. The man who in times p
23、ast would naturally have been in the lowest depths of poverty, mentally and physically, to-day measures tape behind a counter, and with lordly air advises the naturally born genius how he may best bring his outward appearance down to a level with his own. A new idea he never had, but he can at least
24、 cover his mental nakedness with ideas imbibed from others. So the genius of the past soon perceives that his higher ideas are too high to be appreciated by the world ; his mind is clipped down to the standard form ; every natural offshoot upward is repressed, until the man is no higher than his fel
25、lows. Hence the world, through the abundance of its intercourse, is reduced to a level. What was formerly a grand and magnificent landscape, with mountains ascending above the clouds, and depths whose gloom we can not now appreciate, has become serene and peaceful. The depths have been filled, and t
26、he heights leveled, and the wavy harvests and smoky factories cover the landscape. As far as the average man is concerned, the change is for the bet- ter. The average life of man is far pleasanter, and his mental condition better, than before. But we miss the vigor imparted by the mountains. We are
27、tired of mediocrity, the curse of our country. We are tired of seeing our artists reduced to hirelings, and imploring Congress to protect them against foreign competition. We are tired of seeing our countrymen take their science from abroad, and boast that they here convert it into wealth. We are ti
28、red of seeing our professors degrading their chairs by the pursuit of applied science in- stead of pure science ; or sitting inactive while the whole world is open to investigation ; lingering by the wayside while the problem of the universe remains unsolved. We wish for something higher and nobler
29、in this country of mediocrity, for a mountain to relieve the landscape of its monotony. We are surrounded with mysteries, and have been created with minds to enjoy and reason to aid in the un- folding of such mysteries. Nature calls to us to study her, and our better feelings urge us in the same dir
30、ection. For generations there have been some few students of science who have esteemed the study of nature the most noble of pursuits. Some have been wealthy, and some poor ; but they have all had one thing in common the love of nature and its laws. To these few men the world owes all the progress d
31、ue to applied science, and yet very few ever received any payment in this world for their labors. Faraday, the great discoverer of the principle on which all machines for electric lighting, electric railways, and the transmission of power, must rest, died a poor man, although others and the whole wo
32、rld have been enriched by his discoveries. And such must be the fate of the followers in his footsteps for some time to come. But there will be those in the future who will study nature from pure love, and for them higher prizes than any yet obtained are waiting. We have but yet commenced our pursui
33、t of science, and stand upon the threshold wondering what there is within. We explain the motion of the planet by the law of gravitation ; but who will explain how two bodies, millions of miles apart, tend to go toward each other with a certain force ? We now weigh and measure electricity and electr
34、ic currents with as much ease as ordinary matter, yet have we made any approach to an explanation of the phenomenon of electricity ? Light is an undulatory motion, and yet do we know what it is that undulates ? Heat is motion, and yet do we know what it is that moves ? Ordinary matter is a common su
35、bstance, and yet who shall fathom the mystery of its internal constitution ? There is room for all in the work, and the race has but commenced. The problems are not to be solved in a moment, but need the best work of the best minds, for an indefinite time. Shall our country be contented to stand by,
36、 while other countries lead in the race ? Shall we always grovel in the dust, and pick up the crumbs which fall from the rich mans table, considering ourselves richer than he because we have more crumbs, while we forget that he has the cake, which is the source of all crumbs ? Shall we be swine, to
37、whom the corn and husks are of more value than the pearls ? If I read aright the signs of the times, I think we shall not always be con- tented with our inferior position. From looking down we have almost become blind, but may recover. In a new country, the necessities of life must be attended to fi
38、rst. The curse of Adam is upon us all, and we must earn our bread. But it is the mission of applied science to render this easier for the whole world. There is a story which I once read, which will illustrate the true position of applied science in the world. A boy, more fond of reading than of work
39、, was employed, in the early days of the steam-engine, to turn the valve at every stroke. Necessity was the mother of invention in his case : his reading was disturbed by his work, and he soon discovered that he might become free from his work by so tying the valve to some movable portion of the eng
40、ine as to make it move its own valve. So I consider that the true pursuit of mankind is intellectual. The scientific study of nature, in all its branches, of mathematics, of mankind in its past and present, the pursuit of art, and the cultivation of all that is great and noble in the world these are
41、 the highest occupations of mankind. Commerce, the applications of science, the accumulation of wealth, are necessities which are a curse to those with high ideals, but a blessing to that portion of the world which has neither the ability nor the taste for higher pursuits. As the applications of sci
42、ence multiply, living becomes easier, the wealth necessary for the purchase of apparatus can better be obtained, and the pursuit of other things besides the necessities of life becomes possible. But the moral qualities must also be cultivated in proportion to the wealth of the country, before much c
43、an be done in pure science. The successful sculptor or painter naturally attains to wealth through the legitimate work of his profession. The novelist, the poet, the musician, all have wealth before them as the end of a successful career. But the scientist and the mathematician have no such incentiv
44、e to work : they must earn their living by other pursuits, usually teaching, and only devote their surplus time to the true pursuit of their science, And frequently, by the small salary which they receive, by the lack of instrumental and literary facilities, by the mental atmosphere in which they ex
45、ist, and, most of all, by their low ideals of life, they are led to devote their surplus time to applied science or to other means of increasing their fortune. How shall we, then, honor the few, the very few, who, in spite of all difficulties, have kept their eyes fixed on the goal, and have steadil
46、y worked for pure science, giving to the world a most precious donation, which has borne fruit in our greater knowledge of the universe and in the applications to our physical life which have enriched thousands and benefited each one of us ? There are also those who have every facility for the pursu
47、it of science, who have an ample salary and every appliance for work, yet who devote themselves to commercial work, to testifying in courts of law, and to any other work to increase their present large income. Such men would be respectable if they gave up the name of professor, and took that of cons
48、ulting chemists or physicists. And such men are needed in the community. But for a man to occupy the professors chair in a prominent college, and, by his energy and ability in the commercial applications of his science, stand before the local community in a prominent manner, and become the newspaper
49、 exponent of his science, is a dis- grace both to him and his college. It is the death-blow to science in that region. Call him by his proper name, and he becomes at once a useful member of the community. Put in his place a man who shall by precept and example cultivate his science, and how different is the result! Young men, looking forward into the world for something to do, see before them this high and noble life, and they see that there is something more honorable than the accumulation of wealth. They are thus led to devote their lives to similar pursuits, and they honor the professor
