Page:Polar Exploration - Bruce - 1911.djvu/241

Rh materially to his store of worldly welfare; while he who plods on an unknown tract of land or sea and works there in systematic and monographic style will probably not have such worldly success, unless his business capacity is such as to allow him to turn to his advantage products of commercial value in the lands and seas he has been exploring.

The general rule, however, is that the man of science opens the way and reveals the treasures of the unknown, and the man of business follows and reaps the commercial advantage, and where this is not the case and the man of science takes to money-making, the chances are that the world has rather lost than gained by his transition. It is right, therefore, that the man of science who has not the time or the inclination to devote his life to the gathering of gold should look to those who have this for their chief aim in life to support him in investigations of the unknown, or to those who, by the industry of their ancestors, have more than is necessary for at least a life of comfort.

In the face of these facts it is interesting to note that there are men of great wealth and of no narrow interests who nevertheless declare that they cannot see the use of such expeditions.

Exactly the same encouragement that Columbus received more than four centuries ago!