Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 39.djvu/559

Rh processes; to discover new compounds of value; and, in short, to use the most vigorous methods of science for the up-building of industry. The German manufacturer does not employ a chemist who has only learned by rote the wisdom gained by others; he does not ask to be told that which he already knows; he seeks rather to push forward into new fields; to excel his competitors more by intelligence than by brute force; and to gain a growing supremacy in preference to a mere victory for the moment. This practical policy, the outgrowth of intellectual culture, has made Germany a dangerous rival to all other countries in those departments of industry which rest upon scientific foundations. Applied science can not exist until there is the science to apply; and, where the latter is most favored, the industrial development is sure to be most perfect. This lesson is one which the United States must learn more thoroughly than heretofore, if it hopes to hold its own in the front rank of manufacturing nations. In a few of our universities the truth is already realized; but in too many American schools the so-called "practical" view prevails. Under the latter, teaching becomes routine; and the student, while learning elaborately that which is known, is not taught how to discover. He has little or no training in the art of solving unsolved problems; and that art is the mainspring of modern industrial growth. A teacher of science ought also to be an investigator, were it only for the inspiration that his example might give to the pupils in his charge. To impart knowledge is a good thing, but to reveal the sources of knowledge is better; and in that revelation is found the educational value of research regarded as a part of the teacher's essential duty.

The third agency for the advancement of investigation, the organization of scientific societies, shades imperceptibly into the other three. Private workers and university teachers here come together for purposes of co-operation, and in many countries the associations formed are aided by the state. As a rule, the great European academies are directly or indirectly patronized by the Government, and occasionally endowments are bequeathed to them by private individuals for the foundation of prizes or medals, or for the assistance of research. In our own country the societies and academies are sustained by private enterprise, but some of them hold endowments of considerable value. Partly through the latter, partly through the stimulus to effort given by awards of honor, and more largely as publishers of results, they do their greatest good, and render to science services of unmistakable value. A large proportion of the leading scientific journals are published by organized societies, and without these discovery would oftentimes be dumb.

Of government aid, the fourth great means for furthering