Speaking from this point
of view, I would point out the error of making the utilitarian
applications of knowledge the main object in its pursuit. It is an
historic fact that abstract science--science pursued without any
utilitarian end--has been at the base of our progress in the
utilization of knowledge. If in the last century such men as
Galvani and Volta had been moved by any other motive than love of
penetrating the secrets of nature they would never have pursued
the seemingly useless experiments they did, and the foundation of
electrical science would not have been laid. Our present
applications of electricity did not become possible until Ohm's
mathematical laws of the electric current, which when first made
known seemed little more than mathematical curiosities, had become
the common property of inventors. Professional pride on the part
of our own Henry led him, after making the discoveries which
rendered the telegraph possible, to go no further in their
application, and to live and die without receiving a dollar of the
millions which the country has won through his agency.
In the spirit of scientific progress thus shown we have patriotism
in its highest form--a sentiment which does not seek to benefit
the country at the expense of the world, but to benefit the world
by means of one's country.
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