Newcomb, S: Science, Vol. 11

Excerpt from Science, Vol. 11: A Weekly Journal Devoted to the Advancement of Science; January-June, 1900

As a teacher Orton derived from the literature of geology a body of theory which he complemented, so far as practicable, by personal observation of the rocks, minerals and fossils that lay within his reach. Thus he trained himself early to habits of obser vation, and in all his later work kept in close touch with the phenomena of nature. As an investigator be generalized freely and did not shrink from the propounding of theories, but all his theories were so broadly founded upon, and so faithfully verified by, the phenomena of observation that they came to the world as demonstra tions which could not be gainsaid.

This far we have considered only Orton's work in pure science, but his work in ap plied science was of equal or greater im portance, and it Was in this field that his personality was most marked. I trust that you will bear with me in another digression at this point, for his life serves to illustrate certain peculiarities of the relation of man to science which are not always kept clearly in View.

It is a matter of common understanding that scientific knowledge, or knowledge of nature, is the foundation of the material progress of the race, but the method through which it serves this purpose is perhaps less broadly understood. Through research the body of 'natural knowledge' has been created and is constan tly increased. This body of knowledge is a storehouse from which men may draw that which they find useful, and from which they do, in fact, make drafts at every stage of prog ress. But the store of knowledge grows quite independently of the drafts which are made upon it. The utility of the individ ual grains of knowledge is not foreseen, and their accumulation is always much faster than their utilization. So far as we may judge the future by the past, only a small portion of the garnered knowledge will ever find practical application, and thus, from the purely utilitarian standpoint, there is an immense waste of energy in the proseou tion of research. This only illustrates the general fact that mankind is a part of nature, for in nature the ways of progress are ever wasteful. The acorn is nature's device to prevent the extermination of the oak, and an oak tree in its long lifetime produces a myriad of fertile acorns, but only one of these, on the average, escapes all the dangers of immaturity so as to _de velop a perfect tree the others fail for lack of opportunity, and, so far as the continu ance of the species is concerned, are wasted.

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