R. W. Raymond

“ Indeed, that which the whole world chiefly needs to-day, and our country not less than any other, is the application of scientific truths and principles already known to the affairs, and labors, and problems, of daily life. We might even afford to pause in our career of fresh discoveries, to consolidate the progress and utilize the results already obtained. But the alternative is not presented; it is not necessary or best that any part of the intellectual activity of the age should pause; the advance of science itself assists, and is assisted by, the applications of science. ”

“ The practical art of each is not only to achieve certain results, but to do so profitably, to make money in doing so; that is to say, to increase the value of the raw materials, whether wood, or cotton, or ores, or time, or ideas, by the use we make of them, and the transformation to which we submit them, so as thereby to really elevate the condition of humanity: to leave the world better than we found it. ”

“ Now, the most perfect knowledge of the theory of a machine and its mathematical relations, of the strength of materials, or the economical use of power, will not suffice to qualify a man to design a machine or a system of machines, for the reason that in this work an element must be considered not at all included in theoretical knowledge, namely, the element of economy in the manufacture, as well as in the operation of the machine. ”

“ We need a scientific in the place of a barbarous or scholastic architecture; a scientific in the place of a traditional agriculture; a scientific in the place of an empirical engineering; we need more machinery, more economical applicatians of power, more effective processes of metallurgy and manufacture, more exact knowledge, in all these particulars, of our own condition and necessities, and of the degree in which these can be supplied by experience already attained abroad. ”

“ While we trust that in time to come scientific investigation will be promoted in no mean degree by this school and its graduates, it must be confessed that at the present time its object is chiefly the preparation of young men for practical pursuits involving the applications of science. Nor can it be fairly said that this department is inferior in dignity to the pursuit of abstract science, so called. It is out of the ranks of the practical workers that those peculiarly gifted in scientific investigation are likely to arise ”

“ It is one result of the brotherhood of knowledge that no man, whether employed in the original investigation of Nature, or in the application of natural laws to practical ends, can advance successfully without perpetual communication of his thoughts to others, and the reception of their suggestions and experiences in return. ”

“ The true protection of labor will be found in its higher education, and in opening to the individual laborer for himself and for his children, by means of that education, a prospect of indefinite improvement and advancement.
In the realm of metallurgical and engineering operations the difference between theoretical and practical training is, perhaps, still more striking. The student of chemistry in the laboratory cannot be made acquainted with many of the conditions which obtain in chemical and metallurgical operations upon a larger scale. ”

“ A machine, any part of which requires for its manufacture a tool (such, for instance, as a peculiar lathe) which is not already possessed by the manufacturer, and which, after the construction of this one part, would not be necessary or useful for other work—such a machine could not be profitably built. In other words, machines must be so designed, in a large majority of cases, as not to necessitate the construction of other machines to make them ”

“ The power to comprehend statements, logical arguments, and demonstrations, and to make such statements as may be comprehended by others, and will carry weight and influence in the very perfection of their form, is a vitally important part of the preparation of every young man for his life's career. ”

“ Men are put into this world with limited powers and with limited time to provide for their own sustenance and comfort, and to improve their condition. A certain portion of these powers and this time is required for the support of life in a greater or less degree of comfort, and with more or less multiplied means and avenues of enjoyment, activity, and influence. ”

“ In accordance with these principles, the object of the system of college education in America has always been development and discipline of character, and the broad preparation of the student for his subsequent special or professional pursuits. ”

“ All the chemists of the world failed to comprehend or to describe correctly the apparently simple reactions involved in the manufacture of pig-iron, until, by the genius and enterprise of such men as Bell, Tanner, and Akerman, the blast-furnace itself, in the conditions of actual practice, was penetrated and minutely studied. ”

“ Whatever changes are required in our institutions of learning, to adapt them to the necessities of the modern era, must be changes in accordance with this principle—changes of means, not of ends, so far as colleges are concerned. ”

“ In this work we need specially the basis of a more thorough technical institution, applying principles of science to the material and economical problems involved. This education is necessary to supply the directing forces for the great agricultural, manufacturing, and engineering improvements of the country. It is also needed as a solvent and remedy for the antagonism between labor and capital. ”

“ His success, aside from his moral qualities, will be in direct proportion to his influence over other men; and this influence, again, will be in part proportional to his command of the means by which the minds of men are moved, mainly, language. ”

“ If Latin and Greek are necessary, then they must be studied. For us, one thing is necessary—a thorough mastery of the English tongue—and this alone has been made to yield, in Lafayette College, a mental discipline not inferior to that of the classics. ”

“ It is admitted that the physical sciences should be introduced to primary and preparatory schools; that they should be taught for the double purpose of mental discipline and of mental acquirement in the class-rooms of our colleges ”