The highest aim of the physicist

An impassioned address to fellow physicists argues for the pursuit of fundamental knowledge over narrowly practical aims, urging collective exchange, publication, and recognition of exceptional contributions. It surveys the grand problems— the nature of matter, gravitation, ether, electricity, and their interrelations—while acknowledging the necessity of many smaller experiments that build toward larger insight. The speaker critiques superficial proofs, highlights the evolving conception of the atom, and defends the dignity of pure research against utilitarian valuation, calling for discrimination in chosen topics and for an intellectual aristocracy that prizes discovery as society's highest achievement.