饶毅教授的博文很好的引用了罗兰的文章并解释了科学和应用科学（技术）的关系就象面包和面包屑的关系 （http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-2237-579976.html)

请看罗兰1883年写的原文（Rowland 1883）(下滑线为笔者所画)：

“I have often been asked, which was the more important to the world, pure or applied science. To have the applications of a science, the science itself must exist. Should we stop its progress, and attend only to its applications, we should soon degenerate into a people like the Chinese, who have made no progress for generations, because they have been satisfied with the applications of science, and have never sought for reasons in what they have done. The reasons constitute pure science. They have known the application of gunpowder for centuries; and yet the reasons for its peculiar action, if sought in the proper manner, would have developed the science of chemistry, and even of physics, with all their numerous applications. By contenting themselves with the fact that gunpowder will explode, and seeking no farther, they have fallen behind in the progress of the world; and we now regard this oldest and most numerous of nations as only barbarians. …Shall our country be contented to stand by, while other countries lead in the race? Shall we always grovel in the dust, and pick up the crumbs which fall from the rich man's table, considering ourselves richer than he because we have more crumbs, while we forget that he has the cake, which is the source of all crumbs? ”

可惜130年过去了，我们很多人还是不清楚科学和应用科学（技术）的关系， 还是沾沾自喜于我们在应用领域取得的成果（比如航天技术、深海探测、高速铁路等）。而我们在基础科学上的取得的成就屈指可数。如果这样下去， 再过100年，我们还是会去捡面包屑， 而自己造不出面包。