Description

Edwin Blashfield painted this mural, which is located on the wall in the main hall of the Walker Memorial Building at MIT. This panel depicts a scientist surrounded by various symbolic figures. An inscription near the bottom of the mural reads, "ET ERITIS SICVT DII SCIENTES BONVM ET MALVM." Original caption 1: "Blashfield Murals, Walker Memorial, M.I.T. See CC-50-608a." Original caption 2: "In this mural, which occupies the left panel at the entrance in the main hall of Walker Memorial at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mr. Blashfield shows the symbolic figure of a scientist standing between two great jars containing beneficent and maleficent gases or constructive and destructive possibilities. The paining conveys the thought that Chemistry has given Mankind almost unlimited power, and the question is whether that power shall be used to build up or demolish Civilization. The group below represents diplomats and officers at the Council Table of the World. In the upper part of the panel a figure of Hygeia is depicted placing a crown upon the head of the Scientist. Animal figures symbolic of the Dogs of War lurk beside the jar of Evil Gases, while in the background may be seen the dark figure of Famine. The colossal figure standing in the shadow of the Tree of Knowledge represents Nature. At the foot of the panel the figures of two children support an inscription from Genesis, which proclaims: "Ye Shall be as Gods Knowing Good and Evil." Original credit line: George H. Davis Studio.