14 PHYSICAL SCIENCE 



of investigation in physical science. Granted even that he is usually 

 a not altogether efficient thermodynamic engine, it may yet appear 

 that he is worthy of a separate category. Fortunately, however, it 

 is not a rule of physical science to demand immediate answers to 

 such ulterior questions. It is enough for the present to know that 

 man furnishes no exception, save in point of complexity, to the mani- 

 festations of physical phenomena so widely exhibited in the animal 

 kingdom. 



But whatever may be our inherited prejudices, or our philosophic 

 judgments, we are confronted by the fact that the study of man 

 in all his attributes is now an established domain of science. And 

 herein we rise to a table-land of transcendent fascination; for, to 

 adapt a phrase of an eminent master in physical science, the instru- 

 ments of investigation are the objects of research. Herein also we 

 find the culminating unity, not only of the physical sciences, but of 

 all of the sciences; and it is chiefly for the promotion of these higher 

 interests of anthropology that we are assembled in this cosmopoli- 

 tan congress to-day. 



It has been our good fortune to witness in recent decades an un- 

 paralleled series of achievements in the fields of physical science. 

 All of them, from anthropology and astronomy up to zoology, have 

 yielded rich harvests of results; and one is prone to raise the question 

 whether a like degree of progress may be expected to prevail during 

 the century on which we have now entered. No man can tell what 

 a day may bring forth; much less may one forecast the progress of 

 a decade or a century. But, judging from the long experience of the 

 past, there are few reasons to doubt and many reasons to expect 

 that the future has still greater achievements available. It would 

 appear that we have found the right methods of investigation. Phil- 

 osophically considered, the remarkable advances of the past afford 

 little cause for marvel. On the contrary, they are just such results 

 as we should anticipate from persistent pursuit of scientific investi- 

 gation. Conscious of the adequacy of his methods, therefore, the 

 devotee to physical science has every inducement to continue his 

 labors with unflagging zeal and confident optimism. 



