130 THE SCIENTIFIC PLAN OF THE CONGRESS 



speaker spoke essentially on those relations and on those problems 

 with which his own special work was engaged. 



Yet there is no doubt that this expectation was sometimes ful- 

 filled beyond our anticipation, in an amount of specialization which 

 was no longer entirely in harmony with the general character of the 

 undertaking. The general problem has become sometimes only the 

 starting-point or almost the pretext for speaking on some relation 

 or problem &o detailed that it can hardly stand as a representative 

 symbol of the whole movement in that sectional field. Especially in 

 the practical sciences more room was sometimes taken for particu- 

 lar hobbies and chance aspects than in the eyes of the originators the 

 occasion may have called for. Yet on the whole this was the excep- 

 tion. The overwhelming majority of the addresses fulfilled nobly the 

 high hopes of the Boards, and even in those exceptional cases where 

 the speaker went his own way, it was usually such an original and 

 stimulating expression of a strong personality that no one would care 

 to miss this tone in the symphony of science. 



Even now of course, though the Congress days have passed, and 

 only typewritten manuscripts are left from all those September 

 meetings, it would be easy to provide, by editorial efforts, for a greater 

 uniformity and a smoother harmonization. Most of the authors 

 would have been quite willing to retouch their addresses in the 

 interest of greater objective uniformity and to accept the hint of an 

 editorial committee in elaborating more fully some points and in con- 

 densing or eliminating others. Much was written in the desire to bring 

 a certain thought for discussion before such an eminent audience, 

 while the speaker would be ready to substitute other features of the 

 subject for the permanent form of the printed volume. Yet such 

 editorial supervision and transformation would be not only immodest 

 but dangerous. We might risk gaining some external uniformity, but 

 only to lose much of the freshness and immediacy and brilliancy of 

 the first presentation. And who would dare to play the critical judge 

 when the international contributors are the leaders of thought? 

 There was therefore not the slightest effort made to suggest revision 

 of the manuscripts, for which the whole responsibility must thus fall 

 to the particular author. The reduction to a uniform language 

 seemed, on the other hand, most natural, and those who had delivered 

 their addresses in French, German, or Italian themselves welcomed 

 the idea that their papers should be translated into English by com- 

 petent specialists. The short bibliographies, selected mostly through 

 the chairman of the departments, and the very full index with refer- 

 ences may add to the general usefulness of the eight volumes in which 

 the work is to be presented. 



But the significance of the Congress of Arts and Science ought not 

 to be measured and valued only by reference to this printed result. 



