DE CANDOLLE ON MEN OF SCIENCE. 43 



and Italy, when they were divided up into many small states. Then, 

 when the fugitives have escaped into the other states, they can gener- 

 ally get along with the language and customs, which will not be far 

 removed from their own. But, in a very large country, not only is it 

 hard to escape, but if one expatriates himself he will be exposed to 

 the annoyance of finding himself among populations speaking a differ- 

 ent language, and having other habits than his own. 



Of twenty conditions which M. de Candolle lays down as favorable 

 and the opposite of them as decidedly unfavorable to the progress of 

 science, Switzerland has all, and no unfavorable opposites ; Turkey all 

 the unfavorable ones, and no favorable ones ; the United States all but 

 four favorable, and the exceptions want of a wealthy class, want of a 

 leisurely class devoting themselves to scientific enjoyments, lack of mu- 

 seums, etc., and non-proximity of civilized countries are neither grave 

 nor characteristic, but only temporary. 



Above all the conditions enumerated, and controlling them, is the 

 superior condition, primarily requisite, that every individual shall be 

 secured in the ability to do what he judges fit, provided he does no 

 harm to another. The idea is commonly expressed by the two terms, 

 security and liberty ; but, in fact, there can be no security without 

 liberty, nor liberty without security. The terms complement one 

 another. The favorable conditions appear as a whole to have accumu- 

 lated in their most obvious form in a triangular space comprehended 

 between Central Italy, Scotland, and Sweden, with a projection extend- 

 ing across the ocean to New England. This peculiar shaping is the 

 result of historical causes, the chief of which are the three decisive 

 movements for European civilization of the Renaissance, which origi- 

 nated in Tuscany ; the Reformation, which started in Germany ; and 

 political liberty, which has been laboriously and slowly developed in 

 England. Other very important factors or superior conditions are, 

 that the race shall be European, or of European origin ; that a long 

 selection shall have prepared a considerable number of families for in- 

 tellectual labors ; that the climate shall not be one of depressing heat, 

 and that the geographical situation shall not be too far removed from 

 centers of intellectual culture. 



If we inquire what have been the most important scientific discov- 

 eries that is, those which have not been mere applications, but which 

 have opened new fields of research made during the last forty years, 

 we shall find among them those of spectral analysis, the transformation 

 of forces, the ancient extension of the glaciers, the antiquity of man 

 and prehistoric studies, evolution and natural selection, alternating 

 generations, and deep-sea explorations. These have all originated in 

 Scandinavia, Central Germany, Switzerland, Northern France, or Eng- 

 land, or in the countries which have been found to occupy the first 

 places in the academical lists. If we extend the inquiry to fifty or 

 sixtv years back, we shall find the case substantially the same. The 



