THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



3Si 



Dartmouth College; for chemistry, 

 Professor Charles Baskerville, of the 

 University of North Carolina; for 

 mechanical science and engineering, 

 Professor C. A Waldo, of Purdue Uni- 

 versity; for geology and geography, 

 Professor W. M. Davis, of Harvard Uni- 

 versity; for zoology, Professor Charles 

 W. Hargitt, of Syracuse University ; for 

 botany, Dr. F. V. Coville, of the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture; for anthro- 

 pology, Dr. G. M. Dorsey, of the Field 

 Columbian Museum, Chicago; for so- 

 cial and economic science, H. T. New- 

 comb, of Philadelphia, and for physiol- 

 ogy and experimental medicine, Pro- 

 fessor W. H. Welch, of the Johns Hop- 

 kins University. 



FUNDS FOR TEE PROMOTION OF 

 RESEARCE. 



The appropriations for 1 research made 

 by the American Association are very 

 small compared with those of the 

 British and French Associations. The 

 British Association has a large income 

 from local members, who pay fees for 

 the meeting, and the French Associa- 

 tion has a large endowment which is 

 continually increased by bequests; 

 each of these associations appropriates 

 about $5,000 annually for research. 

 The permanent funds of the American 

 Association are slowly increasing, 

 chiefly by savings from income, and 

 now amount to about $12,500. The 

 income from this fund, however, only 

 permitted making at Pittsburgh five 

 small grants, $75 each to committees 

 on blind vertebrates, on the relation of 

 plants to climate and on the velocity 

 of light, and $50 each to committees 

 on anthropometry and on the atomic 

 weight of thorium. 



It was announced at a general meet- 

 ing of the Association that the Botan- 

 ical Society of America has set aside 

 the sum of $500 from its yearly in- 

 come, this year and every succeeding 

 year, to be used in making grants in 

 aid of investigations. The funds of 

 the Botanical Society consist of the 



accumulated dues and interest paid 

 in by the members, and the grants in 

 question probably constitute the only 

 series ever offered in America, the 

 money for which has been contributed 

 wholly by a body of scientific workers. 

 Should the members of the American 

 Association be equally self-sacrificing 

 there would be available an annual in- 

 come of $35,000 for research. It must, 

 however, be said that the more im- 

 portant demands for funds for research 

 are pretty well met. The National 

 Academy administers funds large 

 enough to meet all pressing needs, the 

 Elizabeth Thompson Science Fund has 

 a fair income at its disposal, and all 

 other funds are of course overshadowed 

 by the great endowment of the Car- 

 negie Institution. Some disappointment 

 was expressed at Pittsburgh that no 

 officers of the Carnegie Institution were 

 present, and that the plans of the in- 

 stitution have not been more freely 

 made public. But it is certainly the 

 part of wisdom for those responsible for 

 the conduct of the institution to take 

 ample time before coming to any final 

 decision. Ample opportunity for 

 public discussion will doubtless be af- 

 forded before the institution commits 

 itself to any definite policy. 



NATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

 The government of a nation is be- 

 coming increasingly a problem of ap- 

 plied science. Opinion and the rule of 

 thumb are gradually being superseded 

 by knowledge and the direction of the 

 trained expert. This is clearly shown 

 by the more important measures passed 

 by the recent congress. The destruc- 

 tive activities of warfare are becoming 

 less important than the commissariat 

 and the medical department; but they 

 rest equally on the applications of sci- 

 ence. This is indicated by the usual 

 superiority of the navy over the army, 

 and by the place in the army taken by 

 West Point graduates as compared 

 with the amateur volunteer. Fortu- 

 nately war is no longer the chief busi- 



