846 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



comes in fragments, and Mr. Arnold 

 thinks there is something in hnman 

 nature that desires "to relate these 

 pieces of knowledge to our sense for 

 conduct, to our sense for beauty." And 

 again : " We feel, as we go on learning 

 and knowing, the vast majority of man- 

 kind feel, the need of relating what we 

 have learned and known to the sense 

 we have in us for conduct, to the sense 

 we have in us for beauty." 



But, if Mr. Arnold had gone on to 

 say and to the sense we have in us for 

 truth, he would have struck an element 

 in human nature more potent than any 

 other for bringing the disjointed frag- 

 ments of knowledge into harmony and 

 unity. It is that use of the faculties 

 which has led to the creation of knowl- 

 edge which must be trusted to bring it 

 into the most perfect relations. Mr. 

 Arnold parts company with science in 

 the name of the demands of human 

 nature, but our first demand concerning 

 human nature is that it shall be under- 

 stood. Literature never explained it 

 could not explain it, because the study 

 of principles and laws, and the decom- 

 position of complex things into their 

 elements, and finding out the truth, were 

 not embraced in its method. In part- 

 ing company with the students of 

 science on such grounds, Mr. Arnold 

 virtually concedes that they have a 

 method of their own, though a method 

 which he can not approve. He raises 

 the issue of superiority, but he does not 

 settle it. He expatiates on the utilities 

 of literature, but he offers no proof that 

 its past ascendency is still justified, be- 

 cause he seems to have no true or ade- 

 quate conception of the claims of the 

 scientific method. "We point, on the 

 other hand, to what science has done 

 for mankind as evidence of the greater 

 things it may yet be expected to do, 

 and to the soundness, comprehensive- 

 ness, and thoroughness of the training 

 which it enforces in proof of its supe- 

 riority in the preparation of men for 

 the intelligent discharge of their duties 



to themselves, to their families, to so- 

 ciety, and to humanity. 



THE MONTREAL SCIENTIFIC MEETING. 



The American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science held its annual 

 meeting this year in Montreal, under the 

 able presidency of Dr. J. W. Dawson, 

 Principal of McGill College, and emi- 

 nent as a geologist and paleontologist. 

 The gathering was large, the various 

 sections were strongly represented, and 

 the labors of the scientific body every- 

 way successful. A large number of pa- 

 pers were registered, many of them im- 

 portant, and they were got well through 

 with, notwithstanding the tendency to 

 consume time in their discussion. 



The American Association met at 

 Montreal twenty-five years ago, and 

 had an excellent convention at that 

 time. But the changes of a quarter of 

 a century have been marked. Strong 

 men have passed away, and new men 

 of no less promise have taken their 

 places. Old scientific questions have 

 taken on new aspects, and new ques- 

 tions have come to the front. The city 

 whose hospitalities were so liberal in 

 1857 has become a much larger and 

 more beautiful city in the interval, and 

 the generous reception given to the 

 large body of strangers shows that the 

 prosperity of Montreal has not been at 

 the expense of its liberal spirit and hos- 

 pitable feeling. We print the excel- 

 lent address of Professor Brush, given 

 upon his retirement from the presi- 

 dency of the Association. His theme 

 was well chosen, and, if less ambitious 

 than those frequently taken on these 

 occasions, it was none the less instruct- 

 ive and important. Mineralogy is not 

 one of the show sciences, that attract 

 much popular attention, but it is a sci- 

 ence of profound interest and great 

 economic importance, and Professor 

 Brush could not have chosen better 

 than to give us this admirable account 

 of its American progress. 



