92 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATOR.* 



By Professor 8IMON NEWCOMB, U. S. N. (retired), 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



A MONO the tendencies characteristic of the science of our day is 

 -*--*- one toward laying greater stress on questions of the beginning of 

 things, and regarding a knowledge of the laws of development of any 

 object of study as necessary to its complete understanding in the form 

 in which we find it. It may be conceded that the principle here in- 

 volved is as applicable in the broadest field of thought as in a special 

 research into the properties of the minutest organism. It, therefore, 

 seems meet that the comprehensive survey of the realm of knowledge on 

 which we are about to enter should begin by seeking to bring to light 

 those agencies which have brought about the remarkable development 

 of that realm to which the world of to-day bears witness. The prin- 

 ciple in question is recognized in the plan of our proceedings by pro- 

 viding for each great department of knowledge a review of its progress 

 during the century that has elapsed since the great event which the 

 scene around us is intended to commemorate. But such reviews do 

 not make up that general survey of science at large which is necessary 

 to the development of our theme, and which must include the action 

 of causes that had their origin long before our time. The movement 

 which culminated in making the nineteenth century ever memorable 

 in history is the outcome of a long series of causes, acting through 

 many centuries, which are worthy of being brought into especial prom- 

 inence on such an occasion as this. In setting them forth we should 

 avoid laying stress on those visible manifestations which, striking the 

 eye of every beholder, are in no danger of being overlooked, and search 

 rather for those agencies whose activities underlie the whole visible 

 scene, but which are liable to be blotted out of sight by the very 

 brilliancy of the results to which they have given rise. It is easy to 

 draw attention to the wonderful qualities of the oak; but, from that 

 very fact, it may be needful to point out that the real wonder lies con- 

 cealed in the acorn from which it grew. 



Our inquiry into the logical order of the causes which have made 

 our civilization what it is to-day will be facilitated by bringing to mind 

 certain elementary considerations — ideas so familiar that setting them 

 forth may seem like citing a body of truisms — and yet so frequently 



* Opening and concluding parts of the address of the president of the Inter- 

 national Congress of Arts and Science, at the St. Louis Exposition, September 

 19, 1904. 



