26 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



problems open others ; and so again and again in the infinity of the 

 periodic turns in the development-course of human knowledge. 



The unparalleled spectacle to which Paris invited the civilized 

 world last fall not only shows that science is exercising its binding force 

 in spite of popular discords, but it at the same time teaches, better 

 than all words, that, if the recent brilliant development of technics has 

 dulled the taste for pure science, it has on the other hand compensated 

 a thousand - fold for this injury. The electrical apparatus of thirty 

 years ago filled a large room ; that of to-day, generally illustrated by 

 several specimens, filled a world's Exhibition-Building. Eilhard Mit- 

 scherlich has remarked of Herr Wiedeman's treatise on galvanism and 

 electro-magnetism that nothing speaks more eloquently of the power 

 of the human mind than that book filled with the clear facts which 

 physicists have procured. Deep in thought we walked, keeping these 

 words in mind, through the magic palace of the Elysian Fields, illumi- 

 nated by the electric light, and ventilated by electrical machinery. We 

 sometimes speak slightingly of Americanism, intimating that it bears 

 utilitarianism on its shield. But who does not feel a patriotic press- 

 ure for old Europe at the wonders of the telephone and the phono- 

 graph ? or at the report of the confirmation by Asaph Hall, with Alvah 

 Clark's objective, of the discovery of the astronomers of Laputa? 

 Hardly a year passes but that the newspapers report some new mag- 

 nificent institution for purposes of pure science which American public 

 spirit has called into life through private means, in a manner that is 

 known on this side of the water only in England. The names of 

 American historians, thinkers, and philologists are known along with 

 the best, and are particularly dear to this Academy. We must accus- 

 tom ourselves to the thought that, as the economical center of gravity 

 of the civilized world lies already, like the center of gravity of a 

 double star, between the old and the new continents, in the Atlantic 

 ocean, so also will the scientific center of gravity in time move strongly 

 toward the west. Enough : Europe may look out lest its science may 

 be in more danger from the militarism which is forced upon it by the 

 chauvinsm of all nationalities than American science from utilitari- 

 anism. 



In one point, indeed, we may well reckon that leadership will not 

 so soon be wrested from us. The co-operation of a body supported 

 by the state, already fully composed into a permanent organization, 

 representing in the highest possible degree the aggregate of knowl- 

 edge, whose age and famous past give weight to its decisions, is a 

 force not to be created overnight, even with the most ample means 

 and efforts. Ingenious inventors, single though ever so worthy 

 scholars and investigators, can not take the place of academies in the 

 scientific life of a nation. It was a simple thing that the telephone 

 should be discovered ; remarkable that the explanation of it was re- 

 served for members of our Academy. 



