Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary. Ixxxiii 



reminded us that " there are also black ants." We certainly 

 must remember that there are two sides to every question and 

 while technical erudition is admirable, the great duty of scien- 

 tific men is after all not to disappear into an impenetrable 

 cloud of technicalities and verbiage, but to bring themselves 

 closer and closer to the great pulsing life of the American 

 people and to develop throughout our country the right 

 good and true thought of science. 



As you know, we are very much in the habit in these days 

 of calculating our advance by things accomplished. People 

 say: " I can remember when there were no safety matches," 

 or " I remember when the first electric lights were put in," 

 We calculate our advance by the control we exercise over 

 nature and this is the tendency of the scientific man as much 

 as of any other. I believe it was Russell Sage who gave ut- 

 terance a little while ago to the remark that he " had no time 

 for the good fellow." In his judgment and from his special 

 point of view, the good fellow did not save his money, spent 

 too much of his time in happiness and went through life 

 without very much high financial seriousness. Yet I believe 

 that the best way to mark our advance from year to year is 

 not by the control of nature evidenced in invention and dis- 

 covery, but by the development of good fellowship in the 

 highest use of the term. This meeting to-night is a splendid 

 example of such good fellowship. It would not have been 

 possible to have such a meeting some years ago. As the 

 world goes on its progress is better marked by the spirit of 

 organization than by material scientific benefits. Events of 

 this sort are among the greatest and best landmarks. Here 

 we have good fellowship of the right sort. Certainly it is 

 fellowship ; certainly it is good ; certainly we are delighted to 

 be here to-night and to sit around this hospitable board of The 

 St. Louis Academy of Science. I predict a most bright 

 future for the organization. This is just as much the day of 

 creation as any day. Everything is moving and developing. 

 It is a pleasure to us all to live and grow and feel this pulse 

 of advance beating in us. What we witness is the progi'ess 

 of our social organization, the advancement of ourselves as 



