THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN SCIENCE.* 

 THE THIRD CENTURY. 



By G. Brown Goode. 



VIII. 



In the address which it was my privilege, one year ago, to read 

 in the presence of this Society, I attempted to trace the progress 

 of scientific activity in America from the time of the first settle- 

 ment by the English in 1 5S5 to the end of the Revolution — a 

 pei-iod of nearly two hundred years. 



Resuming the subject, I shall now take up the consideration 

 of the third century — from 17S2 to the present time. For con- 

 venience of discussion the time is divided, approximately, into 

 decades, while the decades naturally fall into groups of three. 

 From 1780 to 1810, from 1810 to 1840, from 1840 to 1S70, and 

 from 1870 to the close of the century, are periods in the liistory 

 of American thought, each of which seems to be marked by 

 characteristics of its own. These must have names, and it may 

 not be inappropriate to call the first the period of Jefterson. the 

 second that of Silliman, and the third that of Agassiz. 



The first was, of course, an extension of the period of Linn^us, 

 the second and third were during the mental supremacy of Cuvier 

 and Von Baer and their schools, and the fourth or present, begin- 

 ing in 1870, belongs to that of Darwin, the extension of whose 

 influence to America was delayed by the tumults of the civil con- 

 vulsion which began in 1S61 and ended in 1S65. 



The " beginnings of American science" do not belong entirely 



* Annual Presidential Address delivered at the Seventh Anniversary 

 Meeting of the Biological Society of Washington. January 22, 1887, in 

 the Lecture Room of the U. S. National Museum. 



