PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 101 



more local in character were subsequently established in differ- 

 ent cities, the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 

 founded at New Hav^en in 1799, being the oldest of these. 

 Our own academy of sciences was organized in 18 17 as the 

 Lyceum of Natural History in the City of New York. The 

 National Academy of Sciences was incorporated by Congress 

 in 1863. It was born into a world that has changed, and we 

 may hope progressed, since the golden age of academies. The 

 differentiation of the sciences, the dispersal of our men of sci- 

 ence over a wide area and the general trend of democratic in- 

 stitutions are not favorable to the academy of the type that 

 flourished in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 



The nineteenth century witnessed an extraordinary develop- 

 ment of scientific activity throughout the world. Each science 

 has had its great leaders who have established new fundamental 

 principles and new lines of investigation, while the workers in 

 the ranks are now a great army. I have had occasion during 

 the past year to compile a biographical catalogue of the living 

 men of science of the United States. On my preliminary list 

 there are eight thousand who have published scientific papers, 

 with a fev,- exceptions, admitted because they are engaged 

 in teaching or other scientific work of some importance. I 

 estimate that the scientific men of the world number about 

 50,000, not counting those physicians, engineers and others 

 who do not directly contribute to the advancement of science, 

 nor those who are engaged in historical, philological and 

 other studies, not commonly included in the natural and exact 

 sciences. 



Under these circumstances scientific organization has been 

 compelled to adjust itself to new conditions. The two great 

 developments have been the establishment of large national 

 associations holding migratory meetings and of special societies 

 for the several sciences. The German Congress of Scientific 

 Men and Physicians was established in 1828 and the British 

 Association for the Advancement of Science in 1831. There 

 are similar associations in other European countries, in Austral- 

 asia and in South America. Our own association was estab- 



