THE 



POPULAR SOIKNOE 



MONTHLY. 



FEBEUAKT, 1904. 



SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION AND PEOGKESS.* 



By President IRA REMSEN, 



JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY. 



AT the weekly services of many of our churches it is customary to 

 begin with the reading of a verse or two from the Scriptures for 

 the purpose, I suppose, of putting the congregations in the proper state 

 of mind for the exercises which are to follow. It seems to me that we 

 may profit by this example, and accordingly I ask your attention to 

 Article I. of the Constitution of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, which reads thus: 'The objects of the asso- 

 ciation are, by periodical and migratory meetings, to promote inter- 

 course between those who are cultivating science in different parts of 

 America, to give stronger and more general impulse and more system- 

 atic direction to scientific research, and to procure for the labors of 

 scientific men increased facilities and a wider usefulness.' 



The first object mentioned, you will observe, is 'to promote inter- 

 course between those who are cultivating science in different parts of 

 America'; the second is 'to give a stronger and more general impulse 

 and more systematic direction to scientific research'; and the third is 

 'to procure for the labors of scientific men increased facilities and a 

 wider usefulness.' Those who are familiar with the history of the 

 association are well aware that it has served its purposes admirably, 

 and I am inclined to think that those who have been in the habit of 

 attending the meetings will agree that the object which appeals to 

 them most strongly is the promotion of intercourse between those who 

 -are cultivating science. Given this intercourse and the other objects 



* Address of the retiring president of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, St. Louis meeting, December 28, 1903. 



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