THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



MAECH, 1885. 



SCIENCE m POLITICS. 



By F. W. CLAEKE. 



THE most noteworthy feature of our modern civilization, and the 

 one which distinguishes it from all the civilizations of the past, 

 is its growing dependence upon scientific methods. This is manifested 

 in every department of life, and in every line of thought ; it is evi- 

 dent in all arts and industries ; and in a multitude of ways it affects 

 government. As modes of living change, the statutory regulation of 

 affairs changes also ; as the public thought broadens, methods of ad- 

 ministration become broader ; as science multiplies the resources of 

 mankind, and brings the nations closer together, legislation recognizes 

 the new condition of the world, and enters upon fields undreamed of 

 a century ago. To-day, every civilized government invokes the aid 

 of science to protect it from enemies, to increase public wealth, and to 

 solve great economic problems ; and both science and the state neces- 

 sarily react upon each other. 



The moment we examine closely our own national administration, 

 we find an amazing development in certain lines of scientific industry. 

 Nearly every executive department either has scientific experts regu- 

 larly connected with it, or employs such experts occasionally for the 

 conduct of important investigations. The work they do is not only 

 " practical," as seen from the most utilitarian point of view, it is also 

 broadly scientific in the highest sense of the term ; and it represents 

 in the clearest way the growth of the national intelligence. Some of 

 the investigations relate to the perfecting of national defenses ; some 

 to obtaining a better knowledge of the national domain ; some to the 

 protection of men and animals against pestilence ; and others to the 

 prevention or exposure of certain kinds of fraud. A bare list of the 



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