190 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



domestic wants too often absorbs the time and faculties of those who 

 might, if relieved from cares of this kind, have adorned their age and 

 benefited mankind. To such men a moderate pecuniary advantage, 

 derived from a successful investigation, might be of vast importance. 

 The efficacy of market upon production is not limited to the creations 

 of physical labor. It is seen in the history of science and literature 

 of every age and country. Invention in the mechanical arts, and skill 

 in practical science, are well paid in this country, and how great is the 

 harvest ! The extraordinary effect even of an honorary inducement 

 is seen in the case of the medal offered by the king of Denmark for 

 the discovery of telescopic comets. On these principles it may be 

 hoped, that, by offering a moderate pecuniary compensation for re- 

 searches of real merit, valuable contributions to knowledge will be 

 produced ; while their publication will tend directly to the diffusion of 

 knowledge. An encouragement somewhat similar, toward the pro- 

 motion of the increase of knowledge, would be afforded by another 

 part of the proposed operations, that of providing the requisite appa- 

 ratus and implements, and especially books, to be placed in the hands 

 of those engaged in particular lines of investigation. In this way it 

 is not unlikely that a considerable amount of talent may be rendered 

 effective, which at present is condemned to inactivity from local posi- 

 tion unfavorable to scientific research. 



" It is not the purpose of the committee to engage in minute criti- 

 cism of the details of the Programme ; but it may not be out of place 

 to suggest a doubt of the practicability or expediency of carrying into 

 rigid execution ' the rejection of all unverified speculations,' as pro- 

 posed in the third paragraph of the first section above cited. While 

 it is obviously advisable to discountenance all theoretical speculations 

 not directly built upon observation, it might be too much to exact, in all 

 cases, that these speculations should have been actually verified. No 

 small portion of modern geology is an ingenious structure of specula- 

 tive generalizations. The undulatory theory of light can hardly claim 

 any other character. The nebular theory, though proposed and il- 

 lustrated by the highest astronomical talent of the past and present 

 generations, is rapidly sinking from the domain of accredited specu- 

 lations. It may be doubted even whether M. Leverrier's brilliant 

 memoirs on the perturbations of Uranus would not, as published 

 before the discovery of Neptune, have fallen within this principle of 

 rejection rigorously applied. 



