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TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



with one another, and with foreign phi- 

 losophers ; to obtain a more general at- 

 tention to the objects of science, and the 

 removal of any disadvantages of a pub- 

 lic kind which impede its progress." 



Two classes of institutions for the 

 promotion of science, having the same 

 general object, but working by different 

 methods, were thus in operation in Eu- 

 rope when the question arose of forming 

 a scientific association in this country. 

 But the circumstances were so different 

 here as to occasion perplexity at the 

 outset in regard to its plan. In England, 

 France, and Germany, there are old in- 

 stitutions of high character, like the 

 Eoyal Society, the French Academy, 

 and the leading universities, which carry 

 out a stringent system of discrimina- 

 tions in regard to the claims and posi- 

 tion of scientific men, and whose honors 

 are so difficult of attainment that they 

 become passports of character through- 

 out the world. There were no such 

 venerated and authoritative establish- 

 ments in this country ; and, when it was 

 contemplated to enter upon the organ- 

 ization of a prominent and permanent 

 society for the promotion of science, 

 there were grave apprehensions that, in 

 the absence of established tests, such a 

 body would be inundated with inferior 

 and incompetent men who would de- 

 grade its standards, impede its true 

 work, and, perhaps, pervert it to un- 

 worthy objects. 



The Association of American Geolo- 

 gists and Naturalists was estabhshed 

 about 1840, ten years after the British 

 Association. The geological surveys 

 undei-taken by the different States ren- 

 dered meetings of those engaged in 

 them very necessary, for comparisons, 

 discussions, systematic effort, and the 

 attempt at some common basis of geo- 

 logical classification. Very naturally 

 it was a society of working men — of 

 actual investigators — and aimed at ob- 

 jects which belonged to the province 

 of original inquiry. In 1848 this so- 

 ciety was reconstructed, and merged in 



a new organization called the American 

 Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, its first meeting being held in 

 Philadelphia, under the presidency of 

 William 0. Redfield, Esq. In this 

 change the original society was widened 

 in its scope, and conformed to the gen- 

 eral plan of the British Association. Its 

 objects are thus stated in the consti- 

 tution : " The objects of the Associa- 

 tion are, by periodical and migratory 

 meetings, to promote intercourse be- 

 tween those who are cultivating science 

 in different parts of the United States ; 

 to give a stronger and more general 

 impulse and a more systematic direc- 

 tion to scientific research in our coun- 

 try ; and to procure for the labors of 

 scientific men increased facilities and a 

 wider usefulness." 



In comparing the statements of the 

 objects of the two Associations, it will 

 be seen that they are in certain respects 

 identical, the English phraseology being 

 adopted by the founders of the Ameri- 

 can Association to indicate its purposes. 

 But the American organization, in the 

 presentation of its objects, omitted an 

 essential feature of the English, confin- 

 ing itself quite strictly to the promotion 

 of the interests of scientific men as 

 investigators, and omitting the English 

 phrase, " to obtain a more general at- 

 tention to the objects of science, and a 

 removal of any disadvantages of a pub- 

 lic kind which impede its progress." In 

 a land preeminently of popular institu- 

 tions, the new organization was less 

 popular, in aim and spirit, than its for- 

 eign prototype — an anomaly which finds 

 its explanation, as we have seen, in the 

 circumstances under which American 

 scientific men were laboring. 



How early this feeling was enter- 

 tained, and how serious were the ap- 

 prehensions to which it gave rise, are 

 well attested by the following pas- 

 sage from the address of Prof. Bache 

 before the Association at Albany in 

 1851. No man could speak with 

 more authority, as he was among its 



