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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



The British, French and German As- 

 sociations for the Advancement of 

 Science have held their annual meetings 

 in the course of the past month. In 

 each of these countries and in most 

 other European countries, as well as in 

 America, there are migratory scientific 

 congresses of the same general charac- 

 ter. As these have grown up somewhat 

 independently, they evidently meet a 

 common need. Science cannot be ad- 

 vanced by a man working independently 

 and in isolation. The printing press 

 was essential to the beginnings of mod- 

 ern science, while at the same time it 

 was usual for the scientific student to 

 travel from place to place that he might 

 learn and teach. Then in the seven- 

 teenth and eighteenth centuries, as the 

 cultivation of science became more gen- 

 eral, royal academies were founded. The 

 Royal Society was established at Lon- 

 don in 1660 under the patronage of 

 Charles II., the Academy of Sciences at 

 Paris in 1666 under Louis XIV., the 

 Royal Academy at Berlin in 1700 under 

 Frederick I., the Imperial Academy at 

 St. Petersburg in 1724 under Peter the 

 Great, and in other cities similar acad- 

 emies were founded under similar aus- 

 pices. Then in the first half of the 

 present century, as science continued to 

 grow, the more democratic organiza- 

 tions for the advancement of science 

 were established. The Society of Ger- 

 man Scientific Men and Physicians was 

 formed, chiefly through the efforts of 

 Humboldt, in 1822; the Swiss Associa- 

 tion in 1829, and the British Association 

 in 1831. Our own Association was es- 

 tablished in 1847, but was then the in- 

 tergrowth of a society dating from 1840. 

 These associations are significant of the 

 spread of science among all the people. 

 Science is no longer the concern of a 

 few men under royal patronage, but 

 the two great movements of the present 



century — the growth of democracy and 

 the growth of science — have united for 

 their common good. 



The British Association held its an- 

 nual meeting at Bradford, beginning on 

 September 5, under the presidency of 

 Sir William Turner, professor of anat- 

 omy in the University of Edinburgh. 

 We are able to publish, from a copy re- 

 ceived in advance of its delivery, his 

 presidential address, which traces the 

 growth during the present century of 

 knowledge regarding fundamental bio- 

 logical problems. The addresses of the 

 presidents before the sections are usu- 

 ally written in a way that can be read- 

 ily understood by those who are not 

 specialists, and are consequently of 

 greater interest to a general audience 

 than some of the corresponding ad- 

 dresses before the American Association. 

 The addresses at Bradford were: Be- 

 fore the section of mathematical and 

 physical science Dr. Joseph Larmor dis- 

 cussed recent developments of physics 

 with special reference to the extent to 

 which explanation can be reduced 

 purely to description; before the sec- 

 tion of chemistry Prof. H. W. Perkin 

 argued that radical changes should be 

 made in the methods of teaching 'inor- 

 ganic chemistry; before the section of 

 geology Prof. W. J. Sollas spoke of the 

 development of the earth, including the 

 different critical periods in its history, 

 before the section of zoology Dr. R. H. 

 Traquair chose as his subject the bear- 

 ing of fossil fishes on the doctrine of 

 descent; before the section of geography 

 Sir George Robertson considered certain 

 geographical aspects of the British Em- 

 pire and the changes brought about by 

 improved means of intercommunication; 

 before the section of economic science 

 and statistics Major P. G. Craigie spoke 

 of the use of statistics in agriculture; 



