192 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE SPIRIT AND METHOD OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY.* 



Br Professor J. P. LESLEY. 



MY FRIENDS : I Lave the honor to address you this evening as 

 an association of representatives of American science in all its 

 branches — as students of the sky and all its elemental forces, of the 

 earth and all its mineral constituents, of the animal and vegetable 

 kingdoms in their past and present ages, of the history and constitu- 

 tion of the human race — and I may be easily pardoned for some trep- 

 idation in view of the drafts you may have drawn in advance on 

 my slender exchequer. I have lain awake o' nights, like my predeces- 

 sors, reflecting how I should meet my liabilities. And like them, no 

 doubt, I find myself poorer than when, a year ago, I contracted them. 

 You would scorn to receive in payment my promissory notes or mort- 

 gages on my castles in Spain. You will accept nothing but gold and 

 silver, in bullion or in coin ; and that is what troubles me. 



There M'cre once halcyon days for orators : the world of knowledge 

 limited, and canopied with rosy clouds of curious speculation ; the 

 birds of fancy singing in every bush ; the dew of novelty glittering 

 on the fields. Science was then an early morning stroll with sympa- 

 thetic friends, uncritical and inexpert, to whom suggestions were as 

 good as gospel truths. Then, such a reunion as this to-night was a 

 sort of picnic-party, at some picturesque place on the shore of the 

 unknown, hilarious and convivial. 



All that has passed away. The sun of science now rides high in 

 heaven, and floods the earth with hot and dusty light. What was 

 once play has turned to serious toil. Shadows are short. Objects 

 present themselves in well-defined and separated shapes for critical 

 examination. The few and early risers have become a multitude. 

 The tumult of occupations distracts the studious observer. No one 

 lends ear to chit-chat. All are hurried. Critics abound. *' Say what 

 you want, and go ; or tell us something absolutely true and useful," is 

 the introduction to every conversation. Morning, noon, and night, 

 men demand, not the agreeable, but the necessary. The age of ro- 

 mance in science is part of the forgotten past. The new world has 

 grown gray-haired in fifty years, intolerant of the irresponsibility, the 

 sportiveness, the poetry, the music, the superstitions, the affections, of 

 its youth ; dealing only in hard facts, and in their causes and conse- 

 quences ; weighing and measuring all things ; analyzing all things ; col- 

 lating, comparing, and classifying ; insisting upon investigation at all 

 points ; formulating rigid laws ; scofling at the unseen and unknowa- 



* Address to the American Association for the Advancement of Science at Ann 

 Arbor, August 26, 1885, by the retiring President of the Association. Reprinted from 

 "Science." 



