1880,] °°* [Brinton. 



of specialism ; it should cover the whole field of observation 

 and not be dominated by one part of it, by one department 

 of study or thought. Franklin framed the constitution of 

 the association to fulfill this meaning of the word. The mem- 

 bers were to be chosen from all the learned pursuits ; they 

 were to communicate to each other such results and conclu- 

 sions as should be of benefit to all, not mere details of their 

 special lines ; and the results to be published were to be 

 confined to abstracts and papers "of public advantage." 



In pursuance of this plan, Franklin provided that the 

 minimum number of active members should be seven, each of 

 whom was to pursue a different branch of study. One of 

 these was designated as a " General Natural Philosopher," 

 and under this title it appears to me he had clearly in view 

 the formation of a class of thinkers which has been 

 earnestly advocated in this day by Comte and Herbert 

 Spencer ; that is, a class who shall unite together the results 

 of the different specialists in science under broad philosophi- 

 cal schemata, and weave them into a system of knowledge 

 co-extensive with observed facts, and subsumed under the 

 widest possible generalizations. 



In this way alone do the innumerable details of science 

 become available to the public good, and manageable 

 by the general intellect. At the date of the origin of 

 this Society, the need of such an appointment must have 

 been but slightly apparent; but now that the details of 

 specialties are becoming day by day more technical, more 

 'abstruse, and more remote from even general scientific 

 language, the need is urgent. The danger is constantly 

 present that the pursuit of a narrow path of investigation, 

 which, however, demands the most strenuous labor to follow 

 out, will warp the thoughts from the broad views and com- 

 mon motives of human culture. 



