ENDOWMENT FOll SCIENTIFIC EESEAKCII AND PIJBLI- 



C AT ION,* 



By Addison Brown. 



Twenty years ago Prof, Tyndall delivered in New York and in other 

 cities of this conntry a series of leetnres npon light. The last of the 

 series was an iin[)ressive ])leai for a mor<» tliorongh prosecution of 

 original research in pure science; and incidentally, for the need of en- 

 doAvments to maintain it. I was fortunate in having the opportunity 

 to listen to tliat remarkable course of lectures, and to that plea for 

 science. Its impression has never left me. The impression was the 

 deeper, because Tyndall set upon it the seal of self-denial. Some $30,000, 

 nearly the entire net ]>roceeds of his lectures in the United States — 

 money for which he undoubtedly had abundant use in his own affairs, 

 or at least in the prosecution of researches in his own country, and which 

 by all precedent and the example of other lecturers he would have taken 

 witli him — tills he lias given to the science of this country, endowing- 

 therewith, in 1^S~) tliree scho]arshij)S for the ])rosecution of original 

 research in physics, one under the direction of Columbia College, one 

 under Harvard, and a third at the University of Pennsylvania. 



The truths utteicd and the example set by this self denying master 

 have already many times l)orne fiuit. The late President Barnard, of 

 Columbia College, who was a warm supporter of Prof. Tyndall when 

 here, beiiueatlM'd to Columbia upon his decease a lew years since the 

 sum of *l(l,0()O for the endowment of another fellowship for the enc(mr- 

 agemeut of scientific research, niK)n substantially the same terms as 

 those of the Tyndall scholarships. In other parts of the country there 

 have been some other endowments for similar [)urposes. In tlie last 

 year Columbia has also received $100,000, the munificent becpiest of Mv. 

 DaCosta,for tlie establishment of the departmentof biology. Although 

 this bequest is not primarily for the prosecution of original research, 

 it is not restricted by hami)ering conditions, and Mill to some extent, it 

 is hoped, admit of a direct and continuous support of the highest and 

 most advanced studies. 



*Ad(lres8 at the tirst joint mcetinjj,- of tho .Scientific Alliance of New York, 

 November 15, 1S92. (Pamphlet Re]t()it, ]ii). lS-11.) 



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