IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 29 



On November 6, 1780, was made the famous discovery by- 

 Gal vani of the influence of electricity upon a recently kiiled 

 frog, leading to the production of the electric current by the 

 contact of dissimilar metals, which, in turn, led to the inven- 

 tion of the electric pile and the crown of cups by Voltain 1800. 

 The beginning of dynamic electricit7 is to be placed here, and 

 this branch of eleitriclty, which has made such unparalleled 

 advancement in our century and has bsen so profoundly influen- 

 tial in both the thoughts and the material affairs of men, is, 

 therefore, a product of the last 100 years. The change in the 

 condition of electrical science during the last 100 years is 

 typical of that of the whole science of phys'cs, and I might even 

 say of all scieace, and our conception of the world. The change 

 is one of statics to dynamic?. Up to 1800 there was no wave 

 theory of light, no polarization, no spectroscope. There was 

 no mechanical theory of hea,t or thermo-dynamics, no trans- 

 formation of energy, and no dynamic electricity. 



Physics is regarded to-day as essentially a quantitative 

 science, and yet 100 years ago very few measurements of any 

 sort had been mide, and in the huge mass of our present con- 

 stants I find noae that have came down to us fro n the last 

 century. 



BIOLOGY. 



Historically the development of Botany and Zoology show 

 such close parallelism that for joresent purposes they may be 

 considered together under the name Biolog}^, which was really 

 coined in our own century. 



Though good beginnings in the anatomy and jjhysiology of 

 both plants and animals were made before 1800, the attention 

 of botanists and zoologists was mainly directed to Ihe work of 

 systematizing, and here the most marked advancement was 

 made. As a systematizer in the animal, vegetable and min- 

 eral kingdoms, Linnaeus stands preeminent. He invented a 

 new vocabulary of descriptive terms, and gave ns our binomial 

 system for the designation of species. In his systems the 

 accumulated facts of Natural History found a convenient, simple, 

 orderly and exact arrangement, and there followed a great 

 impetus in the discovery and description of new forms, prob- 

 ably to the neglect of other and, as we now regard them, more 

 important branches of the science. The systems of Linnaeus 

 were confessedly artificial. Holding as he did the idea of the 

 fixity of species which was a prime article of faith of most 



