IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 21 



PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



THE RELATION OF PHYSICS TO THE OTHER MATERIAL 



SCIENCES. 



BY A. A. VEBLEN. 



The last year or two of the nineteenth century and this 

 first year of the twentieth liave been prolific in literature 

 dealing in one way or another with science topics. There 

 have been addresses before learned and educational gather- 

 ings, articles in science journals, and in periodicals of 

 well-nigh all kinds, much of all this writing having been 

 produced by the masters and leaders of science; and the 

 object of these productions has been, generally, to give a 

 view of the present condition and importance of scientific 

 work and knowledge, or to review recent progress either 

 of science in general or of special departments. The con- 

 dition of science at the beginning has been contrasted with 

 that at the end of the century just past, or the greatest 

 discoveries and most important researches have been passed 

 in review, and the consequences that have followed have 

 been appraised and estimated. The services of the great 

 investigators, whose names adorn the pages of nineteenth 

 century history, have been appreciatively explained, and 

 the debt which humanity owes them has not been for- 

 gotten. The comforts and necessities we now possess, 

 which were unknown a hundred years since, and which we 

 owe to scientific discoveries and their application in prac- 

 tical affairs, have formed the burden of some of these 

 writings. 



Some of the boldest of this army of authors have ven- 

 tured to prophesy as to the future of science; or they have 

 discussed the problems which next are to be attacked and 



