36 Kansas Academy of Science. 



then observation towers will be erected, with tops lifted so far above 

 the bewildering maze of the myriad facts of observation that wide 

 surveys can be made of the dominant truths of God's universe, and 

 heaven-reaching generalizations be made by these master scientists, 

 the true philosophers. 



The scientific method of research provides that deduction shall 

 follow, not precede, induction. The visions of truth, the induc- 

 tions of the scientist-philosophers, help wonderfully in rectifying 

 the work of the systematist, and in showing the naturalist where to 

 observe, where to experiment, and where to collect. 



This world does not need more potential energy so much as it 

 needs to know how to transform more of it into useful forms of 

 kinetic energy. So in the formation of the collecting habit, we do 

 not need to urge more people to make collections, but w6 do need 

 to urge more people to make collections that are valuable, that 

 are useful. 



It is to be deplored, for instance, that sane men and women 

 should use valuable time in making collections of buttons, tobacco 

 tags, old shoes, luggage labels, and postage-stamps. Not only do 

 such collectors waste time and effort on their collections, but they 

 also waste energy in the form of hard cash. One European col- 

 lector was so dominated by the subconscious craze for the posses- 

 sion of rare specimens that he paid $3500 for a poorly printed 

 two-cent stamp issued some years since by Hawaii. A blue stamp 

 issued by a Baltimore postmaster before our general government 

 took charge of the mails sells for $4400, and a one-cent stamp is- 

 sued by Mauritius in 1847 sold recently for $4840. A Confederate 

 silver dollar is valued at $1500, and one issued by the United States 

 in 1804 is quoted at $1000. This craze for rare things assumes a 

 psuedo-literary phase when collectors offer $8000 for an eighth- 

 century manuscript of Homer's "Iliad," $6450 for the original manu- 

 script of Scott's " Lady of the Lake," and $5250 for the autobiography 

 of Lord Nelson in his own handwriting. 



Even natural-history specimens bring absurdly high prices. A 

 Rocky Mountain prospector ate for breakfast six eggs of the Yellow 

 pheasant, and learned ten minutes later, to the discomfort of his 

 digestive organs, that the eggs were worth exactly $100 each. At 

 the time of the tulip craze in Holland, hundred-dollar tulip bulbs 

 were common, and thousand-dollar bulbs not uncommon. 



The inductions of the scientist-philosopher also serve a most 

 excellent purpose in correcting the imperfect inductions of the 

 scientist. It is said by G. H. Lewes that Herbert Spencer was 



