The Beginnijigs of American Science. 4^3 



battle of science against the unknown. They have had abundant rec- 

 oonition from their fellow-workers in the Old World. They have met 

 perhaps a more intelligent appreciation abroad than at home. It is the 

 absence of home appreciation that causes us very much foreboding in 

 the future. 



In Boston or Cambridge, in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Wash- 

 ington, Chicago, or San Francisco, and in most of the college towns, a 

 man interested in science may find others ready to talk over with him a 

 new scientific book or a discovery which has excited his interest. Else- 

 where the chances are he will have to keep his thoughts to himself. 

 One may quickly recite the names of the towms and cities in which may 

 be found ten or more people whose knowledge of any science is aught 

 than vague and rudimentary. Let me illustrate my idea by supposing 

 that every inhabitant of the United States over fifteen years of age 

 should be required to mention ten living men eminent in scientific work, 

 would one out of a hundred be able to respond? Does anyone suppose 

 that there are three or four hundred thousand people enlightened to 

 this degree? 



Let us look at some statistics, or rather some facts, which it is con- 

 venient to arrange in statistical form. The total number of white inhab- 

 itants of the United States in 1880 was about 42,000,000. The total 

 number of naturahsts, as shown in the Naturahst's Directory for 1886, 

 was a little over 4,600. This list includes not only the investigators, 

 who probably do not exceed 500 in number, and the advanced teachers, 

 who muster perhaps 1,000 strong, but all "who are sufficiently interested 

 in science to have selected special lines of study. 



We have, then, i person interested in science to about 10,000 inhab- 

 itants. But the leaven of science is not evenly distributed through the 

 national loaf. It is the tendency of scientific men to congregate together. 

 In Washington, for instance, there is i scientific man to every 500 inhab- 

 itants; in Cambridge, i to 830; and in New Haven, i to 1,100. In New 

 Orleans the proportion is i to 8,800; in Jersey City, i to 24,000; in New 

 York, I to 7,000; and in Brooklyn, i to 8,500. I have before me the pro- 

 portions worked out for the seventy-five principal cities of the United 

 States. The showing is suggestive, though no doubt in some instances 

 misleading. The tendency to gregariousness on the part of scientific 

 men may perhaps be further illustrated by a reference to certain socie- 

 ties. The membership of the National Academy of Sciences is almost 

 entirely concentrated about Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washing- 

 ton, and New Haven. Missouri has one member, Illinois one, Ohio one, 

 Maryland, New Jersey, and Rhode Island three, and California four, 

 while thirty-two States and Territories are not represented. A precisely 

 similar distribution of members is found in the American Society of Nat- 

 uralists. A majority of the members of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science live in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsyl- 



