466 Memorial of George Brown Goode. 



caricologists, mycologists, muscologists, bacteriologists, diatomologists, 

 paleobotauists, crystallographers, petrologists, and the like. 



I can but believe, however, that it is the duty of every scientific scholar, 

 however minute his specialty, to resist in himself and in the professional 

 circles which surround him, the tendency toward narrowing technicality 

 in thought and sympathy, and above all in the education of nonprofes- 

 sional students. 



I can not resist the feeling that American men of science are in a large 

 degree responsible if their fellow-citizens are not fully awake to the claims 

 of .scientific endeavor in their midst. 



I am not in sympathy with those who feel that their dignity is lowered 

 when their investigations lead toward improvement in the physical con- 

 dition of mankind, but I feel that the highest function of science is to 

 minister to their mental and moral welfare. Here in the United States, 

 more than in any other country, it is necessary that sound, accurate 

 knowledge and a scientific manner of thought .should exist among the 

 people, and the man of science is becoming more than ever the natural 

 cu.stodian of the treasured knowledge of the v^orld. To him above all 

 others falls the duty of organizing and maintaining the institutions for 

 the diffusion of knowledge, man}^ of which have been spoken of in these 

 addresses— the schools, the museums, the expositions, the societies, the 

 periodicals. To him more than to any other American should be made 

 familiar the words of President Washington in his farewell address to the 

 American people: 



" Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for 

 the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a 

 government gives force to public opinions it should be enlightened." 



