Na/ioua/ Scicnlijic aiui luiiaaliiuial I nslilulioiL^ 



313 



Tile SNSteni of national scientific organizations thus inangnrated is 

 still expanding". Within the past few years there have sprung into 

 existence a considerable numljer of learned societies devoted to special 

 subjects, usually with inilocalized nieinl)ershi]), and hokhng meetings 

 from year to j-car in dilTerent cities. Among these are those named 

 below : 



'J'he American .Vnatoniical Society. 



The American Dialect Society. 



The American I'olk-lore Society. 



The American Geographical vSociety (of 

 New York) and the Xatit)nal Geo- 

 graphic Societ}' (of Washington). 



The American Geological Society. 



The American Historical Association. 



The American Institute of IMining Ivn- 

 gineers. 



The American Meteorological vSociety. 



The American yietrolojjical vSociety. 



The .\merican Oriental Society. 



The American Oniithologi.sts' Union. 



The American Philologica.l Association. 



The American Physiological vSociety. 



The American Society of Naturalists. 



The American vSociety for r,sychical Re- 

 search. 



The Archaeological Institute of America. 



The Botanical Club of the American 

 A.ssociation. 



The rVanklin Institute. 



That the organization of such societies has been so long delayed was 

 perhaps due to the fact that during the first six decades of the century 

 the number of .scientific investigators ^vas comparatively .small, and 

 .scientific work of original character was confined to a few of the large 

 cities, .so that local organizations, stippleniented by the annual summer 

 meetings of the American A.s.sociation for the Advancement of Science, 

 answered all needs. vSince the close of the ci\il war, and of the period 

 of ten years which elapsed before our cotuitr>- was restored to commercial 

 prosperity, and indeed l)efore it had begun to fully feel the eiTects of the 

 great .scientific renai.ssance which originated in 1S59 with the pul)lication 

 of Darwin's Origin of vSjJecies, there has been a great increase in the 

 numljer of persons whose time is chiefly devoted to original .scientific 

 work. 



Nothing has contrilmted ,so materially to this state of affairs as the 

 pa.s.sage by Congress in 1862 of the bill, introduced ])y the Hon. Jti.stin 

 vS. Morrill, of \"ermont, to e.stabli.sh scientific and industrial educational 

 institutions in every vState, supplemented in 18S7 b}- the Hatch bill for 

 the founding of the agricultural experiment .stations.' The movement 

 was at first unpopular among American educators, but after a quarter of 



ning of the century were engaged in correspondence " about learned societies, 

 imiversities, and public instruction." John Adams in a letter to Cutler, dated Ouinc}^ 

 May I, 1802, referred to a .scheme for the establishment of a national academy of 

 arts and sciences, in which Mitchill, of New York, was interested, and which was to 

 come up for di.scu.ssion at a meeting in that city in the following month. (Life of 

 Manasseh Cutler, 11, p. 87. ) 



'See Appendix D, and also A. C. True's A Brief Accomit of the Ivxperiinent 

 Station Movement in the ITnited States, United {States Department of Agriculture, 

 Experiment Station Bulletin No. i, 1889, pp. 73-78. 



