BAKER ON GREATER ATTENTION TO THE SCIENCES. 129 



priations for the geological survey, the State Board of Health, and for 

 the Fish Commission, which have been used in part for such purposes, 

 so far as I know, this State does not directly appropriate money for the 

 advancement of any science by experimental work. 



I claim that, in the interests of progress for the benefit of the people 

 generally, the State ought to appropriate money for the advancement 

 not alone of the agricultural and mining sciences, but of all the sci- 

 ences. Especially ought the State Laboratory of Hygiene, at the Uni- 

 versity, to have a liberal appropriation for the advancement of several 

 of the sanitary sciences. 



The State publishes the annual reports of the State Agricultural So- 

 ciety, and of the State Horticultural Society. It ought certainly to pub- 

 lish the reports of this Michigan Academy of Science, which is not 

 limited as the other societies mentioned are, to a special class of citizens, 

 but ma}' embrace every science, and subserve the interests of every class 

 of citizens. 



THE PEOPLE GENERALLY. 



The people generally can exert a powerful influence for the progress 

 of science, by petitioning congress and the State legislatures to in- 

 augurate and maintain schools of science, professorships of the sciences, 

 and scientific experiment stations. 



Much can be done by selecting for ordinary conversations scientific 

 topics, instead of the usual topics which are of much less importance. 



Much good can be done by the establishment and maintenance of local 

 scientific clubs and associations. 



Every intelligent person ought to become especially interested in at 

 least one science; and not onl}^ read, from time to time, standard books 

 on that subject, and take and' read a jjeriodical devoted to that science, 

 but should labor to contribute facts, and if possible envolve a general 

 principle to add to the stock of the world's exact knowledge. Only in 

 some such way can we "Make our lives sublime, and departing, leave 

 behind us footprints on the sands of time.'' 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS OF THE SUBJECT. 



I 



I believe that neither the people generally nor even those among us 

 who are engaged in scientific pursuits, realize the extent of our indebted- 

 ness to science. Nor do we realize that we would still be painfully grop- 

 ing our way through an imperfect and uncomfortable existence were it 

 not for progress in the several sciences, which progress was, for many 

 years, hindered by the churches, its place in the schools opposed by lead 

 ing educators, not aided by legislatures, and ridiculed by the common 

 people. 



We have not time for the enumeration of the items of our daily use 

 for which we are indebted to science, but let me briefly mention a few of 

 the notable examples of com})aratively recent achievements of science: 

 17 



