RELATIONS BETWEEN UNITED STATES AND GERMANY. 541 



keep liis head above water. Hence tlie oreat care wliich we see in 

 America for public schools, for advanced sc^hools of all sorts, for 

 niiiseiims, collections, laboratories, public lecture courses, all of which 

 are of an abundance excelled l)_v oidv a few similar establishments 

 in the Old World, and in practical arrangement and facility of use 

 are surpassed by none of our institutions, if, indeed, ours do not 

 _\ield to them in this resiDect. Althouah their earlier })rogress was 

 rapid, that of the last ten years exceeds all expectations. It needs 

 no gift of proi)hecy to predict that in fifty years the institutions of 

 the Union will far surpass ours in good arrangement, case of use, 

 and wealth of means oflf'ered. 



Now, has anything been attained by this liberal provision for the 

 equipment of scientific work ^ This leads us to some intermediate 

 considerations. 



The endowment of any special ability, whether bodily or mental, 

 is an inborn gift of nature; it can not be increased in any organ- 

 ization beyond the limits permitted by that organization. A math- 

 ematician can not be nuide out of a man whose brain does not pos- 

 sess the necessary endowment any more than a singer can be made 

 from anyone who is defective in the auditory centers of the brain, 

 in the organs of hearing, or in the larnyx. These natural endow- 

 ments are sometimes hereditary iu families; quite often, indeed, 

 perhaps oftener, the reverse is the case. Neither material i^rosperity 

 nor high social position have anything to do with the production 

 of these endowments; on the contrary we often see capable intellects 

 of the first rank emerge from the great mass of the people, from 

 those in poor circumstances as frequently as from families that have 

 long enjoyed favorable conditions — a benificent, equalizing justice 

 of nature. It can not be denied that certain races are preferred — the 

 history of science teaches it. They are those wdiich, with a generally 

 healthy and harmonious development of the body, possess brains 

 of the largest size relative to the body mass. Another factor has 

 doubtless an influence here; I refer to all that is generally inferred 

 when we use the word "■ climate." Neither the excessive darkness 

 of the polar regions nor the flood of sunlight at the equator appears 

 favorable; it is in the temperate zones, in countries much diversified 

 by land and water, with fertile soil and a complete alternation of 

 seasons that we find the most favorable climatic factors. In such 

 countries one can not rely uj^on fruit dropping into the mouth; one 

 must work, but the work rewards and at the same time tempers the 

 worker. I think it is clear that the factor of climate does not work 

 directly. I am much more inclined to believe that it works by pro- 

 (hicing Avell-built, healthy men with good brains. 



Now, on the other hand, it is not the less true that a certain 

 already attained development of culture and institutions likely to 



