RELATIONS BETWEEN UNITED STATES AND GERMANY, 548 



J. Cliikl; the orientalist, Ililpreclit ; the Sanscrit schohir, Whitney; 

 the philologist, Hadley; the philosophers, Emerson and Koyce, as 

 ^Yell as the historians, Bancroft, Parkman, and Charles Kendall 

 Adams — all of the best renown. From the imposing- list of names 

 cited by JNirmsterberg I have here selected only a few best known to 

 me by their works, and npon these I do not attempt to pass judgment. 



To rightly understand the Americans we must remember that even 

 their oldest cities never had walls; that there have never been there 

 any of those endless petty feuds of single cities with each other and 

 with their overlords which, in their day, did so much to retard the 

 development of Germany; that they have never had imposed upon 

 them any compulsory feudal service or similar burdens other than 

 those the}' themselves voluntarily assumed; that the state does not 

 concern itself with religious creeds — there being no question of " the 

 church '' as a political force — nor do the creeds trouble themselves 

 about the state. All this produces a breadth of view and a feeling 

 of i:)ersonal independence, which feeling the Americans likewise 

 inherit from the founders of the Republic and traditionally main- 

 tain in their education. This is again reflected in their great scien- 

 tific establishments, as an example of which we may take the Smith- 

 sonian Institution at Washington to show the magnificent manner in 

 which such views are realized. 



This Institution is a scientific central station for the entire Union 

 and effects an exchange of writings and scientific objects with the 

 museums and scientific establishments of the entire world. It also 

 administers a museum remarkably rich in specimens relating to 

 natural history and ethnology, especiall}^ that of America ; an astro- 

 physical observatory of the first rank, and a zoological garden, which, 

 among other objects, seeks to perpetuate those species that are threat- 

 ened with extinction, A considerable library of some 200,000 vol- 

 umes is attached to it. The executive body of the Institution, admin- 

 istering it under the segis of the Government, has among its members 

 some of the most notable men of the country. At its head is the 

 President of the United States for the time being. Besides about 

 half a million of dollars appropriated annually by Congress, the 

 Institution controls considerable means derived from its own re- 

 sources. These are used for tl.s furtherance of researches of the 

 most various kinds, as is done by our OAvn academies and learned 

 societies. 



Other establishments similar to this are by no means wanting in 

 the United States, They have not, however, yet reached the impor- 

 tance enjoyed by the great academies of the Old World. The most 

 important and noteworthy American academy is the National Acad- 

 emy of Sciences. It was established in 1863, has a membership prac- 

 tically limited to 100 members, and has always held a very high rank. 



