RELATIONS BETWEEN UNITED STATES AND GERMANY. 545 



If we proceed to compare the scientific capital that we possess with 

 ihat of America we find that as regards the factor of climate and the 

 creative and thinking human material we are about the same. The 

 iiilvantage which we })erhaps possess as regards the age of our mate- 

 lials for culture and historical background will disappear in the 

 course of time. Our scientific institutions are good, but we should be 

 careful not to restrict the free development that they have always had 

 hitherto, for if we do so we will quickly fall behind America. Sci- 

 ence and art thrive only in the open air ! One thing should be men- 

 tioned in which America is excelled by the Old AVorld of western 

 Europe — I do not refer alone to Germany — that is in scientific dis- 

 coveries and theories which open entirely new scientific domains, such 

 as the discovery of a surprisingly large number of new chemical ele- 

 ments; spectral analysis, together with astrophysics; the great discov- 

 eries in the chemistry of dyes and sugars, the physical chemistry of 

 the phenomena of solutions, the liquefaction and condensation of 

 gases, especially liquid air, the Rontgen and Becquerel rays, radium 

 cind its rays, color photography, the electric dynamo, electric lighting — 

 indeed, most of the investigations and applications of electricity as a 

 source of power — the electric furnace and its application, so fruitful 

 in the arts; then in the field of biology, almost our entire knowledge 

 of the pi-otista and of bacteriology, with the light which they throw 

 upon ei)idemiology, toxines and antitoxines, the development of the 

 doctrine of innnunity, the discovery of the recondite phenomena of 

 fertilization and karyokinesis, the doctrine of descent and Darwinism, 

 and, crowning all, the conception and establishment of the great idea 

 of the conservation of energy. 



These are the discoveries and tlieories of European investigation of 

 the last fifty years; many of them belong to quite recent time. In 

 the realm of the historical and philosophical sciences also there could 

 be named a great number of men and works which would easily show 

 that here too the preponderance of attainment still rests with Europe. 

 Theodor Mommsen, Moriz Haupt, Leopold von Ranke, Macaulay. 

 Gaston Paris, Karl Ritter, and many others of which Europe may be 

 proud, have indeed passed away; yet their influence is felt through- 

 out many schools that are continuing their work with honor. Euroj^e 

 with Germany in the heart of it has retained up to the present day 

 its fresh and youthful vigor in intellectual Avork. So long as the 

 climatic conditions remain as favorable as at present there will be no 

 lack of intellectual achievement. 



Certainly the education of our youth has hitherto been good, and I 

 do not lightly value the independence of our universities. It is by 

 no means desirable that they all should be made to correspond to a 

 common pattern; we should rather maintain their well-tested organi- 



