52 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INDIANA ACADEMY OF 8CIEx\CE. 



Address of the President, 



A Century of Progress ix Scientific Thought. 

 Andrew J. Bignev. 



The Centennial thought is uppermost in the minds of the people of the 

 gi'eat commonwealth of Indiana. In every hamlet and village, in every town 

 and city, the history of our beloved state has been represented on canvas and 

 on the streets, in parks, in church, auditorium, and hall. The praises of 

 Indiana have been sung by bard, and proclaimed by the minister and states- 

 man, by the children and the teacher until the entire state is filled with 

 thoughts of the wonderful progress and the marvelous resources and }>ossi- 

 bilities of this commonwealth. 



It has st'cmed to me to be eminently fitting, in this centennial year, that 

 the address of this hour should be devoted to a resume of scientific thought 

 during the past century covering the period of the statehood of Indiana 

 No state has a corner (m scientific thought. It is the work of the world, hence 

 national boundaries vanish when we consider such thoughts. 



In order to most fully ai)preciate this century of progress in scni^utific, 

 thought . it is necessary to take ourselves back one hundred years to 1816 

 when our stiite was born, and look about us so that we may view our subject 

 from the liest standpoint. The Battle of Waterloo had just been fought. 

 The conquered hero had been banished to the Island of St. Helena. George 

 III was still living. It was three years before the birth of Queen Victoria. 

 Abraham Lincoln was a lad of eight years. James Monroe was President of 

 the United States. There were only nineteen slates in the Union. The 

 territory west <jf the Missij)])! was practicall\ unknown. It was si.xteen years 

 before the first railwa\-, thirty-one years before the electric telegrajjli, sixty- 

 one years before the telephone and ninety-one years before the wireless 

 telegrai)h. Xo steamship had crossed the Atlantic. Xo airship had been 

 thought of. 



The world was truly in the i)ioneer stage of scientific thought. Little 

 by little new thoughts began to dawn upon the minds of some who began to 

 express themselves in a public way and occasioiuilly in the way of some in- 

 vention like the railway or electric telegraph so that the peoi)le began to see 

 that there was a real value in such thought. The public was very slow to 

 appreciate the intrusion of modern inventions and even the inventors them- 

 selves were very cautious. It is interesting to note how careful the early 

 railroad companies were concerning their trains. One time-card read as 



follows : "The Railroad Company ^\ ill run a train daily leaving 



station at 10 a. m. provide^l it does not rain." 



