286 PROCEEDINGS OF THE OHIO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



the Copernican theory of the universe, the law of gravitation, 

 the doctrine of evolution or the conservation of energy, they will 

 come from men whose learning is comprehensive rather than 

 intensive. Indeed the same rule must hold in more restricted 

 fields of research. One who devotes himself exclusively to the 

 study of "the abdominal parasites of the white ant" is not likely 

 to evolve from it a new and important biological principle ; nor is 

 it probable that an intensive study of conjugate systems of space 

 curves or years devoted to a revision of the atomic weights of 

 the rare metals would carry one far on the way towards an 

 explanation of the nature and cause of gravitational attraction. 

 I would much regret to l)e understood as deprecating or dis- 

 paraging specialization in science. It is of the highest importance 

 even in its narrowest phase for through it the phenomena of 

 nature are revealed. But finding how one ])henomenon is related 

 to another ; the logical grouping of results of observation and 

 experiment and the derivation therefrom of general principles 

 and laws will always call for intellectual powers of a distinctly 

 higher order. 



I conclude, therefore, that an organization like the Ohio 

 Academy is of prime importance to science in Ohio Ijecause it 

 is essential to the proper and complete development of the man 

 of science. By mingling with those whose explorations of the 

 mysteries of nature are directed along lines diverging greatly 

 from his own he is better prepared to estimate correctly the com- 

 parative and the absolute value of his own work. He has also 

 an opportunity to familiarize himself with methods and instru- 

 ments of research used in other departments of science which he 

 can often summon to his own service with great profit. 



In our own National Academy of Sciences there is no divi- 

 sion of members into sections in sessions for the presentation and 

 discussion of scientific papers. Communications of the most 

 diverse character are presented before the entire body and this 

 course is highly commended in a recent volume by Dr. George 

 E. Hale, which is a study of the academies of all nations and 

 their relation to the progress of human knowledge. 



Unfortunately the history of scientific organizations in this 



