THE GROWTH OF SCIENCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 181 



publishing nearl}^ all the works of the great Italian, Malpighi, and the 

 brilliant Lavoisier, two years before his own countr3"men in their 

 blind fury slew him, received from the same body the highest token 

 which it could give of its esteem. 



In these closing years of the nineteenth century this great need of 

 mutual knowledge and of common action felt by men o^' science of dif- 

 ferent lands is being manifested in a special way. Though nowadays 

 what is done an3^whero is soon known everywhere, the news of a dis- 

 covery being often flashed over the globe by telegraph, there is an 

 increasing activity in the direction of organization to promote inter- 

 national meetings and international cooperation. In almost every 

 science inquirers from many lands now gather together at stated inter- 

 vals in international congresses to discuss matters which they have in 

 common at heart, and go away each one feeling strengthened by hav- 

 ing met his brother. The desire that in the struggle to la}^ bare the 

 secrets of nature the least waste of human energy should be incurred 

 is leading more and more to the concerted action of nations combining 

 to attack problems the solution of which is difficult and costly. The 

 determination of standards of measurement, magnetic surveys, the 

 solution of great geodetic problems, the mapping of the heavens and of 

 the earth — all these are being carried on by international organizations. 



In this and in other countries men's minds have this long while past 

 been greatly moved by the desire to make fresh efl'orts to pierce the 

 dark secrets of the forbidding Antarctic regions. Belgium has just 

 made a brave single-handed attempt; a private enterprise sailing from 

 these shores is struggling there now, lost for the present to our view; 

 and this year we in England and our brethren in Germany are, thanks 

 to the promised aid of the respective governments, and no less to pri- 

 vate liberality, in which this association takes its share, able to begin 

 the preparation of carefully organized expeditions. That international 

 amity of which I am speaking is illustrated by the fact that in this 

 country and in that there is not only a great desire but a tirm purpose 

 to secure the fullest cooperation between the expeditions which will 

 leave the two shores. If in this momentous attempt any rivalry be 

 shown l)etween the two nations, it will be for each a rivalry, not in 

 forestalling, but in assisting the other. May I add that if the story of 

 the past may seem to give our nation some claim to the seas as more 

 peculiarly our own, that claim bespeaks a duty likewise peculiarly our 

 own, to leave no effort untried by which we may plumb the seas' j^et 

 unknown depths and trace their yet unknown shores? That claim, if 

 it means anything, means that when nations are joining hands in the 

 dangerous work of exploring the unknown South, the larger burden 

 of the task should fall to Britain's share; it means that we in this 

 country should see to it, and see to it at once, that the concerted Ant- 

 arctic expedition which in some two 3'ears or so will leave the shores of 

 Germany, of England, and perhaps of other lands, should, so far as 



