22 W. J. MCGEE 



tion of distinctly American work. The view afforded by 

 the recognition of the collective character of mankind has 

 guided inquiry concerning the individual, and now bodily 

 structures are studied as products of mind led activity, 

 while the brain is studied as a mechanism more complex, 

 but otherwise no more mysterious, than the structures of 

 plants and animals, or devices which men have made. So 

 in the science of man as in the other sciences the magician's 

 wand has been cast aside, and the veil of mystery has fallen 

 away forever, and the early shadow is gone from the field 

 of definite knowledge. 



Such have been a few of the advances in science in a half 

 century; the discovery of the persistence of motion, the 

 invention of spectroscopy, the control of electricity, the 

 discovery of the periodic law, the recognition of evolution, 

 and the culture classification of mankind may be considered 

 the first half dozen. If summed in a single term, the half 

 century's advance in science may be expressed as recogni- 

 tion of the uniformity and potentiality of nature; while the 

 applications are invention on the practical side, and kinetic 

 interpretation (or interpretation in terms of motion and se- 

 quence) on the philosophic side. Most of the advances began 

 in Europe, to be hastened in America, and a full half of the 

 progress must be credited to cisatlantic genius and enterprise. 



In truth, America has become a nation of science. 

 There is no industry, from agriculture to architecture, that 

 is not shaped by research and its results ; there is not one of 

 our fifteen millions of families that does not enjoy the bene- 

 fits of scientific advancement; there is no law in our statutes, 

 no motive in our conduct, that has not been made juster 

 by the straightforward and unselfish habit of thought fostered 

 by scientific methods. A nation of free minds will not be 

 selfish or cruel; and the sense of uniformity in nature finds 

 expression in national character — in commercial honesty, 

 in personal probity, in unparalleled patriotism, as well as 

 in the unequaled workmanship which is the simplest expres- 

 sion of straight thinking. Every step in our national prog- 

 ress has been guided by the steadfast knowledge born of 

 assimilated experience. The trebling of population in a 



