SCIENTIFIC WORK OF THE GOVERNMENT. 



BY MICHAEL A. LANE. 



[Michael A _ Lane was born at St. Louis in 1867 ; educated in the classics at the University 

 of" St. Louis; studied theoretical biology privately; studied practical anatomy and 

 physiology at the University of Illinois, and, later, practical histology and neurology 

 at the University of Chicago; worked for eight years to identify the facts of social 

 evolution in man and lower animals with the law of natural selection; published 

 his theory in a work entitled "The Level of Social Motion" in 1902; contributor 

 to American magazines. 1893 to 1905.] 



Patronage of science and philosophy has always been one 

 of the distinguishing characteristics of an enUghtened state. 

 This was no less true of the great university at Alexandria 

 than of the earlier scientific foundations in Europe, when 

 the princes of Germany, Sweden, France, Italy, Spain, and 

 England gave their substantial help to the patient researchers 

 who devoted their lives to the discovery of the true interpre- 

 tation of nature. 



For its most vigorous growth science must be removed 

 from all thought of sordidness, selfishness and profit. 



'The man of science," said a distinguished German 

 visitor to the United States recently, "must have a light 

 heart. He must be free from the cares of mere money mak- 

 ing, and his small personal wants must be supplied by others 

 whose spirits are large enough to look forward to the future 

 good of the human kind. In return he gives to the human 

 kind, free, the results of his labors." 



In America the great patrons of science have been the 

 kings of commerce rather than the sovereign whom, here, 

 we name the state, or the people. Until recently the Amer- 

 ican government has not been forward in works of this kind, 

 but it is now fairly on the way toward making the United 

 States the center of scientific research of almost every kind. 

 The government has found that science has wonderfully 

 practicable possibilities, and at the present time the gov- 

 ernment spends nearly $15,000,000 yearly for scientific work 

 of various kinds. This is a larger sum than is spent by any 

 other government in the world, and the prospects are that 



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