8 THE NEW WORLD OF SCIENCE 



others of like distinction, constituted the most brilliant com- 

 pany of investigators ever assembled. 



We have permitted this brief account of science in France 

 during the period of Napoleon to develop beyond the immediate 

 questions of war because of the value of the example from our 

 present point of view. In fact, as shown in the introductory 

 chapter, it is impossible to distinguish sharply between science 

 as needed for national defense and science as the basis of in- 

 dustrial progress. It will be fortunate indeed if the heavy 

 blows to civilization directly chargeable to the Central Powers 

 can be offset in some degree by the new appreciation of science, 

 and advantage should be taken of every feasible method of 

 stimulating research that may be suggested by past experience. 



SCIENCE IN THE CIVIL WAR 



Let us now glance for a moment at the early development of 

 science in the United States, and observe the part it played in 

 the Civil War. De Tocqueville, who visited this country in 

 1831, has preserved his impressions in his well-known work on 

 " Democracy in America." In a chapter entitled " How the 

 example of the Americans fails to prove that a democratic 

 people cannot possess aptitude and taste for science, literature 

 and art," he wrote as follows : '* It must be admitted that 

 among the civilized peoples of our time there are few in which 

 the higher sciences have made less progress than in the United 

 States." This he attributed to our Puritan origin, our pur- 

 suit of the wealth which is so easily acquired in a new country, 

 and our dependence upon England for intellectual things. " I 

 consider the people of the United States as that portion of the 

 English people which is charged with the exploitation of the 

 forests of the new world, while the rest of the nation, enjoying 

 more leisure and less preoccupied with the material needs of 

 life, may devote itself to thought and to the development of 

 the human mind in every field." 



But although he regarded the United States as exceptional, 

 he fancied that he recognized in all democracies conditions of 



