FOUNDING OF THE ACADEMY 7 



however, appear in the first list of officers of the Academy, nor 

 of the members of the Council. 



While, as has been seen, many of the statements in Admiral 

 Davis' letters regarding the initial steps in the formation of the 

 Academy are substantiated by other records, the most important 

 one has yet to be considered. This is his claim that the practical 

 plan for bringing the organization into existence was his own, 

 though " amplified and improved," as he remarks, by the sug- 

 gestions of others. 



It is not to be supposed that Davis intended to claim having 

 originated the idea of a national scientific association or academy. 

 This thought, as Goode has shown," was in the minds of Wash- 

 ington, Jefferson, Barlow, and other early American statesmen 

 and publicists, and led to practical results of large importance 

 through the activities of Franklin, John Adams and Poinsett. 



Bache dwelt on the need of a national scientific organization 

 in his address as retiring President of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, at Albany, in 1851, on which 

 occasion he said: 



" But first a few observations on the ordinary modes of promoting science ; in 

 connexion with which, I would throw out for your consideration some reasons 

 which induce me to believe that aji institution of science, supplementary to 

 existing ones, is much needed in our country, to guide public action in reference 

 to scientific matters 



" It is, I believe, a common mistake to associate the idea of academical insti- 

 tutions with monarchial institutions. We show in this, as in many other things, 

 the prejudice of our descent. We have among us the two extremes of exaggerated 

 nationality and of excessive imitation; let us modify each by the other, and be 

 wise. A national institute is not necessary to Great Britain, with her rich and 

 powerful universities. Republican France has cherished her Institute, seeking 



rather to extend than to curtail its proportions Nor does the idea of a 



necessary connexion between centralization and an institution strike me as a valid 

 one. Suppose an institute of which the members belong in turn to each of our 

 widely scattered states, working at their places of residence and reporting their 

 results; meeting only at particular times, and for special purposes; engaged in 

 researches self-directed, or desired by the body, called for by Congress or by the 



'° Goode, G. Brown, The Origin of the National Scientific and Educational Institutions of 

 the United States. Ann. Rep. Araer. Hist. Assoc, for 1889, pp. 53-161. 1890. 



