102 Minnesota Academy of Science 



misrepresentation and calumny. We regard him as one of the 

 few men the world has seen who have been able to lift their 

 vision above the level of the 'common herd' and to recite intel- 

 ligibly the new truths which they beheld. He lived in England, 

 but he belonged to the world and especially to every English- 

 speaking country." In moving the resolutions " Professor Win- 

 chell made some remarks on the character and scope of Darwin's 

 work, — making a comparison between the biological investigations 

 of Darwin and the geological studies of Lyell ; while the latter 

 overthrew the old theories of catastrophies and built up on a 

 lasting basis the uniformitarianism of modern geologists, the 

 former labored to bring out the proofs that long eras of time had 

 been necessary to establish the present condition of animal and 

 plant life on the globe." 



The retiring presidential address of Prof. Winchell, read 

 Jan. 5, 1880, and forming the closing dozen pages of the first 

 volume of the Bulletin, is a most valuable document of the first 

 seven years of the Academy's history, its purposes and benefits. 

 If the whole of this inspiring essay cannot be here reprinted we 

 must at least reproduce his appeal for the cultivation of science, 

 because he himself so manfully and modestly fulfilled his ideal of 

 a real student of science. "Our social welfare is also promoted by 

 an academy of science. Now the word society is many-sided, 

 especially in its broad meaning. But I refer to those daily ex- 

 periences of man with man, to the mutual interdependence which 

 we as neighbors in a crowded city must admit that we feel, to the 

 waves of feeling, or of local interest, that excite us as a commun- 

 ity, and the common pleasures and entertainments that we seek, to 

 our diversions, to our domesticities. Not only may the grander 

 aspects of modern civilization be advanced by the cultivation of 

 science, but these more personal and immediate concerns are 

 influenced and mellowed by her genial light. Science provokes a 

 quick and observing eye. She requires the cool and steady judg- 

 ment. She skills the hand to its gentlest and nicest touch. She 

 makes us tolerant of opposition and willing to be corrected. She 

 would harmonize our disagreements. She would systematize our 

 efforts. She would elevate our ambitions. She would clarify our 

 thought, she would regulate our pleasures and she would enhance 

 the happiness of our homes. She works in subtle wavs, but none 



