28 THE HISTORY OF THE CONGRESS 



universal concert of purpose. It is the first time, I believe, that there has been an 

 international gathering of the authorities of all the sciences, and in that respect 

 the congress initiates and establishes the universal brotherhood of scholars. 



A thought uncommunicated is of little value. An unrecorded achievement 

 is not an asset of society. The real lasting value of this congress will consist of the 

 printed record of its proceedings. The delivery of the addresses, reaching and 

 appealing to, as must necessarily be the case, a very limited number of people, 

 can be considered as only a method of reaching the lasting and perpetual good of 

 civilization. 



In just the degree that this Exposition in its various divisions shall make a 

 record of accomplishments, and lead the way to further advance, this enterprise 

 has reached the expectations of its contributors and the hopes of its promoters. 

 This congress is the peak of the mountain that this Exposition has builded on 

 the highway of progress. From its heights we contemplate the past, record the 

 present, and gaze into the future. 



This universal exposition is a world's university. The International Congress 

 of Arts and Science constitutes the faculty; the material on exhibition are the 

 laboratories and the museums; the students are mankind. 



That in response to invitation of the splendid committee of patriotic men, to 

 whom all praise is due for their efforts in this crowning glory of the Exposition, so 

 eminent a gathering of the scholars and savants of the world has resulted, speaks 

 unmistakably for the fraternity of the world, for the sympathy of its citizenship, 

 and for the patriotism of its people. 



In reply to these addresses of the officials of the Exposition, the 

 honorary Vice-Presidents for Great Britain, France, Germany, Rus- 

 sia, Austria, Italy, and Japan made brief responses in behalf of their 

 respective countries. 



Sir William Ramsay of London spoke in the place of Hon. James 

 Bryce, extending England's thanks for the courtesy which had been 

 shown her representatives and declaring that England, particularly 

 in the scientific field, looked upon America as a relative and not as 

 a foreign country. 



France was represented by Professor Jean Gaston Darboux, Per- 

 petual Secretary of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, who spoke as 

 follows: 



MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, My first word will be to thank 

 you for the honor which you have been so courteous as to pay my country in 

 reserving for her one of the vice-presidencies of the Congress. Since the time of 

 Franklin, who received at the hands of France the welcome which justice and his 

 own personal genius and worth demanded, most affectionate relations have not 

 ceased to unite the scientists of France and the scientists of America. The dis- 

 tinction which you have here accorded to us will contribute still further to render 

 these relations more intimate and more fraternal. In choosing me among so many 

 of the better fitted delegates sent by my country, you have without doubt wished 

 to pay special honor to the Acade'mie des Sciences and to the Institut de France, 

 which I have the honor of representing in the position of Perpetual Secretary. 

 Permit me therefore to thank you in the name of these great societies, which are 

 happy to count in the number of their foreign associates and of their correspond- 

 ents so many of the scholars of America. In like manner as the Institut de France, 

 so the Congress which opens to-day seeks to unite at the same time letters, science, 



