THE HISTORY OF THE CONGRESS 29 



and arts. We shall be happy and proud to take part in this work and contribute 

 to its success. 



Germany was represented by Professor Wilhelm Waldeyer, of the 

 University of Berlin, who replied as follows: 



MR. PRESIDENT, HONORED ASSEMBLAGE, The esteemed invitation which has 

 been offered to me in this significant hour of the opening of the Congress of Arts 

 and Science to greet the members of this congress, and particularly my esteemed 

 compatriots, I have had no desire to decline. I have been for a fortnight under 

 the free sky of this mighty city so I must express myself, since enclosing walls 

 are unknown in the United States and this fact, together with the hospitality 

 offered me in such delightful manner by the Chairman of the Committee on Con- 

 gresses, Mr. Frederick W. Lehmann, has almost made me a St. Louis man. There- 

 fore I may perhaps take it upon myself to greet you here. 



I confess that I arrived here with some misgiving some doubts as to whether 

 the great task which was here undertaken under most difficult circumstances 

 could be accomplished with even creditable success. These doubts entirely dis- 

 appeared the first time I entered the grounds of the World's Fair and obtained a 

 general view of the method, beautiful as well as practical, by which the treasures 

 gathered from the whole world were arranged and displayed. I trust you, too, will 

 have a like experience ; and will soon recognize that a most earnest and good work 

 is here accomplished. 



And I must remark at this time that we Germans may indeed be well satisfied 

 here; the unanimous and complete recognition which our cooperation in this 

 great work has received is almost disconcerting. 



What can be said of the whole Exposition with reference to its extent and the 

 order in which everything is arranged, I may well say concerning the depart- 

 ments of science, especially interesting to us. In this hour in which the Congress 

 of Arts and Science is being opened, we shall not express any thanks to those who 

 took this part of the work upon their shoulders a more difficult task indeed than 

 all the others, for here the problem is not to manage materials, but heads and 

 minds. And as I see here assembled a large number of German professors I, too, 

 belong to the profession of whom it is said, I know not with how much justice, 

 that they are hard to lead, the labors of the Directors and Presidents of the 

 Congress could not have been, and are not now, small. Neither shall we to-day 

 prophesy into what the Congress may develop. The greater number of speakers 

 cannot expect to have large audiences, but even to-day we can safely say this : the 

 imposing row of volumes in which shall be given to posterity the reviews here to 

 be presented concerning the present condition, and future problems of the sciences 

 and arts as they appear to the scientific world at the beginning of the twentieth 

 century, will provide a monumental work of lasting value. This we may confi- 

 dently expect. The thanks which we to-day do not wish to anticipate in words, let 

 us show by our actions to our kind American hosts, and especially to the directors 

 of the World's Fair and of this Congress. With exalted mind, forgetting all little 

 annoyances which may and will come, let us go forward courageously to the work, 

 and let us do our best. Let us grasp heartily the open hand honestly extended to 

 us. 



May this Congress of Arts and Science worthily take part in the great and 

 undisputed success which even to-day we must acknowledge the World's Fair 

 at St. Louis. 



For Austria Dr. Theodore Escherich, of the University of Vienna, 

 responded as follows : 



