DEPARTMENT II MATHEMATICS 



(Hall 7, September 20, 11.15 a. m.) 



CHAIRMAN: PROFESSOR HENRY S. WHITE, Northwestern University. 

 SPEAKERS: PROFESSOR MAXIME BOCHER, Harvard University. 

 PROFESSOR JAMES P. PIERPONT, Yale University. 



THE Chairman of the Department of Mathematics was Professor 

 Henry S. White, of Northwestern University. In opening the pro- 

 ceedings Professor White said: 



" Influenced by patriotism and by pride in material progress, cities 

 and whole nations meet and celebrate the building of bridges, the 

 opening of long railways, the tunneling of difficult mountain passes, 

 the acquisition of new territories, or commemorate with festivity the 

 discovery of a continent. These things are real and significant to us 

 all. 



" In the realm of ideas also there are events of no less moment, 

 discoveries and conquests that greatly enlarge the empire of human 

 reason. In the lapse of a century there may be many such notable 

 achievements, even in the domain of a single science. 



" Mathematics is a science continually expanding; and its growth, 

 unlike some political and industrial events, is attended by universal 

 acclamation. We are wont to-day, as devotees of this noble and 

 useful science, to pass in review the newest phases of her expansion, 

 I say newest, for in retrospect a century is but brief, and to 

 rejoice in the deeds of the past. At the same time, also, we turn 

 an eye of aspiration and resolution towards the mountains, rivers, 

 deserts, and the obstructing seas that are to test the mathematicians 

 of the future." 



