130 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[July, 



meeting of the gentlemen who 

 afterwards organized this Society 

 was held. The meeting was called 

 at the residence of our present 

 treasurer, Mr. Hubbard, and only 

 twelve persons were present. One 

 month from that time our first elec- 

 tion of officers was held, which re- 

 sulted in the election of Mr. J. D. 

 Hyatt as President, who has filled 

 the office for two years with honor 

 and credit, to both himself and the 

 Society. 



The two years which have passed 

 have not been without some draw- 

 backs to our prosperity ; but on 

 the whole we have no reason, it 

 seems to me, to wish for any better 

 prospects than are now before 



There are two kinds of associa- 

 tions, both of which may properly 

 be classed as scientific, one com- 

 posed of advanced students repre- 

 senting the higher departments of 

 science, who meet to consider ques- 

 tions of interest and importance to 

 themselves; the other made up of 

 persons whose interest in scientific 

 work is more general in character, 

 and whose attainments are limited 

 by the little spare time which their 

 business allows them to devote to 

 study. 



The former contributes to the 

 advancement of science, the latter 

 assimilate and popularize the result 

 attained by the former. 



I am not one of those who be- 

 lieve that there are no benefits to 

 be derived from the associations of 

 dilettanti. 



A society of amateurs in science 

 is certain to be composed of mem- 

 bers engaged in various pursuits, 

 some scientific, some literary, some 

 commercial, and the influence of 

 these various pursuits will make it- 

 self felt by the entire body. 



Such a society cannot take rank 

 among the assemblies of profes- 



sional men, and may not receive 

 even the recognition from these 

 that it deserves. Still, I believe 

 that it contains the very elements! 

 that are necessary to advance andi 

 encourage the study of scienceJ 

 among the people — elements which] 

 are too often wanting in associa- 

 tions of the other kind. * * *| 



It is a fault of our educational! 

 systems that men of science are notj 

 men of literary culture. A success- J 

 f ul teacher must not only be a mas- 

 ter of his subject, but more thanj 

 that, he must be able to present it 

 in an attractive form. It is a mis- 

 take to suppose that people will be| 

 attracted by the announcement of 

 a scientific lecture. Experience haa] 

 taught them that the so-calledl 

 " popular " lecture on a scientificl 

 subject is pretty sure to be a' 

 miserable failure, at least so far as 

 its popularity is concerned. I have 

 heard some of our most able scien- 

 tists lecture in this city, men for 

 whose attainments I have the great- 

 est respect, but their " popular " 

 lectures were about as unpopular 

 as anything that can be conceived 

 — faulty and inaccurate in expres- 

 sion, unattractive in delivery, and 

 the lecturers showed no considera- 

 tion either for themselves or for 

 their hearers. Is it strange, then, 

 that science does not advance faster 

 in its progress among the people ? 

 These "popular" scientific lectures 

 would be better characterized as 

 unpopular pseudo-scientific lectures, 

 and the less we hear of them the 

 better it will be for science. 



In a society of amateurs it usual- 

 ly happens that there are one or 

 more members of literary attain- 

 ments who are also careful students 

 of science. It is such a combina- 

 tion of literary ability with scien- 

 tific knowledge that will enable a 

 speaker to deliver a popular lecture, 

 a lecture that wiU be sure to inter- 



