584 



AMERICAN MEN OF SCIENCE 



earn their livings by teaching, and a large 

 proportion of the others have done so. In this 

 country, as in Germany, the advancement of 

 science depends mainly on those who hold 

 chairs in our colleges and universities. Some 

 ten per cent, of our scientific men are engaged 

 in work for the government, among whom the 

 geologists predominate. Only six per cent, 

 earn their livings by direct applications of 

 science. Apart from one actuary, this work is 

 in applied chemistry, engineering and mining. 

 There is no one who earns his living by appli- 

 cations of the natural sciences. Research in- 

 stitutions, nearly all of recent foundation, 

 employ 35 men. There are 24 connected with 

 museums, academies and libraries and 12 with 

 botanical gardens. Only eleven among the 

 thousand may be classed as amateurs, and 

 these include several married women who 

 should perhaps be given a separate place. 

 This contrasts with Great Britain, where Dar- 

 win, Huggins, Rayleigh and many other great 

 scientific men, not needing to earn their liv- 

 ings, have devoted their lives to scientific re- 

 search. Only three physicians not connected 

 with medical schools have done scientific work 

 of consequence. One architect, one artist, one 

 editor and one missionary appear on the list, 

 but no lawyer or man of business. It seems 

 that in this country the time has gone by 

 when science can be advanced by any except 

 by those engaged in certain definite profes- 

 sions, while these professions require men, 

 with a few exceptions, to earn their livings by 

 teaching or by applied science. 



The standing of those in the different pro- 

 fessions does not show a considerable differ- 

 ence. There are in the upper three hundred 

 relatively more men engaged in teaching and 

 in the research institutions, and fewer in ap- 

 plied science, but the differences are scarcely 

 significant, except that those engaged in ap- 

 plied science are of somewhat lower standing. 

 Those in the government service and the offi- 

 cers and curators of museums and botanical 

 gardens are of average standing. 



There were 19 women on the list of 1903. 

 None of them died but seven were not placed 



on the list of 1910. This is a somewhat larger 

 proportion than in the case of the men, but the 

 figures are too small to have significance. Six 

 women found a place for the first time on the 

 list of 1910, the highest being in the fifth hun- 

 dred. It thus appears that women have not 

 improved their position in science in the 

 course of seven years, and it is not an impor- 

 tant one, only 18 women among 982 men, with 

 none in the first hundred, two in the second, 

 two in the third and three in the fourth. 

 There are now nearly as many women as men 

 who receive a college degree; they have on the 

 average more leisure; there are four times as 

 many women as men engaged in teaching. 

 There does not appear to be any social preju- 

 dice against women engaging in scientific 

 work, and it is difficult to avoid the conclusion 

 that there is an innate sexual disqualification. 

 Women seem not to have done appreciably 

 better in this country than in other countries 

 and periods in which their failure might be 

 attributed to lack of opportunity. But it is 

 possible that the lack of encouragement and 

 sympathy is greater than appears on the sur- 

 face, and that in the future women may be 

 able to do their share for the advancement of 

 science. 



Table IX. gives the distribution on January 

 1, 1910, of the thousand leading scientific men 

 of the country and the gain or loss of each 

 state in a period of about four years. The 

 distribution of the second thousand is also 

 shown. In respect to the first thousand, the 

 main facts have already been considered in 

 connection with the men who have acquired 

 or lost places in the group. This table shows 

 in addition the changes which have occurred 

 as the result of men removing from one state 

 to another who have retained their places on 

 the list. Massachusetts, as has been noted, 

 gained 14 men owing to the fact that 43 of 

 the new men reside in that state, while but 

 29 were lost to it through death or through 

 dropping below the standard. In addition it 

 has gained seven men, the excess of those 

 having places on both lists who have moved 

 into the state above those who have left it. 



