THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY 77 



found the facts. I think he disclosed that the old Malthusian 

 doctrine of the glut of population — that God sent wars and 

 pestilence to get rid of the glut of population — proved to be not 

 true in view of the fact that after every war and after every 

 pestilence, about two children were born to every one that died 

 in the pestilence or had been killed in the war. 



That poverty was the result of glut of population was found 

 not to be true in England when the English people gained an 

 opportunity to go to work or go over to the colonies. So they 

 went to work, rather than come to America. 



There is only one objection that we can have to scientific in- 

 vestigation, and scientific investigation which goes to the better- 

 ment of government, whether in legislative or judicial matters; 

 and I may be permitted to voice that objection. 



I think it is not applicable to this National Academy of 

 Sciences, but I know that it is applicable to the life of the nation 

 at large, and that objection is that the scientific man very fre- 

 quently, instead of attempting to serve the state, either in the 

 halls of legislation or before the court, suffers and permits him- 

 self to become a partisan and to advocate, not his own clear, 

 definite and fixed opinion upon the subject, but an opinion which 

 is colored by his having been retained by one side of the case or 

 the other. (Applause.) 



I know of no people who have reached a right conclusion with 

 reference to the value of science in the courts except the people 

 of Norway and Sweden. There the expert is the officer of the 

 government, and after the facts have been found by the court, 

 the expert is called in, and he takes his scientific knowledge and 

 information and settles the case after the facts have been found. 



In the administration of justice in America, none of us country 

 lawyers could ever afford to hire as good men as you are, because, 

 perhaps, you would not be hired, and because, perhaps, we could 

 not pay the price if you would be hired; but in a smaller degree, 

 your little duplicates, your small children, who are in all the 

 villages and cities and towns of America, from fifty dollars to 

 five hundred dollars, will get a man as expert to testify on any 

 side of any subject in any court in America. (Laughter.) 



