Ixxiv Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



Dr. McGee : — 



Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen : — It is my dis- 

 tinguished honor to represent the Alpha and Omega of Wash- 

 ington scie-ice ; for the Philosophical Society of Washington 

 is the eldest and the National Geographic Society is among 

 the youngest of the scientific organizations of the national 

 capital . 



Two among the great achievements of Joseph Henry stand 

 out prominently in the history of organized science ; the first 

 was the founding of the Smithsonian Institution on a plan so 

 lofty yet so definite that its career has been maintained, 

 despite administrative rocks and shoals, in a manner bringing 

 honor and credit to science throughout the globe ; the second 

 was the founding of the Philosophical Society of Washing- 

 ton — a contemporary of St. Louis Academy of Science — 

 as the first clearinghouse of Science in the national capital : 

 an organization so wisely planned and so well adjusted to con- 

 ditions that it has not merely survived but has enlarged 

 knowledge and enriched science by engendering an entire 

 family of scientific organizations — for the Biological Society 

 of Washington, the Anthropological Society of Washington, 

 the Entomological Society of Washington, the Geological 

 Society of Washington, and the Washington Academy of 

 Sciences are direct offspring, and the National Geographic 

 Society, the Columbia Historical Society, and several other 

 organizations are indirect progeny of Joseph Henry's Philo- 

 sophical Society. By its own effective work and through its 

 offspring this parent organization of Washington science has 

 contributed its quota to the spirit and standards of science 

 throughout the country and the world ; and it is with special 

 pleasure that I bring you the greetings of the Philosophical 

 Society. 



The National Geographic Society, like its precursor, was 

 largely the foundation of a man of note — Gardiner Greene 

 Hubbard, a promoter of education and a friend of science, 

 the most eminent citizen of his time in the national capital ; 

 it was designed to diffuse rather than to increase knowledge, 

 according to a plan which enlisted the sympathy and co-opera- 



