d4 
stated just now by Dr. Gilman, that between science and religion 
there cannot be an antagonism, only we go a step farther than that 
which he indicated : We are not willing merely to regard science as 
the handmaid of religion, but we look upon science as the sister of 
religion ; they are both from the same Father, and He has not made 
one the servant of the other ; He has made them sisters one to the 
other, and it is in that spirit of sisterhood that in our institution 
they are to march hand in hand through the generations to come, 
and in doing that we are always going to keep our eye on the grand 
old association in Philadelphia. We are going to have its object of 
extending the boundaries of human knowledge and of bringing its 
treasures within the reach of the largest possible number, and in 
pursuance of that we shall always promise the tribute of our rever- 
ence and our loyalty to the grand old pioneer, 
Yesterday, the keynote to this centennial Peleimation was given 
in the address of our venerable President. He showed us that the 
century and a half during which this Society has lived has been a 
period of progress along all the lines of human knowledge and of 
human activity. As lovers of mankind, we rejoice in that perspec- 
tive and we give thanks to the Author of all good gifts, to the 
Father of Lights, who has so guided the researches of the past and 
led them to results that are so conducive to human utility. 
To-day, as Americans, we look on that same perspective with 
honest pride, listening to the admirable presentation made by Dr. 
Gilman of what America has done in helping on that progress in 
the lines of science, and it could be shown by other specialists 
how America, in every other field of human thought and action, 
has taken her part nobly. 
There is one department, however, in which it might be alleged 
that America has been rather in the background. America has 
added very little, comparatively, to the world’s stock of philosophic 
thought. This is not owing to any want of philosophical ability 
or of what may be termed the philosophic spirit in our country, 
but it is because the energies of a new country have naturally been 
taken up in the tremendous development of her growth. Now that 
that growth is approaching its maturity, the natural tendency to 
philosophize asserts itself ; but it behooves us, looking at the pres- 
ent and glancing forward to the future as far as we can, to provide 
that the philosophizing of the present and of the future shall chime 
with all the advance of human thought and of human knowledge. 
