52 Transactions Tennessee Academy of Science. 



our everyday affairs that we scarcely recognize in them a modern 

 achievement. It is scarcely conceivable that the first effective use 

 of the railway locomotive was in 1830, and that the first passage 

 of the x*\tlantic by a boat propelled by its own steam power was 

 made in 1838 by the Sirius of London, the trip requiring nine- 

 teen days. Four days after the departure of the Sirius from Cork, 

 the Great Western left Bristol making the passage to New York 

 in thirteen days and five hours. It is interesting to note that, not 

 long before, Sir Joseph Banks, in a lecture before the Royal So- 

 ciety, had said, "That the application of steam to navigation was 

 a pretty plan, but there is just one point overlooked : that the 

 steam engine requires a firm basis on which to work." And in 

 1838, the same year in which successful trips were made by the 

 Sirius and Great Western, in an address before the Royal Insti- 

 tute Dr. Lardner "proved" to the satisfaction of himself (and his 

 audience presumably) "that steamers could "never cross the At- 

 lantic because they could not carry sufficient coal to raise steam 

 enough during the voyage." 



The achievements of those early days which had been so dis- 

 counted were but stepping stones to the still greater achievements 

 of these latter times, which, in the application of electricity in in- 

 dustrial lines, wireless telegraphy, the navigation of the air and 

 other accomplishments in the field of science has witnessed a prog- 

 ress that makes one to pause before making declaration that any 

 proposed achievement is beyond the bounds of possibility. 



Part Played by Societies in the Progress of Science. 



While the study of the progress of science shows that the moun- 

 tain peaks of achievement in every generation are a direct out- 

 growth of the labors of certain individuals, nevertheless con- 

 tributory thereto were scores of lesser lights and influences with- 

 out which success would have been impossible. Prof. Osborne, 

 in an address on a like occasion, has well said: "Science is 

 essentialy mutualistic, and the success of one individual or of one 

 organization is the gratification of all — the triumi)hs and discov- 

 eries of one are shared with the manw and the feeling of pride 

 in the progress of one ma\' be shared without loss with others." 



Coincident with the great advance in science lias ])een the estab- 

 lishment of associations of scienlilic workers whose acli\'ities luo'c 



