TRANSACTIONS OF SCIENTIFIC SECTION. 131 



in their solution. The conditions are so unlike anything 

 that have hitherto existed, that not by looking backward 

 can we successfully cope with them; but rather by pa- 

 tient, frank, honest and thorough examination, putting 

 selfishness and prejudice more and more in the back 

 ground, and cultivating a disinterestedness of mind that 

 will cause us to seek and to accept whatever determina- 

 tion seems best fitted for the public good. 



Public questions must be looked at more and more in 

 this way, if we hope to settle them on the basis of justice ; 

 and it is only by this settlement of them, that the in- 

 creasing complicated structure of modern society may 

 be expected to endure. The equality of human rights 

 was never less of a theory and never more of an ardent, 

 burning desire to make this theory a reality than to day. 

 To make it a reality without endangering the structure 

 of society, will demand the highest wisdom that man 

 has yet been called upon to exhibit ; and we may safely 

 say, that the attainment of this wisdom will be greatly 

 aided by the cultivation and diffusion of the true scien- 

 tific spirit — a spirit that seeks above all, the light, and 

 will follow wherever it leads. 



At the conclusion of the paper, Prof. Cooley added 

 some notes suggested by the subject. Donations were 

 made to the Museum of one pair of Indian moccasins, 

 from the Lake Superior region in 1842, by Mrs. Levi M. 

 Arnold ; and a portfolio of photographs by Mr. Benj. 

 Fowler. 



DECEMBER 15, 1891— SECOND REGULAR MEETING. 



Present, Chairman Edward Burgess, and Members 

 Elsworth, Cooley, Neumann, Van Gieson, Warring, Sut- 

 cliffe, Mosely, Bolton, C. N. Arnold, and visitors. 



S7 



