January 13, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



47 



we recognize how far this Society has been 

 of service to us as men ; in not a few in- 

 stances misunderstandings have been re- 

 moved and coldness or suspicion has been 

 replaced bj' personal friendship. American 

 geologists are no longer a disorderly lot of 

 irregulars marching in awkward squads, 

 but form a reasonably compact body, 

 though as individuals they may owe allegi- 

 ance to Canada, the United States, Mexico 

 or Brazil. Every one of us has felt the in- 

 spiriting influence of personal contact. 



But our Society has to do with the world 

 outside of itself and outside of its immedi- 

 ate line of thought. It must have more to 

 do with that world in the future if the out- 

 come for science is to be what it should be, 

 for the time is appi'oaching rapidly when 

 we must seek large sums for aid in prose- 

 cuting our work. To retain the respect of 

 the community and to retain influence for 

 good we must be able to justify the exist- 

 ence of a society devoted to investigation 

 as distinguished from application. The 

 question Cm bono ? will be asked, and the 

 answer cannot be avoided. 



This is a utilitarian age — not utilitarian 

 as understood by those who bemoan the 

 decay of esthetic taste ; or of those who feel 

 that in the passing of Aristotle and Seneca 

 there has come the loss of intellectual re- 

 finement ; or of those others who bewail the 

 degeneracy of a generation which has not 

 produced a Kant, a Newton, an Aristotle, 

 a Laplace, a Humboldt or an Agassiz ; all 

 regarding the decadence as due to the de- 

 grading influence of material development 

 and overpowering commercial interests. 



These pessimists stand at a poor point of 

 view, where the angle of vision is narrowed 

 bj' many lateral projections. One may say, 

 without fear of successful contradiction, 

 that, in so far as actual knowledge is con- 

 cerned, students of our day receiving grad- 

 uate degrees in the more advanced univer- 

 sities stand on a somewhat higher plane, 



each in his own group, than did the cele- 

 brated men just named. The student now 

 reaches beyond where they ended, and still 

 is at only the threshold ; for, in most in- 

 stances, j'ears of labor are required of him 

 before he can receive recognition as an effi- 

 cient co-worker. Men towering far above 

 their fellows and covering the whole field 

 of knowledge will never be known again. 

 Kant, Newton, Humboldt stand out from 

 their fellows as sharply as lighthouses on 

 a level shore ; bu.t there are many Kants, 

 Newtons and Humboldts to-day. Prior to 

 the last seventy-five years the field of 

 actual knowledge was insignificant and a 

 man possessing large powers of observation 

 grasped the whole. Seventy-five years ago 

 one man was expected to cover the whole 

 field of natural science in an American col- 

 lege. Should any man pretend to- day to 

 possess such ability he would expose him- 

 self to ridicule. 



It may be true that this century has 

 given to the world no great philosopher — 

 that is, no great philosopher after the old 

 pattern. But one must not forget that 

 philosophy has to face a difficulty which 

 was unknown in the last century. The 

 unrestrained soaring of philosophers into 

 the far-away regions of mysticism is no 

 longer possible, for facts abound and the 

 knowledge which is abroad in the land 

 must be considered in any well constructed 

 system. Some have maintained, if not in 

 direct statement, certainly in effect, that 

 study of material things unfits one for 

 metaphysical investigation. Undoubtedly 

 it would hamper him in some kinds of 

 metaphysical research, as it would fetter 

 him with a respect for actualities, but it 

 would fit him well for other kinds. Aris- 

 totle, Kant and, in our own time, McCosh 

 and Spencer attained to high position as 

 philosophers and in each case possessed re- 

 markable knowledge in respect to material 

 things. 



