6 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1331 



life. Lapham was quiet and modestly dem- 

 onstrative, but Dr. Hoy so bubbled over 

 with enthusiasm tha/t he easily set the pace 

 in demonstrative interest. He was chosen 

 as the second president of the academy. Dr. 

 J. G. Knapp, of Madison, was a frequent 

 contributor in several naturalistic lines, as 

 was also Dr. Engelmann, of Milwaukee, 

 but the former soon moved from the state 

 and the latter was removed by death. 



In the physical sciences. Dr. John E. 

 Davies, of the state university, was at first 

 perhaps the leading contributor, with Dr. 

 J. H. Eaton, of Beloit, and Drs. E. Z. 

 Mason and J. C. Foye, of Appleton, as al- 

 most equally active coworkers. Dr. Eaton 

 was perhaps the only original member of 

 the academy who had any notable academic 

 training in technical research. A graduate 

 of Amherst, he had won a Ph.D. at Got- 

 tingen by his researches on the compounds 

 of manganese. 



In the field of political economy and so- 

 cial science, at the outset, advancement was 

 sought more by rational discussion than by 

 rigorous determinations of basal data ; and 

 so there was more general participation in 

 the discussions than in the more specific 

 sciences. The most active leaders were 

 President A. L. Chapin, of Beloit (chosen 

 third president of the academy). President 

 G. M. Steele, of Appleton, Superintendent 

 Samuel Fallows, the Reverend Charles 

 Caverno, Professor A. O. Wright, and later 

 President John Bascom, Reverend Dr. Hol- 

 land and others. 



Though not active at the very outset. Dr. 

 Wm. F. Allen, of the state university, soon 

 began a memorable series of papers replete 

 with specific historical research. These set 

 a high standard of true original investiga- 

 tion in humanistic lines. From his schol- 

 arly papers some of us caught our first real- 



izing sense of what constitutes original re- 

 search in history. 



Dr. Feuling, of the state university, was 

 at the start a rather lonesome leader in 

 philological research, but the fewness of 

 workers in this line was offset by the qual- 

 ity of the papers offered. 



An attempt was made to give speculative 

 philosophy a distinct place in the work of 

 the academy under the leadership of Dr. S. 

 H. Carpenter, of the university, but the 

 effort scarcely survived his early death. 



Diversity and pieturesqueness were given 

 to the heavier parts of the program by the 

 sprightly literary contributions of the in- 

 imitable Dr. Butler. 



BAELIEE AND LATEE TRENDS OP THE ACADEMY 



As already noted, the formal organization 

 of the academy was distinctly broad, and 

 there was a general desire and a definite 

 effort to preserve an appreciative and bal- 

 anced attitude toward aU phases of research 

 and of culture. None the less almost in- 

 evitably distinct trends disclosed themselves 

 almost from the start, and new trends ap- 

 peared in close succession, partly due to 

 the new men that came to the state, and 

 partly to the development of young talent 

 within it. Of the papers presented during 

 the first two years, 35 per cent, related to 

 geological subjects, 23 per cent, to biolog- 

 ical, 17 per cent, to physical and mathe- 

 matical science, 15 per cent, to political and 

 sociological subjects, and the remaining 10 

 per cent, to historical and philological sub- 

 jects or to topics not readily classified. A 

 distinct geological trend at the outset is 

 thus disclosed and the preponderance grew 

 for a time. This special activity was due 

 partly to charter members, particularly 

 Lapham, Baton and Chamberlin, but also, 

 in a quite notable degree, to the advent of 

 Professor R. D. Irving, who came to the 

 state in the year following the founding of 



