July 9, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



27 



figure in the greatest political ceremony of 

 our country and bringing with him an 

 original contribution to the scientific knowl- 

 edge of the world, is certainly one we shall 

 not soon see repeated." 



Jefferson's presidency Goode^ calls the 

 " most memorable in the history of American 

 science." Not only was the president actively 

 engaged in paleontological research, using one 

 of the tmfinished rooms of the White House" 

 for the storage and display of some 300 speci- 

 mens of fossil bones from the famous Big 

 Bear Lick/° but his administration was 

 marked by the inception of the system of 

 scientific surveys of the public domain and 

 the organization of the Coast Survey. Jeffer- 

 son's part in originating and supporting the 

 Lewis and Clarke expedition has been de- 

 tailed by True.^'^ And who ever originated 

 the idea of a Coast Survey it is certain that 

 the early organization of the survey itself was 

 due to Jefferson.^^ 



!Nor was Jefferson's interest in scientific 

 foimdations limited to those which he origi- 



8 Goode, George Brown, ' ' The Origin of the Na- 

 tional Seientific and Educational Institutions of 

 the United States, ' ' Rpt. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1896-97, 

 p. 280, 1901. 



» MerrUl, George P., ' ' Contributions to the His- 

 tory of American Geology, ' ' Rpt. U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 1903-04, p. 213, 1906. 



10 Such scientific tendencies were the object of 

 much criticism in the more conservative portions 

 of the country. The following lines from the 

 "Embargo" written by William Oullen Bryant 

 (when a boy of 13) prcfeably reipresenta public 

 opinion in his locality. 



Go, wretch, resign the presidential chair 

 Disclose thy secret measures, foul or fair, 

 Go, search with curious eyes for horned frogs, 

 'Mid the wild wastes of Louisianan bogs. 

 Or where the Ohio rolls his turbid stream 

 Dig for huge bones, thy glory and thy theme. 



11 True, Rodney H., "Thomas JefEerson in Re- 

 laltion to Botany," Sd. Mo., Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 

 354-357, October, 1916. 



12 Goode, George Brown, "The Origin of the Na- 

 tional Scientific and Educational Institutions of 

 the United States, ' ' Rpt. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1896-97, 

 p. 293, 1901. 



nated and eovild further in some large way. 

 When, a little over a century ago, Benjamin 

 Silliman launched The American Journal of 

 Science he was much concerned as to whether 

 a sufficient subscription list could be main- 

 tained. Among those to whom he wrote ask- 

 ing for subscriptions was Jefferson, then in 

 his seventy-fifth year. How Jefferson's reply, 

 here quoted from Dana's article^^ must have 

 heartened the first editor of what is now our 

 oldest scientific journal, can best be appre- 

 ciated, perhaps, by those who are still strug- 

 gling with the question of adequate support 

 for American scientific publications. 



If not his most notable contribution to 

 science and education, the foundation of our 

 first state university was apparently the one 

 nearest Jefferson's heart. His part, when well 

 over seventy, in the foundation of the Uni- 

 versity of Virginia as originator, as organizer, 

 as architect and as first head of the insti- 

 tution has been too well told^* to warrant 

 repetition. His special interest in the teach- 

 ing of science in this university has been 



13 Dana, Edward S., ' ' The American Journal of 

 Science from 1818 to 1918," Amer. Jour. Sci., 

 St. 4, Vol. 46, No. 271, p. 30, July, 1918. 



MONTICELLO, April 11, '18 

 Sir: The unlucky displacement of your letter of 

 Mar 3 has been the cause of delay in my answer, 

 altho' I have very generally withdrawn from sub- 

 ecribing to or reading periodical publications from 

 the love of rest which age produces, yet I willingly 

 subscribe to the journal you propose from a confi- 

 dence that the talent vrith which it will be edited 

 will entitle it to attention among the things of 

 select reading for which alone I have time now 

 left, toe 80 good as to send it by mail, and the re- 

 ceipt of the 1st number will toe considered as an- 

 nouncing that the work is commenced and the suto- 

 eeription money for a year shall be forwarded. 

 Accept the assurance of my greatest esteem and 

 respect. Th. Jeppeeson 



Professor Silliman. 



i« Adams, Herbert B., ' ' Thomas JefEerson and 

 the University of Virginia," p. 308, pi. — , "Wash- 

 ington, D. C, 1888. (U. S. Bur. Educ. Circ. In- 

 form. 1.) True, Rodney A., "Thomas Jefferson 

 in Relation to Botany," Soi. Mo., Vol. 3, No. 4, 

 pp. 345-360, port., October, 1916. 



