560 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1354 



ciation for the Advancement of Science, to 

 be held in Chicago on December 27 to Jan- 

 uary 1, with its anticipated large attendance 

 of sections and affiliated scientific societies, it 

 is desirable to call attention to the fact that 

 a symposium of papers or conference upon 

 the History of Science will be held. 



It is desirable at this time, also to formu- 

 late some plan for reorganizing section " L " 

 to be known in time as the History of Science 

 section, and to receive the report of the ex- 

 ecutive committee of the Council of the 

 Association relative to the original plan of 

 the History of Science section, to whom ap- 

 plication and letters of endorsement have 

 been sent. 



It is also an appropriate time for those 

 interested in this field of research and study 

 to give some expression for a more pro- 

 gressive and effective means of advancement, 

 which can only be done by cooperation 

 through a well organized section. 



The idea of the formation of an organiza- 

 tion of this sort has been in the minds of the 

 students of the history of science for some 

 few years. During the early part of 1919 a 

 number of communications were published in 

 Science^ advocating the desirability of such 

 a section, and, urgent as the communications 

 were, no action was taken. However, the 

 Executive Committee of the Council is quite 

 ready to do all in its power to the further- 

 ance of this movement, providing a sufficient 

 demand is forthcoming. Therefore, it is 

 greatly desired that all those interested in 

 this proposed section, express themselves in 

 some definite manner, preferably by being 

 present at the symposium, at the Chicago 

 meeting. 



From the very foimdation of the Royal 

 Society of London, in 1662, cooperation was 

 the prevailing spirit; which gave strength and 

 impetus to further scientific progress. Our 



1 Science, N. S., Vol. XLI., March 5, 1915, pp. 

 358-360; Vol. XLIX., April 4, 1919, pp. 330-331; 

 Vol. XLIX., May 9, 1919, pp. 447^48; Vol. 

 XLIX., May 9, 1919, pp. 447-448; Vol. XLIX., 

 May 23, 1919, p. 497; Vol. XLIX., July 18, 1919, 

 pp. 66-68. 



own venerable institutions, namely: The 

 American Philosophical Society and Ameri- 

 can Academy of Arts and Science, founded 

 in the intellectual and scientific centers of 

 Colonial life, were also imbued with the prin- 

 ciple of cooperation, which laid the founda- 

 tion of America's preeminence in science to- 

 day. The National Research Council is in 

 itself the highest spirit of cooperation. In 

 fact, all scientific and literary societies realize 

 the value of cooperation. It is, therefore, 

 only too evident what note cooi)eration plays 

 iii the history of science, and the same idea 

 must prevail in the study and research in 

 the history. 



Heretofore the development and encourage- 

 ment of the study of the History of Science 

 has been left solely to individual efforts, and 

 much remains to be accomplished if the sub- 

 ject is to have the same relative standing as 

 the study of physics, chemistry, astronomy 

 and other divisions of the sciences. The 

 question of a new section among the already 

 large niunber of sections affiliated with the 

 American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science is not a cause for amazement — quite to 

 the contrary, but one indicating a healthy 

 state of intellectual growth — in science, and 

 to the "Association." 



That we need more historical background 

 for our ever growing technical subjects is so 

 apparent to scholars that no further recogni- 

 tion of this fact will be taken here. Nor do 

 we need to dwell upon the place science occu- 

 pies in the history of civilization. What we 

 are interested in wholly at present is the sub- 

 ject itself, in the field of scholarship and the 

 need for a more decisive impulse and sym- 

 pathetic understanding. 



In the spirit and faith of a modem Hu- 

 manist, who says:^ 



It is true that most men of letters, and, I am 

 sorry to add, not a few scientista, know science 

 only by its material achievements, but ignore its 

 spirit and see neither its internal beauty nor the 

 beauty it extracts continually from the bosom of 

 nature. Now I would say that to find in the 



2 Dr. George Sarton, ' ' The Faith of a Human- 

 ist," Isis, No. 7, Tome III., January, 1920, p. 5. 



