March 12, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



263 



formation acquired outside of England i3 

 demonstrated by the creating of the office of 

 a special secretary whose aim it was to main- 

 tain correspondence with the scientific men 

 of other lands, to collect foreign publications, 

 to translate them, etc. 



In those days when bringing out a book 

 was quite an enterprise the society often 

 undertook the publication of the important 

 works of its members and of other scientists. 

 Indeed through the activity of the Royal 

 Society the world became acquainted with the 

 work of Newton. "Writes Newton to Olden- 

 burg, one of the secretaries of the society: 



At reading your letter I was surprised to see so 

 much care taken about securing an invention to 

 me of which I have hitherto had so little value. 

 And therefore, since the Eoyal Society is pleased 

 to think it worth patronizing, I must acknowledge 

 it deserves much more of them for that than of me, 

 who, had not the communication of it been de- 

 sired, might have let it still remain in private as 

 it hath already some years. 



Indeed to such an extent was the society 

 concerned with the interests of investigators 

 that Secretary Oldenburg devised a way of 

 securing rights of priority even in unfinished 

 investigations. 



The emphasis of the Eoyal Society on social 

 and practical service is seen from the follow- 

 ing lines taken from the writings of Sprot, 

 one of the historians of the Eoyal Society. 



They have propounded the composing of a cata- 

 logue of all trades, works and manufactures, 

 taking notice of all physical receipts or secrets, in- 

 struments, tools and engines. . . . They have rec- 

 ommended advancing the manufacture of tapestry, 

 eilk making. . . . They have compared soils and 

 clays for making better bricks and tiles. . . . They 

 started the propagation of potatoes and experi- 

 ments with tobacco oil. 



Indeed one could continue for hours if he 

 made it his task to enumerate all the im- 

 portant functions undertaken by the Eoyal 

 Society of England. The history of the 

 French " Academic des Sciences " is only a 

 repetition with variations of the histories of 

 the two forerunners, and very much the same 

 may be said of the early history of the Ger- 



man learned societies, though they came to 

 life many decades later. 



And now let us pass decades and centuries 

 and let us make an attempt to write the cur- 

 rent history of our ovsm learned societies. 

 What is their social function? What is their 

 contribution to the end of facilitating the 

 task of individual workers? What initiative 

 do they take in introducing scientific methods 

 in the practical activities of our social life? 



I fail to find the data on which to write 

 this current history. True, the high special- 

 ization of science of to-day makes modem 

 presentations less comprehensive and less 

 thrilling than in the times of Newton and 

 of Leibnitz. True, all the activities of the 

 old scientific societies have been appropriated 

 by special institutions: the university, the 

 technical institution, the research institution, 

 the government bureaus, by the laboratories 

 in the industries, and true it is that present 

 societies can not resume the activities of the 

 old academies. Should the societies of to-day 

 then hibernate 362 or 363 days a year and 

 awaken only for the remaining two or three 

 days in order that the members may be bored 

 by listening to commimications which they 

 comprehend not, nor are desirous to com- 

 prehend? No, hibernate they need not unless 

 they choose to do so by preference. 



The great emergency of the past war has 

 demonstrated how capable of initiative, of 

 achievement, of inventiveness the modern 

 American scientist is, once his interest is 

 aroused, when he is called to join hands with 

 his fellow workers. 



The old problems are gone, but new ones 

 are coming up every day. Ours is a large 

 country with great natural resources. It is 

 customary to refer to them as endless. The 

 word is a misnomer, an invention of those in 

 whose interest it is to use the resources reck- 

 lessly. Human energy is needed to exploit 

 these resources; and hmnan energy is not 

 boundless. Who shall devise methods to pre- 

 serve our natural resources from devastation? 

 Why not a scientific body, and particularly 

 one composed of biochemists? Nearly two 

 years ago the American Chemical Society 



