Jtjne 11, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



577 



cepting in some instances, the publication of 

 the annual proceedings. Other answers were 

 that the secretary sends out letters to find 

 out what is going on in the way of science 

 advancement; that an annual expenditure of 

 $250 is made in grants for the encouragement 

 of research on the part of members; that a 

 library and exchanges are kept up; that 

 various sections hold meetings throughout the 

 year; that a second meeting of the academy 

 is held ; that an out-door " excursion meet- 

 ing " is held, usually for two days, when mem- 

 bers ride, tramp, camp, do field-work and get 

 better acquainted; and that a number of com- 

 mittees are working on various problems of 

 value to the state. This last comes from 

 Illinois, where the academy has a committee 

 on the Ecological Survey of the State, organ- 

 ized now for ten years; a Committee on Sci- 

 ence Education; a Committee on Legislation 

 as affecting Scientific Interests; and a Com- 

 mittee on Conservation of Wild Life in the 

 State. 



Omitting other questions asked of the acad- 

 emies the last should be mentioned, namely, 

 " What new forms of scientific service might 

 the Academy undertake ? " Here we run 

 against the very general handicap of lack of 

 funds. Many things might be done if only 

 the necessary money were available. The 

 need is felt of more money for publication, 

 more money for research funds, more money 

 for surveys. But a nmnber of other sug- 

 gestions are made. The academy might be- 

 come more influential as an adviser in con- 

 nection with legislation affecting the natural 

 resources of the state. The work of science 

 should be more closely correlated with the 

 industries of the state. More effort should be 

 spent on the problems of development of the 

 natural resources of the state on a firm scien- 

 tific basis. The members should be stimu- 

 lated to study and report on many subjects of 

 state or local interest. Local chapters should 

 be formed. State surveys in botany and 

 zoology and geology should be organized and 

 allotted to various members. High-school 

 teachers should be brought in to the academy 

 for the sake of better science in the high 



schools. Science clubs should be organized 

 in the high schools, these clubs to be affiliated 

 with the State Academy. 



These ideas should prove exceedingly sug- 

 gestive to us in Kentucky. No state in the 

 union offers a richer opportunity for the 

 efforts of an energetic and progressive 

 Academy of Science. It would be a reflection 

 upon your intelligence to argue the point 

 that the war just closed has proved the value 

 and the need of science. Scientific achieve- 

 ments threatened civilization with destruc- 

 tion, and science was an essential in the sal- 

 vation of the world from barbarism. Ifo 

 civilized nation will henceforth be so criminal 

 as to neglect the deliberate, systematic, organ- 

 ized effort to develop science in the interests 

 of national defense and domestic welfare. 

 This essential importance of science was rec- 

 ognized by scientists long before the war, if 

 it was not by the general public. But scien- 

 tists themselves apparently had not realized 

 the necessity for organization and cooperation 

 in scientific effort as well as in government 

 and in industry. This perhaps is the out- 

 standing fact before our minds to-day. We 

 saw the forces of science hurriedly and 

 effectively classified and grouped and directed 

 under the leadership of the National Research 

 Council during the war. In peace we are now 

 seeing the same idea carried out in the organ- 

 ization of International Associations, in the 

 present-day program of the National Research 

 Council, which contemplates the permanent 

 coordination of the scientific work of the 

 nation, and in the enlarged program of the 

 American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science. Both the Council and the Asso- 

 ciation propose to reach down and touch local 

 scientific interests through the state academies. 



In this fact we find an immediate and con- 

 clusive reason for the continuance of our 

 State Academy. No organization can be com- 

 plete without its subordinate units, nor can 

 the scientific interests of the nation be com- 

 pletely fostered and directed without state 

 and local groups. In the army must be 

 brigades and regiments and battalions and 

 companies and squads. The state academy 



