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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 960 



be clearly understood the language of Sec- 

 tion 8 of the act referred to should be 

 quoted : 



Sec. 8. The National Academy of Sciences is 

 required, at their next meeting, to take into con- 

 sideration the methods and expenses of conducting 

 all surveys of a scientific character and all chem- 

 ical, testing and experimental laboratories and to 

 report to Congress as soon thereafter as may be 

 practicable a plan for consolidating such surveys, 

 chemical, testing and experimental laboratories, 

 so as to effectually prevent duplication of work 

 and reduce expenditures without detriment to the 

 public service. 



A committee was promptly appointed 

 and that committee gave serious and pro- 

 longed attention to the subject. In due 

 time the com m ittee submitted its report to 

 the council of the academy. The council 

 having approved, the president transmitted 

 the report to the Speaker of the House of 

 Representatives and the presiding officer 

 of the Senate. Everything was done in 

 proper form. The president of the acad- 

 emy congratulated himself on the person- 

 nel of the committee which he had ap- 

 pointed, upon the report and upon the fact 

 that the academy had performed an im- 

 portant duty and had been, as he thought, 

 of real service to the national government. 



It were well perhaps to close the account 

 of the incident at this point, but unfor- 

 tunately the moral would be lost, and the 

 only object of telling the story at all is to 

 point the moral. Well, what happened 

 next 1 It is not necessary to go into detail. 

 The result was humiliating to the commit- 

 tee that drew up the report. That report 

 seems to have been promptly pigeonholed. 

 It is certain that, so far as we have any in- 

 formation on the subject, it was not given 

 serious consideration by Congress. And 

 yet whatever may have been its imperfec- 

 tions that report represented the views of 

 a group of eminent men of science who had 

 devoted much time and thought to the 



study of the problem before them and who 

 at the request of the President of the 

 United States had been given every oppor- 

 tunity to learn the facts. Such an experi- 

 ence need not dishearten. The charter still 

 holds good, and accordingly, the academy 

 stands ready, whenever called upon by 

 "any department of the government," to 

 "investigate, examine, experiment and re- 

 port upon any subject of science or art." 

 As time passes it will come to be recognized 

 more and more clearly by those in au- 

 thority that the scientific method is the 

 one most likely to lead to results of pei*- 

 manent value. Briefly defined, the scien- 

 tific method consists in studying the facts 

 and then drawing the most logical conclu- 

 sion from these facts. It is most desirable 

 that our government should utilize to a 

 greater and greater extent this method 

 which is free from partisanship and has 

 only truth to serve. In the long run the 

 infiuence of the National Academy upon 

 affairs of government must be felt. Far- 

 sighted statesmen must see and do see that 

 it is well for the country to have a body of 

 workers in the field of science connected in 

 some way with the government, and the 

 day will come when this will be recognized 

 more clearly and more generally than it is 

 to-day. The question is not what is best 

 for the academy? It is, what is best for 

 the country ? May we not hope that in the 

 near future Congress will see its way clear 

 to emphasize the importance of the connec- 

 tion between the government and the acad- 

 emy by providing it with a proper home 

 which can serve as a center of general sci- 

 entific activity? This subject has again 

 recently been brought to the front and 

 there is a possibility that favorable action 

 may be taken. 



By an act of Congress approved June 

 20, 1884, the National Academy of Sciences 

 was "authorized and empowered to receive 



