568 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 745 



perceive that there really is no well-de- 

 fined line of demarcation — like the famous 

 Great Wall of China— between one science 

 or another! 



One of the recent fundamental re- 

 searches on the "Motions of the Moon" 

 has been made by a college professor who, 

 though an American resident, got his chief 

 training and inspiration at Cambridge, 

 England. This same investigator has con- 

 tributed articles on meteorological mechan- 

 ics. Columbia University, in its admirable 

 endeavor to present a popular course of 

 lectures on subjects of applied physical 

 science, must draw for its lecture on 

 "Atmospheric Phenomena and Physical 

 Theory" upon another foreign-born, Cam- 

 bridge-inspired, now American resident 

 mathematical physicist. There are several 

 of you here whose work lends additional 

 ■eloquent testimony to the broadening and 

 •cosmieal influence of that eminent school 

 of physics. However, there are other 

 European departments of physics of which 

 much along similar lines could be stated 

 and exemplified. Is it not possible to have 

 more home-inspired university product of 

 our own to draw upon in these fields? 

 Shouldn't we strive that our country be 

 adequately represented on international 

 committees formed to consider and to in- 

 vestigate some of the great world-wide 

 questions? I believe we do not lack the 

 talent. If there is less incentive among 

 us, why is it? 



The fact I wish to emphasize is strikingly 

 shown by glancing for a moment at the 

 general character of the programs pre- 

 sented in the first two decades of the asso- 

 ciation's history before the section on 

 general physical science. The papers 

 classified under physics of the globe, 

 meteorology, geodesy and navigation, fre- 

 quently exceeded those in physics, chemis- 

 try, mathematics and astronomy, whereas 

 now, as you all know, they are in a minor- 



ity. Among the authors of the first- 

 named papers we find names which as soon 

 as heard you will identify as among the 

 most distinguished of the college professors 

 of the middle of the last century: Red- 

 field, Bache, Olmsted, CofSn, Alexander, 

 Henry, Silliman, Peirce, Loomis, Espy, 

 Horsford, Guyot, Lovering, Dana, Trow- 

 bridge, Mitchell, etc. Among the more 

 eminent of those occupying government 

 positions we find again Henry and Bache, 

 and such men as Maury, Davis, Hunt, Hil- 

 gard, Schott, etc. The mental grasp of 

 many of these geo- and cosmieal physicists 

 was considered sufficiently broad to make 

 them desirable timber for the highest posi- 

 tions of honor in the association. 



In those "good old days" some of the 

 best contributions in meteorology and ter- 

 restrial magnetism were made by the col- 

 lege professor. Bache made a magnetic 

 survey of Pennsylvania early in the forties 

 while still a professor at Girard College, 

 where he also established the first magnetic 

 observatory in this country. John Locke, 

 the inventor of the electro-chronograph 

 (which, by the way, is unique in the history 

 of science in this country as being the only 

 scientific invention, I believe, receiving an 

 award from our Congress, viz., $10,000), 

 in the thirties and forties undertook a 

 magnetic survey of North America with 

 Cincinnati as a base station. He even ex- 

 tended his investigations into Canadian 

 territory and made many of the early ob- 

 servations of the three magnetic elements 

 in the eastern states. Locke was a eon- 

 temporary of the astronomer Mitehel, 

 holding the chair of professor of chemistry 

 and pharmacy at the Ohio Medical College. 

 He lived at the time when the college pro- 

 fessor frequently had to acquire his instru- 

 ments of research and pay the expenses of 

 his experiments out of his own meager 

 salary. Yet he found ways of doing it 

 and, moreover, had the necessary time to 



