102 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XhVll. No. 1205 



both geographically and mentally. I make 

 my own Dr. Galloway's statement that he 

 chose his subject, "for the reason that it 

 seems desirable at this time to emphasize 

 some of the things that appeal to us as pos- 

 sibly having a marked influence on the fu- 

 ture development of botanical work ; ' ' and 

 also his further statement, even more true 

 to-day than sixteen years ago, that it is one 

 of the most hopeful signs of recent changes 

 in botanical science ' ' that our progress has 

 constantly been in the direction of a 

 stronger place in the world's usefulness 

 and a higher plane of scientific thought." 

 A writer in a recent magazine has said : 



That the war is going to make great changes in 

 the political, economic and social conditions of the 

 world, in ethical values and in moral standards, any 

 fool can see. 



The members of Section G, as indeed the 

 entire membership of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science, 

 may well inquire, and are inquiring at this 

 time, what the effect of the world war is 

 going to be on science. To scientific men 

 it is self-evident that the methods of mod- 

 ern science will be in no wise affected by 

 the war. To the end of time, as we firmly 

 believe, truth must be ascertained by the 

 well-tested method of observation, inference 

 and deductive verification. 



And the content of science — the great 

 body of truth ? There was a time when it 

 might have been fundamentally altered by 

 political or religious upheavals. It is com- 

 paratively modern history that the fact of 

 the earth's axial rotation stood or fell as 

 orthodox doctrine with religious and polit- 

 ical changes. We believe that day is for- 

 ever past, and that the content of science, 

 now and hereafter, will always be deter- 

 mined by the unbiased test of observations 

 and hypotheses. But in certain definite 

 ways science can not help but be pro- 



foundly affected by the present world con- 

 flict. 



In the first place, the war must eventu- 

 ally make it more evident than ever to the 

 thinking portion of our citizens (including 

 even legislators, if we may indulge in a 

 little Christmas optimism), that science is 

 a necessity for any modern state. They 

 were the fanatics of the French Revolution 

 that declared, as they severed from its body 

 the head that introduced exactitude into 

 chemical research, "The republic has no 

 need of savants." 



In the face of the Hun's bombastic and 

 naive iteration of Teutonic superiority in 

 all departments of human endeavor, it is 

 specially interesting to note that, since the 

 execution of Lavoisier, no state has ofiS- 

 cially committed the fallacy of such a doc- 

 trine except Austria! Said Francis I., of 

 Austria, to a group of professors in 1815 : 



1 have no need of learned mere, I want faithful 

 subjects. Be such; that is your duty. He who 

 would serve me must do what I command. He who 

 can not do this, or who comes full of new ideas, 

 may go his way. If he does not I shall send him.s 



Germany has never formally disavowed 

 her use of scientific men, but the Right Hon. 

 J. M. Robertson, in a recent pamphlet, re- 

 calls Heine's opinion that all German phi- 

 losophers and their ideas would have been 

 suppressed by wheel and gallows but for 

 the intervention of Napoleon in 1805.^ 



The present war has made it universally 

 recognized that science and scientific 



2 Hazen, "Europe since 1815," p. 19. 



3 An echo of this condition is the old student 

 song, current in the University of BerUn as late 

 as 1877: 



The original German version localizes the place 

 where freedom of thought and speech were held 

 in such restraint: 



' ' Wer die Wahrheit kennet und sagt sie f rei, 

 Der kommt in Berlin auf die Stadt-Vogtei. " 

 ' ' Who knows the truth and freely speaks 

 On him the law its vengeance wreaks. ' ' 



