October 26, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



399 



discouraged and delayed. Thus American 

 mathematics has suffered not only in repu- 

 tation, through the suppression of what are 

 perhaps the greatest American achieve- 

 ments in mathematics, but also in that en- 

 couragement necessary to the establishment 

 of a strong school. The same may be said 

 of the essentially mathematical researches 

 of other men still living, whom I hesitate to 

 name,^ whose work is scattered through 

 journals on general science, journals on as- 

 tronomy, journals on life insurance, jour- 

 nals on engineering, and so forth. 



Already there have been published by the 

 Monthly articles of research on topics in 

 insurance, on mathematical history, on me- 

 chanics, and on other applied branches of 

 mathematics. In the first annual meeting. 

 Professors "Wilson and "Webster presented 

 their own studies on the mathematical 

 theory of the djTiamics of the air. At the 

 last summer meeting Professors Hunting- 

 ton and Hoskins presented studies on the 

 foundations of mechanics. Such work, 

 though deserving of high praise, has long 

 had no suitable center for exposition and 

 for encouragement. This association has 

 afforded a means for exposition, as within 

 the field of mathematics in its broader 

 meaning, of papers in applied branches of 

 mathematics. I trust that we shall con- 

 tinue this policy, and that we shall no 

 longer rule out of our circle in mathe- 

 matics, those who find the problems of ap- 

 plied mathematics peculiarly attractive. It 

 should be our aim to encourage them and 

 their students; to hear their work and to 

 print it; to listen to their counsel on the 

 needs of our traditional mathematical 

 courses, to learn from them ourselves to 

 appreciate more keenly the significance of 

 mathematics as a whole. 



In both these ways — by reorganizing our 

 own instruction under the auspices of this 



= One of the men I have in mind is in attendance 

 at these meetings. 



association, and by the recognition and en- 

 couragement of workers in the various 

 fields of applied mathematics, we may, and 

 I think we should, increase the apprecia- 

 tion of the significance of mathematics 

 among our students, among the public and 

 even among ourselves. Incidentally we 

 shall have done a service, not only to the 

 public, in the increased emphasis upon 

 phases of mathematics of real public serv- 

 ice, but also to the advancement of mathe- 

 matics itself, in that a better insight into 

 the significance of mathematics will pre- 

 vent or nullify mistaken attacks on the sub- 

 ject as one of little public worth. 



Such to my mind should be one function, 

 if not the chief function of this association ; 

 the regeneration of a significant mathemat- 

 ics, the encouragement of workers in ap- 

 plied mathematics, and the effort to obtain 

 recognition of the true public worth of 

 mathematics in every phase. 



E. R. Hedrick 



University op Missoubi 



AN INSTITUTE FOR THE HISTORY OF- 

 SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION 



To THE Editor of Science : The appeal con- 

 cerning "an Institute for the history of sci- 

 ence and civilization " published in Science, 

 March 23 — ill-timed as it was — has met with 

 the most encouraging response. Two com- 

 munications relating to it have been pub- 

 lished in Science, June 22 and July 6,' and 

 a great many more have been privately ad- 

 dressed to me. Most of them, however, lay 

 so much stress on some special feature of our 

 plan that I feel it necessary to state again, 

 briefly, the fundamental idea that underlies it, 

 lest the real purpose of the institute be lost 

 sight of. 



But let me say first of all that there is at 

 least one point upon which an tmanimoua 

 agreement seems to have been reached. The 

 whole budget of letters which I have received 



1 Cf. also F. S. Marvin in the Positivist Beview, 

 London, June, 1917. 



