254 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1419 



if this practice were adapted to-day by all 

 scientific bodies as a first essential to conserve 

 the precious intellectual heritage of the past 

 against the menace of falsification and error 

 and ridicule. To-day, unfortunately, there is 

 not the serious jealousy against the inroads of 

 the imposter and amateur now into one branch 

 of science, now into another. Conversely, there 

 is need of a broader scientific spirit, of a more 

 hearty encouragement of all seekers after truth, 

 in place of the narrow-minded attitude so often 

 displayed by men who could be of the greatest 

 aid to those who are doing pioneer work out- 

 side of the recognized field of the scientist of 

 the academies. Sir E. Ray Lankester illus- 

 trates this point by calling attention to the 

 fact that "The delay in the establishment of 

 the doctrine of organic evolution was due not 

 to the ignorant and unobservant but to the lead- 

 ers of zoological and botanical science," an 

 attitude of hostility which has by no means 

 passed away. 



I can not do better than draw one further 

 observation from Sir E. Ray Lankester's es- 

 say: "Outside the scientific world an immense 

 mass of observations and experiments had 

 grown up in relation to this subject (genetics). 

 From the earliest times the shepherd, the farm- 

 er, the horticulturalist, and the 'fancier' had 

 for practical reasons made themselves ac- 

 quainted with a number of biological laws and 

 successfully applied them without exciting more 

 than an occasional notice from the academic 

 students of biology." But, he adds, "It was 

 one of Darwin's great merits to have made use 

 of these observations and to have formulated 

 their results to a large extent as the laws of 

 variation and heredity." 



Over-specialization is developing a type of 

 scientific mind as much to be guarded against 

 as the credulous and ignorant. The limitations 

 further emphasize the necessity of a broad 

 scientific spirit anxious to give furtherance to 

 the seeker after truth in whatever direction 

 and by whatever methods useful results may 

 be obtained. For, in its final analysis, every 

 discovery rests primarily upon the power of 

 observation or fact gathering, and discrimina- 

 tion and aptitude in fact classification and 



analysis, which may or may not require the aid 

 of modern instruments of precision. Modern 

 man is only too apt to forget the vast achieve- 

 ments of the ancients. The four gi'eatest in- 

 ventions of an earlier period were all made 

 without the modern aids to scientific discovery, 

 but by men gifted with a disciplined imagina- 

 tion. Printing, Gunpowder, Steam, and the 

 Compass did more to change the face of the 

 world and the fortunes of mankind than Elec- 

 tricity, Wireless Telegi-aphy, Motion Pictures, 

 and the Graphophone. 



The foregoing observations have been in- 

 cluded in the present discussion to further em- 

 phasize the view that a true organization of 

 knowledge is essential to the future of scien- 

 tific discovery, as well as to the needs of the 

 more complex life of to-day and of the years 

 to come. But more than this would I try to 

 make clear the conclusion that science in the 

 more restricted technical sense should do more 

 to encourage the development of science in the 

 larger or more universal sense, and therefore 

 enlist the aid of any and all means available 

 in place of a narrow spirit of aloofness un- 

 worthy of the aims and ideals of the sincere 

 seeker after truth. 



Fredeeick L. Hoffman 

 The Prudential Insurance 

 Company op America, 

 Newark, N. J. 



(To he concluded.) 



THE FIFTH YEAR OF THE TROPICAL 

 RESEARCH STATION 



The Fifth Expedition of the New York 

 Zoological Society to the Tropical Research 

 Station at British Guiana, sailed on the "Mara- 

 val" on February first, with nine members 

 under Director William Beebe. As in previous 

 yeai-s, the chief assistant is Mr. John Tee-Van. 

 Mr. Paul Howes, who was a member of the 

 first expedition, will work on the field staff. 

 The artist is Miss Mabel Cooper who is com- 

 pleting her remarkable series of drawingfs from 

 the life of living reptiles, amphibians and 

 fishes. The party will continue tropical re- 

 search at Kartabo until after the long rainy 



