Atjoxtst 23, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



233 



ease is always spreading from these breed- 

 ing places, a selfish motive, if there be no 

 better impulse to direct, will force munici- 

 palities to tax the rich in order to better the 

 condition of the poor. 



Man's most distinguished virtues have 

 grown out of his worst vices. At first the 

 strong protected himself, his dependents 

 and his property by brute force. As his 

 intelligence developed he secured this pro- 

 tection by the enactment and enforcement 

 of law, but now this fails and he is being 

 driven by necessity to practise humanity 

 toward his less favored friend. The ma- 

 terial betterment of all classes and condi- 

 tions of men is demanded by the philosophy 

 of science, and it must and will come, if not 

 through the agency of a wise evolution, it 

 will be reached by more costly and less 

 humane methods. 



It will be seen that my philosophy is 

 thoroughly materialistic. I believe that 

 man has been evolved from lower forms of 

 animal life, that he has advanced, slowly 

 and laboriously, with many atavistic lapses, 

 from the brute to a condition of compara- 

 tive civilization, that he will continue along 

 this road which he has traveled through 

 countless generations, and that this will 

 ultimately lead the race over the mountain 

 tops and into the promised land of human 

 perfection. I look for this not for the indi- 

 vidual, but for the race, of which each is a 

 small, but an important part. I conceive 

 the highest duty of the individual to con- 

 tribute his mite to the betterment of the 

 whole. Science teaches that what the man 

 thinks, says and does lives after him, and 

 influences for good or ill future genera- 

 tions. To me this is a higher, nobler and 

 greater incentive to righteousness than any 

 hope of personal reward or fear of punish- 

 ment in a future life. I believe that this- 

 is a glorious world, full of great opportuni- 

 ties to the individual, and of unlimited 



promise of development in the race. Life 

 carries in itself the highest duties, the per- 

 formance of which should not be regarded 

 as tasks to be shirked if possible, or to be 

 done reluctantly, but to be carried on with 

 a spirit of thankfulness that it has fallen to 

 the lot of the individual to be a participant 

 in the great and glorious work of con- 

 tributing to the uplift of the race. To 

 widen the domain of knowledge, be it ever 

 so little, to abate disease, to lessen pain and 

 suffering, to decrease the burden of pov- 

 erty, to brighten and ennoble the lives of 

 others, to harness the forces of nature and 

 make them subservient to man's will and 

 contributory to his happiness, to increase 

 the productiveness of the soil, to make man 

 more considerate of his fellow, to appre- 

 ciate and perform his duties, these are some 

 of the things that science has done and is 

 doing. To be even an humble and un- 

 known worker in the great army of men 

 who are doing these things is a privilege 

 which should make glad the heart of any 

 man. Victor C. Vaughan 



TEE TBANSCONTINENTAL EXCUBSION OF 

 THE AMERICAN GEOGEAPEICAL 

 SOCIETY OF NEW TOBK 

 To celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of its 

 founding, and the occupation of the new 

 building which has been presented to it, the 

 American Geographical Society of New York 

 has planned, as has already been mentioned in 

 Science, a transcontinental excursion, which 

 is to be conducted by Professor William 

 Morris Davis, of Harvard University. The 

 excursion started from New York on August 

 22, and will end at New York on October 17 

 and 18, 1912. Many of the geographical so- 

 cieties of Europe were invited to appoint dele- 

 gates to take part in the excursion. The fol- 

 lowing have accepted: 



Austria 

 Dr. Eduard Bruckner, professor of geography at 

 the University of Vienna. 



