OCTOBBE 18, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



495 



educational function of connecting the 

 museum with the schools ; this commodious 

 building renders it possible for the first 

 time in the history of the institution to 

 expand along all the other lines of the 

 new museum spirit, and directly and by 

 extension touch the entire educational sys- 

 tem of the state. 



Thus we celebrate not the birth but the 

 opportunity for renewed growth of an in- 

 stitution of which all the citizens of the 

 state should be proud. Like the nautilus 

 the museiim moves into a new and beauti- 

 ful chamber with its fine heritage, its ideals 

 and its purposes unchanged: the shell is 

 not the vital part, but it is highly favorable 

 to the prolonged and expanding existence 

 of the organism within. 



In looking for the causes of the origin of 

 this institution we find they are three-fold : 

 first, the natural grandeur and interest of 

 the territory of the state itself as a source 

 of scientific inquiry and inspiration; sec- 

 ond, the assemblage of an unusual number 

 of scientific observers of the first order 

 whom New York found among her own 

 sons or attracted to her borders; third, a 

 wise and liberal exercise of the powers of 

 government on the part of the rulers of the 

 state. It follows that our chief concern to- 

 day should also be three-fold, namely: the 

 preservation of this natural beauty as a 

 continual source of inspiration and happi- 

 ness to posterity, the birth and training of 

 men and women capable and worthy of ob- 

 serving the laws of nature and spreading 

 knowledge of them, the maintenance of 

 standards of government equal to those of 

 Secretary Dix who first outlined the sur- 

 vey, and of Governors Marcy, Seward, 

 Bouck and Fish who promoted it. 



As illustrative of the close union between 

 science and good government two ancient 

 episodes in the state's history may be re- 

 called. One is that Samuel Latham 



Mitchell, the pioneer of natural science in 

 this state, delivered an evening address be- 

 fore the state legislature, was elected to a 

 seat in the legislature of 1790 and in 1807 

 took the first steam-propelled voyage up the 

 Hudson with Fulton. Another is that in 

 1818, on invitation of Governor Clinton, 

 Amos Eaton, the pioneer geologist of the 

 state, delivered a course of lectures before 

 the legislature and interested many of the 

 leading men of the state in geology and its 

 application to agriculture by means of sur- 

 veys, thus planting the idea which eventu- 

 ated in the great work, " Natural History 

 of New York." 



Is New York state to-day seeking among 

 her votaries of science some of her repre- 

 sentatives at Albany to counsel her in mat- 

 ters of state welfare ? We may not answer 

 the question but may put another: is the 

 vast free educational system of the state, 

 on which fifty-four millions of dollars are 

 being expended annually, with a total at- 

 tendance of one and one half million 

 pupils, turning out its due proportion of 

 men of science for the future service of the 

 state? Whatever the answers to these 

 questions, it is certainly well even on a 

 jubilee occasion such as this for the mem- 

 bers of a great democratic commonwealth 

 like ours, full of confidence and pride in 

 its institutions, dazzled perhaps by stupen- 

 dous expenditures and vast numbers of 

 students, to pause and consider which di- 

 rection our social evolution is taking 

 through education and democracy — pro- 

 gressive or retrogressive. 



As regards the birth and education of 

 men of science, the honor roll of geology in 

 this state, the product of old educational 

 methods, is a long one. We are impressed 

 with what the state, the nation and more 

 than this, the world owes to the generation 

 bom between 1764 and 1860 within our 

 own state borders. Among the pioneers of 



