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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 936 



unscathed by time, he unites excellent busi- 

 ness qualities, and thorough acquaintance with 

 publishing. He is the American editor and 

 chief translator of the Iconographic Encyclo- 

 pedia, which, with his duties in publishing and 

 distributing the Smithsonian contributions, 

 has peculiarly qualified him for the labor of 

 editing and publishing the association pro- 

 ceedings. Nor is there any one whose inti- 

 macy with the scientific men in this country 

 is more general and desirable. His youth and 

 mental vitality give assurance of many years 

 of eilective service still in those labors where 

 he is already so much at home. 



The general secretary of the association is 

 Professor J. D. Dana, of Tale College, if one 

 so cosmopolitan in knowledge and journey- 

 ings can properly be assigned to a locality. 

 (Professor St. John, of Cleveland, acted in 

 this capacity at the last meeting, as Professor 

 Dana was unable to attend.) He is one of the 

 solid human columns on which our national 

 scientific reputation may safely repose. Be- 

 neath a kindly and modest exterior, he has 

 managed to amass treasures of accurate 

 knowledge, sufficient to stock many ordinary 

 heads to repletion. He is indeed a man of 

 wonderful scientific learning for one still in 

 his fresh manhood; and this learning is made 

 prolific by a philosophic and reasoning mind. 

 Among American mineralogists he is facile 

 princeps, as evinced by his treatise on mineral- 

 ogy, and we much doubt if in this branch the 

 world can show his equal. The natural his- 

 tory of the Wilkes Exploring Expedition, 

 which he accompanied, owes him a burden of 

 obligation which will long be recognized by 

 naturalists. Nor is it probable that a higher 

 authority can be cited in respect to volcanic 

 phenomena. These pipes of the Titans he has 

 snifFed and scrutinized " the world around," 

 having indeed carried on quite a flirtation 

 with Pelee in the Sandwich Islands. His re- 

 searches among the coral formations, and his 

 writings thereon, take the very highest rank, 

 and his monographs on Crustacese, Zoophytes 

 and Medusse would alone entitle him to the 

 highest standing in natural history. As one 

 of the chief editors of the American Journal 



of Science he is abundant in good deeds and 

 good works. Professor Dana is not perhaps 

 a man of the highest genius, but he will leave 

 the world decidedly the wiser for his labors 

 and researches, even though he do no more in 

 the future. But we trust he will through 

 many years be spared to apply his well-trained 

 powers to the boundless researches ever in- 

 viting them. 



Dr. A. L. Elwyn, of Philadelphia, is now, 

 and has been nearly from the first, treasurer 

 of the association. His distinction lies not in 

 any particular department of science, but he 

 is much interested in promoting it, and ever 

 ready to aid its advance. He has paid much 

 attention to agriculture, and has a model 

 farm, on which he is laboring to give a scien- 

 tific direction to the too empirical processes 

 of the routine farmer. 



And so ends our talk of the retired presi- 

 dents, and actual officers, of this scientific 

 body. We might dwell on the functions of the 

 standing committee, which is its governing 

 council of elders, but this would possess very 

 little general interest. It is on nomination by 

 the standing committee that new members 

 are elected, and such nominations may be 

 procured through any actual member, by any 

 person really engaged in prosecuting positive 

 science. 



The subject of scientific advancement in the 

 United States is one of peculiar interest and 

 importance. The work which science has to 

 do, in cultivating the vast field of descriptive 

 knowledge presented by our stDl new con- 

 tinent, in ministering to all the common arts 

 of life, in evolving the grand principles and 

 mysteries of nature, and in nurturing a 

 higher and more beneficent spiritual faith; 

 this is a work of such transcendent moment, 

 that our loftiest conceptions are but feeble 

 images of the unseen reality. The whole sur- 

 face and substance of modern life is undergo- 

 ing a ceaseless transformation, through the 

 manifold ministries which science is daily 

 embodying in the forms and operations of 

 manufacture and of art. Though no proph- 

 ecy reveals what the future may have in store, 

 it is still the confident anticipation of reason. 



