August 24, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



24ft 



(least, point them out to those around us. We may 

 not be able to benefit science much ourselves; but 

 we can have high ideals on the subject, and instil 

 them into those with whom we come in contact. For 

 the good of ourselves, for the good of our country, 

 for the good to the world, it is incumbent on us to 

 form a true estimate of the worth and standing of 

 persons aiul things, and to set before our own minds 

 all that is great and good and noble, all that is most 

 important for scientific advance, above the mean and 

 low and unimportant. 



It is very often said, that a man has a right to his 

 opinion. This might be true for a man on a desert 

 island, whose error wouhl influence oidy himself. 

 But when he opens his lips to instruct others, or even 

 when he signifies his opinions by his daily life, then 

 he is directly responsible fur all his errors of jiiilg- 

 ment or fact. lie has no right to Ihink a molehill as 

 big as a mountain, nor to teach it, any more than he 

 Las to think the world fl.it, and teach that it is so. 

 The facts and faws of our science have not equal 

 importance, neither have the men who cultivale the 

 science achieved equal re>ult8. One thing is greater 

 than another, and we have no right to neglect the 

 order. Thus shall our minds be guided aright, aud 

 our efforts be toward that which is the highest. 



Then shall we see that no physicist of the first 

 class has ever existed in this country, that we must 

 look to other countries for our leaders in that sub- 

 ject, and that the few excellent workers in our coun- 

 try must receive many accessions from without before 

 they can constitute an American science, or do their 

 share in the world's work. 



But let me return to the subject of scientific socie- 

 ties. Here American science has its hardest problem 

 to contend with. There are very many local societies 

 dignified by high-sounding names, each having its 

 local celebrity, to whom the privilege of describing 

 some crab with an extra claw, which he found in his 

 morning ramble, is inestimable. And there are some 

 ac.idemies of science, situated at our seats of learning, 

 which are doing good work in their locality. 15ut 

 distances are so great that it is dilficult to collect men 

 together at any one point. The American associa- 

 tion, which we are now attending, is not a scientific 

 academy, aiul does not profess to be more than a gath- 

 ering of ail who are interested in science, to read 

 papers and enjoy social intercourse. The National 

 academy of sciences contains eminent men from the 

 whole cotmtry, but then it is oidy fur the purpose of 

 advising the government freely on scientific matters. 

 It has no building, it has no library; and it publishes 

 nothing except the information which it freely gives 

 to the government, which does nothing for it in re- 

 turn. It has not had nmch effect directly on Amer- 

 ican science; but the liberality of the government in 

 the way of scientific expeditious, publications, etc., 

 is at least partly due to its influence, and in this 

 way it has done much good. Hut it in no way takes 

 the place of the great Koyal society, or the great ac.id- 

 emies of science at Paris, lierlin, Vienna, St. Peters- 

 burgh, Munich, and, indeed, all the European capitals 

 aud large cities. These, by their publications, give 



to the young student, as well as the more advanced 

 ph>»icist, moilels of all that is considered exoelleni; 

 and to become a memlier is one of the liighest honors 

 to which he can aspire, while to write a memoir which 

 the academy considers worthy to be published in its 

 transactions excites each one to his highest effort. 



The American academy of sciences in Boston i"" 

 perhaps our nearest representation of this class of 

 academies, but its limitation of membership to the 

 State deprives it of its national charncier. 



But there is another matter which influences the 

 growth of our science. 



As it is necessary for us still to look abroad for our 

 highest inspiration in pure science, and as science is 

 not an afT.iir of one town or one country, but of the 

 whole world, it becomes us all to read the current 

 journals of science and the great transactions of for- 

 eign societies, as well as those of our own countries. 

 These great transactions and journals sliould be in 

 the library of every institution of learning in the 

 country, where science is taught. How can teachers 

 and professors be expected to know what has been 

 discovereil in the past, or is being discovered now, if 

 these are not provided ? Has anv institution a right 

 to mentally starve the teaeliers whom it employs, or 

 the students who come to it? There can be but 

 one answer to this ; and an institution calling itself a 

 university, and not having the current scientific jour- 

 nals upon its table or the transactions of societies 

 upon Its library-shelves, is certainly not doing its best 

 to cultivate all that is best in this world. 



We call this a free country, and yet it is the only 

 one where there is a direct tax upon the pursuit of 

 science. Tlie low state of pure science in our coun- 

 try may possibly l)e attributed to the youth of the 

 country; but a direct tax, to prevent the growth of 

 our country in that subject, cannot be looked upon as 

 other than a deep disgrace. I refer to the duty upon 

 foreign books and periodicals. In our science, no 

 books above elementary ones have ever l)een pub- 

 lished, or are likely to be published, in this country; 

 and yet every teacher in physics must have them, not 

 only in the college library, but on his own shelves, 

 and must pay tlie government of this country to 

 allow him to use a portion of his small salary to buy 

 that wliich is to do good to the whole country. All 

 freedom of intercourse which is necessary to fo«ter 

 our growing science is thus brok«n off : and that which 

 might, in time, relieve our country of its mediocrity, 

 is nipped in the bud by our government, which is most 

 lil)eral when appealed to directly on scientific 8ul>- 

 jects. 



One would think that books in foreign languages 

 might be admitted free; but to please the half-dozen 

 or so workmen who reprint (Jerraan books, not 

 scientific, our free intercourse with that country is 

 cut off. Our scientific associations and societies must 

 make themselves heard in this matter, and show those 

 in authority how the matter stands. 



In conclusion, let me say once more, that I do not 

 believe that our country is to remain long in its 

 present position. The science of physics, in whose 

 applications our country glories, is to arise among us. 



