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SCIENCE. 



[\'0L. II., No. 30. 



better, raising men above vile things and wortbless 

 competitions, to a fuller life and keener enjoyments. 

 Througli it we believe that man will be saved from 

 misery and degradation, not merely acquiring new 

 material powers, but learning to use and to guide liis 

 life witb understanding. Througli science lie will be 

 freed from the fetters of superstition. Througli faith 

 in science lie will acquire a new and enduring delight 

 in the exercise of his capacities: he will gain a zest 

 and interest in life sucli as the present phase of cul- 

 ture fails to supply. 



In opposition to the view that the pursuit of 

 science can obtain a strong hold upon liuman life, it 

 may be argued, that on no reasonable ground cau it 

 appear a necessary or advantageous thing to the in- 

 dividual man to concern himself Vitli the growth 

 and progress of that which is merely likely to benefit 

 the distant posterity of the human race. Our reply 

 is, let those who contend for the reasonableness of 

 human motives develop, if they can, any theory of 

 human conduct in which reasonable self-interest shall 

 be man's guide. We do not contend for any such 

 theory. By reasoning we may explain and trace the 

 development of human nature, but we cannot change 

 it by any such process. It is demonstrably unreason- 

 able for the individual man, guided by self-interest, 

 to share the dangers and privations of his brother- 

 man ; and yet, in common with many lower animals, 

 he has an inherited quality which makes it a pleas- 

 ure to him to do so. It is unreasonable for the 

 mother to protect her offspring, and yet it is the natu- 

 ral and inherited quality of mothers to derive pleasure 

 from doing so. It is unreasonable for the half- 

 starved poor to aid their wholly-starving brethren ; 

 and yet such compassion is natural and pleasurable 

 to those who show it, and is the constant rule of life. 

 Unreasonable though these things are, from the point 

 of view of individual self-interest, yet they are done 

 because to do them is pleasurable, to leave them un- 

 done a pain. The race has, as it were, in these re- 

 spects, befooled the individual, and, in the course of 

 evolution, has planted in him, in its own interests, 

 an irrational capacity for taking pleasure in doing 

 that which no reasoning in regard to self-interest 

 could justify. As with these lower and more widely, 

 distributed instincts, shared by man with some lower 

 social animals, so is it with this higher and more pe- 

 culiar instinct, — the tendency to pursue new knowl- 

 edge. Whether reasonable or not, it has, by the laws 

 of heredity and selection, become part of us, and .ex- 

 ists. Its operation is beneficial to the race. Its grati- 

 fication is a source of keen pleasure to the individual, 

 — an end in itself. We may safely count upon it as a 

 factor in human nature. It is in our power to culti- 

 vate and develop it, or, on the other hand, to starve 

 and distort it for a while, though to do so is to waste 

 time in opposing the irresistible. 



As day by day the old-fashioned stimulus to the 

 higher lite loses the dread control which it once exer- 

 cised over the thoughts of men, the pursuit of wealth, 

 and the indulgence in fruitless gratifications of sense, 

 become to an increasing number the chief concerns 

 of their mental life. Such occupations fail to satisfy 



the deep desires of humanity: they become weari- 

 some and meaningless, so that we hear men question- 

 ing whether life be worth living. When tlie dreams 

 and aspirations of the youthful world have lost their 

 old significance, and their strong power to raise men's 

 lives, it will be well for that community which has 

 organized in time a following of and a reverence for 

 an ideal good, which may serve to lift the national 

 mind above the level of sensuality, and to insure a 

 belief in the hopefulness and worth of life. The 

 faith in science can fill this place. The progress of 

 science is an ideal good, sufficient to exert this great 

 influence. 



It is for this reason, more than any other (as it 

 seems to tliose who hold this faith), that tlie progress 

 and diiiusion of scientific research, its encourage- 

 ment and reverential nurture, should be a chief busi- 

 ness of the community, whether collectively or indi- 

 vidually, at the present day. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 Pursuant to the invitation already noted in 

 Science, a number of gentlemen met in the library of 

 the American museum of natural history in New-Tork 

 City, on the 26th to 28tli of September, and founded 

 the American ornithologists' union. The member- 

 ship consists of active, foreign, corresponding, and 

 associate members. The active membership is lim- 

 ited to fifty residents of the United States and Can- 

 ada; tlie foreign, to twenty-five non-residents of the 

 United States and Canada ; the corresponding, to one 

 hundred residents of any country; the associate being 

 composed of any number of residents of the United 

 States and Canada. The officers of the union for the 

 current year are, Mr. J. A. Allen, president; Dr. El- 

 liott Coues and Mr. Robert Ridgway, vice-presidents; 

 Dr. C. Hart Merriam, secretary and treasurer ; Messrs. 

 S. F. Baird, George N. Lawrence, H. W. Henshaw, 

 and Montagu Chamberlain, councillors, — these nine 

 officers constituting the council of the union. Dr. 

 Coues presided over the convention, and continued in 

 the chair in the absence of the president. Mr. Allen 

 and Professor Baird, who were unable to be present, 

 were added to the list of founders. After the dis- 

 cussion and adoption of a constitution, submitted by 

 the committee of organization, and the election of 

 officers, a large number of members were elected, 

 raising the active and foreign membership nearly to 

 the limit. The worls: of the union for the present 

 year was laid out by the formation of committees, 

 appointed by the chair, on the subjects of classifica- 

 tion and nomenclature, of the distribution and migra- 

 tion of birds, of avian anatomy, of oology, and on' 

 the question of the eligibility or ineligibility of the 

 European sparrow in America. The first-named com- 

 mittee, besides revising the current lists of North- 

 American birds, is expected to consider the subject 

 of zoological nomenclature at large ; and its labors 

 may result in the formation of a code of nomenclature 

 applicable to other departments of zoology, as well 

 as to ornithology. It consists of Messrs. Ridgway, 

 Allen, Brewster, Henshaw, and Coues. 



