12 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX. No. 1253 



unable to attend the meeting on account 

 of illness. Dr. Nichols then introduced 

 the president-elect, Dr. John M. Coulter, 

 who in turn presented President Goodnow, 

 of the Johns Hopkins University. 



In his address of welcome Dr. Goodnow 

 spoke as follows: 



It is my privilege on behalf of the Johns Hop- 

 kins University to bid you -welcome here to-night. 

 It has been a great pleasure for us to feel that we 

 have been able even in a small way to be of serv- 

 ice to you on the occasion of this meeting. 



It is always an honor for a university to co- 

 operate with the association. But, at the present 

 time, it is peculiarly gratifying to have the oppor- 

 tunity of testifying to the worth of the work which 

 men of science have been and are now doing. 



Science has within the past few years assumed 

 perhaps a greater importance than it has ever be- 

 fore had, or, at any rate, the accomplishments of 

 science have bulked larger in the public eye than 

 heretofore. The struggle which has just closed 

 has probably made greater demands on the scien- 

 tific man than have ever hitherto b€en made. 

 Science has, indeed, been forced to become the 

 servant of Mars. The great war has called upon 

 men of science to devise new weapons of both 

 offense and defense. Without their efforts it 

 would have been a very different conflict from 

 what it has been. 



The ruthlessness with which our knowledge of 

 scientific law has recently been applied to the 

 destruction of life and property has, I am afraid, 

 however, caused not a few to entertain a certain 

 amount of apprehension as to the effects upon 

 human life of scientific training. If a greater 

 scientific knowledge is to bring with it the will to 

 use that knowledge as it has been used during the 

 past four years, civilization, which has been the 

 product of so many centuries of human endeavor, 

 would seem to have a perilous future. 



Such apprehensions are, however, I am sure, 

 quite unfounded. Science, it is true, is in large 

 measure unmoral. It has to do with natural law 

 rather than with human relationships, and it is 

 with human relationships that morality is con- 

 cerned. Knowledge, of course, is power, and 

 power or might is not necessarily right. 



We are told, it is true, that man can not live 

 by bread alone. But that is not to say that he 

 does not live at all by bread. He must have 



bread and he must have science. We must, so 

 long as we live, attempt to increase out knowl- 

 edge. We must endeavor through science to ac- 

 quire power, to conquer Nature, to learn from her 

 how best we may live. 



But that endeavor need not prevent us from 

 at the same time striving to live well-ordered 

 lives, to form a social organization in which right 

 1 elationships shall be established, in which right 

 rather than might shall be controlling. We may 

 at the same time search for truth and labor for 

 the adoption of ethical standards in accordance 

 with which our knowledge of science may be ap- 

 plied. 



I have said that in no period in the past has 

 science assumed such importance as in the last 

 four years. 1 may 'add that the role of science 

 in the immediate future will be of even greater 

 significance. In the period of reconstruction upon 

 which we are now entering, science will be called 

 upon to bind the wounds of a bleeding world sick 

 almost unto death. It must in some way show us 

 how to increase production in order that we may 

 feed the starving, house those without shelter, and 

 clothe the naked. Never before have the de- 

 mands upon the scientific man been so insistent as 

 they soon will be. And fortunately they will be 

 demands which he can meet without any secret 

 lurking thought that his success will be followed 

 by sorrow and misery. He can rejoice in the be- 

 lief that his efforts will bring comfort to many 

 whose lot has been hopelessness if not despair. 



For this reason I congratulate you men of 

 science upon the opportunity which now presents 

 itself. We are living in a very different world 

 from that which existed only four years ago. 

 Old traditions have been cast aside. New stand- 

 ards are in process of adoption. Great impetus 

 has been given to the belief in the necessity of 

 scientific research. 



I wish you all success in this, your first meeting 

 in the new era upon which we are just entering. 



In behalf of the Association the response 

 to President Goodnow 's welcome was made 

 by Dr. Coulter, as follows: 



In behalf of the association, I wish to express 

 our appreciation of the greeting extended by 

 President Goodnow. Johns Hopkins University 

 is a peculiarly fitting place for a meeting of the 

 American Association, for historically it is our 

 first research university, an example and a stimu- 

 lus to the other universities of the country. Those 



