Local Scientific Societies: Their Influence and Value 



Dr. Nathaniel L. Britton 



Director of the New York Botanical Garden 

 Ex-President of the Natural Science Association of Staten Island, lSfi9-9l 



Ladies and Gentlemen: 



Science has become predominant in human life. All the advances, 

 that have Been made in civilization are directly or indirectly due to 

 scientific investig^ation and discovery. Wireless telegraphy; the extra- 

 ordinary properties of radium; the control of yellow fever and malaria 

 by the demonstration of the fact that these diseases are transmitted 

 from one person to another by certain species of mosquitoes, and the 

 diminution of the number of mosquitoes by sanitary drainage and 

 otherwise; the manufacture of aniline dyes from the waste products of 

 the distillation of coal; the nitrogen-fixing power of certain bacteria 

 and other lowly organized plants by means of which the soil is enriched 

 in plant food; the recognition of the fact that many diseases of both 

 plants and animals are caused by the growth of fungi, bacteria, and 

 other organisms within their tissues or organs; and the conclusion that 

 the plants and animals now living on the earth are all descended from 

 extinct ancestors that lived in previous geological epochs; are a few of 

 the noteworthy and familiar examples of such advances. A multitude 

 of other results, more or less comprehensive, have also been reached 

 and are of enormous importance to mankind. Additional facts of great 

 value are being wrested from nature continually. Any new facts, even 

 such as may seem trivial, may be important, and ii is onfy to the prog- 

 ress of scientific research that we can look for a still higher civilization. 

 This increase in knowledge is due almost entirely to the work of mem- 

 bers of scientific societies. 



The enormous number of facts and considerations that scientific in- 

 vestigation has brought to the attention of civilized man, has forced a 

 division of knowledge, no one person being able to grasp the whole range 

 of subjects except in a general or superficial manner. Specializatioh 

 has thus become necessary, and students have been developed along 

 many different lines of thought. This in its turn has required organi- 

 zation, in order that groups of students be formed who by mutual 

 intercourse may consider the various phases of knowledge in their re- 



