318 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 37. 



of knowledge. These last ought to be con- 

 sidered as the more important part of our 

 society and as the proper index to its 

 character. 



Now, the advancement of science min- 

 isters chiefly to purely intellectual wants. 

 Science is not the apple tree nor the vine, 

 bearing fruit for the body. It is the elm or 

 the lily; carefully nurtured, highly prized, 

 because it ministers to higher necessities, to 

 intellectual or esthetic wants. Of course, 

 many purely scientific discoveries have be- 

 come the basis of inventions which have 

 conferred enormous material benefits; some 

 value science chiefly or wholly because of 

 the promise of further material advantages; 

 they esteem the elm because sometime it 

 may perhaps support the vine. But we, 

 who love science and give to it much labor 

 and weariness, value it chiefly because of 

 the intellectual benefits which it confers on 

 our race. And in this ancient Common- 

 wealth we feel that you value every source 

 of intellectual uplifting and intellectual in- 

 spiration. We think, and I am sure so do 

 you, that this world is a better place for 

 men to live, now that we know its size, even 

 if we can make no material profit from the 

 knowledge. We think, with you, that this 

 continent is a better honie for intellectual 

 beings, now that the history of its forma- 

 tion has been made out by the combined 

 labors of so many eminent geologists, and 

 has been told with such a wealth of learn- 

 ing and such skill of exposition by one of 

 our past Presidents, who has been taken 

 from ns since we last met, not till he had 

 completed his work. The knowledge of 

 the distance of the sun makes no one richer 

 or warmer, but it makes some of us liappier, 

 by satisfying the ennobled and ennobling 

 curiosity which seeks to learn all which is 

 now unknown. 



So we who are fascinated with science 

 justify our devotion to it by the intellectual 

 benefits which our devotion confers on our 



fellow men. So we ask you to receive us, 

 not as engineers, promising new structures 

 or flying ships; not as inventors, creating 

 new sources of income and new comforts; 

 not as ethical teachers, for science cannot 

 change human natures or the social order; 

 not even as those who would make two 

 ears of corn grow where one grew before; 

 but as those who would make two lilies 

 grow for one in the garden of the Nation's 

 intellectual life. 



We wish we could make some return for 

 your generous welcome, in kind, in any 

 way; but we cannot. We can only thank 

 you; we thank you again, and again. 



On the afternoon of Thursday the ad- 

 dresses of the Vice-Presidents were deliv- 

 ered, and in the evening the Presidential 

 address of Dr. D. G. Brinton, on the' Aims 

 of Anthropology,' was read in the Court 

 Square Theater by the General Secretary. 

 As these addresses are published in full in 

 the columns of Science, no further reference 

 is made to them. 



Three public lectures, complimentary to 

 the citizens of Springfield, were given during 

 the week. On Friday evening Professor 

 Wm. M. Davis, of Harvard Universitj^, 

 lectured on ' The Geographical Develop- 

 ment of the Connecticut Valley,' a large 

 and evidently appreciative audience follow- 

 ing with interest the story of the valley, 

 and enjoyed the accompanying steriopticon 

 views. 



On Tuesday evening the City Hall was 

 almost filled to hear Mr. Cornelius Van 

 Brunt's lecture on ' The Wild-flowers of 

 the Connecticut Valley,' and more especially 

 to see the beautiful floral photographs, ex- 

 quisitely colored by Mrs. Van Brunt, pro- 

 jected by the stereopticon. The flowers, 

 which comprised our common favorites, 

 had evidently been photographed against 

 an absolutely black background, and then 

 the positive lantern slide colored with great 

 delicacy and fidelity to nature. The flowers 



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