JANUABY 22, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



117 



great, but it would be out of place to re- 

 count theni here. 



We see that binary systems offer a rich 

 field for the labors of the mathematician. 

 Other subjects in astronomy are equally 

 inviting, and I have no doubt that other 

 sciences have as much to offer. An emi- 

 nent psychologist, for example, has said 

 that the time has come for a great mathe- 

 matician to concern himself with psycho- 

 logical problems. There is a proverb to 

 the effect that to him that is well shod the 

 whole earth is covered with leather. And 

 so the mathematician may walk where he 

 pleases. "What particular path he chooses 

 is not a matter of great importance, but it 

 is important that he be abroad and doing, 

 and that he do not sit at home admiring 

 his shoes. 



Science has often been likened to a war- 

 fare, and such a simile as this naturally 

 recurs to the mind at this time. We may 

 think of science as at first occupying a 

 small domain surrounded by the vast terri- 

 tories of the unknown. In the early days 

 it was easier than now to add to this do- 

 main. A single bold spirit, starting out in 

 almost any direction, could often wrest 

 much from the adversary. But as the do- 

 main of science increases, so also do the 

 extent and diversity of its boundaries. 

 The more obvious points of vantage are al- 

 ready taken and the character of the war- 

 fare must change. The day of guerilla 

 warfare is gone, it is now necessary to act 

 in larger groups and for each man to be 

 willing to serve at the side of others. This 

 policy often requires the suppression of 

 personal ambition, and deeds of individual 

 heroism become less freqiient; but great 

 victories are to be won in either kind of 

 warfare only if the soldier is imbued with 

 such a spirit as this. 



Frank Schlesingee 

 Allegheny Obseevatoky or the 

 University op Pittsbuegh 



TSE PLACE OF FOBESTRT AMONG NAT- 

 UBAL SCIENCES! 



In an old forest magazine. Sylvan, is a 

 story about Germany's great poet, Karl von 

 Schiller. Schiller, taking rest at Illmenau, 

 Thuringen, met by chance a forester who 

 was preparing a plan of managetment for the 

 Illmenau forest. A map of the forest was 

 spread out on which the cuttings for the 

 next 220 years were projected and noted 

 with their year number. By its side lay 

 the plan of an ideal coniferous forest 

 which was to have materialized in the year 

 2050. Attentively and quietly the poet 

 contemplated the telling means of forest 

 organization, and especially the plans for 

 far distant years. He quicldy realized, 

 after a short explanation, the object of the 

 work and gave vent to his astonishment: 

 "I had considered you foresters a very 

 common people who did little else than cut 

 down trees and kill game, but you are far 

 from that. You work unknown, unrecom- 

 pensed, free from the tyranny of egotism, 

 and the fruit of your quiet work ripens 

 for a late posterity. Hero and poet attain 

 vain glory; I would like to be a forester." 



An opinion not unlike that held by 

 Schiller before meeting with the forester 

 still commonly prevails in scientific circles 

 in this country. It is quite generally be- 

 lieved that foresters are pure empiricists; 

 something on the order of gardeners who 

 plant trees, of range-riders who fight for- 

 est fires, or lumbermen who cruise timber, 

 carry on logging operations or manufac- 

 ture lumber and other forest products; 

 that for whatever little knowledge of a 

 scientific character the forester may need 

 in his work, he depends on experts in other 

 branches of science; on the botanists for 

 the taxonomy of the trees, on physicists, 

 chemists, and engineers for the proper 

 understanding of the physical, chemical 



1 Paper delivered before the Washington Acad- 

 emy of Sciences on December 3, 1914. 



