SEPTEMBER 1, 1899.] 
to compare for one moment in direct ap- 
plication to the relief of man’s estate with 
the discovery of anesthetics, while by his 
discovery of antiseptic surgery ‘the name 
and fame of Lord Lister will grow to the 
last syllable of recorded time. In the 
mobilization of man and the giving to him 
the freedom of the globe, the railways and 
the steamships of our century are abso- 
lutely without any elements for comparison 
in all that the past has left us. 
There are, however, three inventions and 
discoveries that have been inherited from 
the past and that have been already named _, 
two of them from some distant but unre- 
corded centuries and one from the darkness 
of the Middle Ages, which have proved so 
indispensable to all subsequent advances 
that it is impossible for even the 19th cen- 
tury to present anything that can be 
properly compared with them. I refer to 
the alphabet, Arabic numerals and the 
printing press. To this list might perhaps 
beadded language and the use of fire. The 
factors I have named are pre-supposed in 
all modern progress. By the very neces- 
sities of the case they must have preceded 
the progress at which we have glanced. 
As I have before said, the 19th century 
is the century of science, and it is science, 
mainly physical science, that constitutes 
the proper object of this Association. Our 
geographical name is wide, but the scope of 
our Association is wider still. It deals with 
and is devoted to science, which is the prod- 
uct of the best powers of the human mind 
—the human mind, created in the image of 
God and divinely inspired to interpret this 
wonderful universe. 
This Association marks the stage already 
reached in this interpretation, but in its very 
title it indicates that the work is incomplete, 
that it is still in progress. Its founders, fifty 
years ago, clearly saw that they were in the 
early morning of agrowing day. The most 
unexpected and marvelous progress has been 
SCIENCE. 
271 
made since that date, but as yet there is no 
occasion and no prospect of modifying the 
title. We are still laboring for the advance- 
ment of science, for the discovery of new 
truth. The field, which is the world, was 
never so white unto the harvest as now, 
but it is still early morning on the dial of 
science. 
It is possible that we could make our- 
selves more interesting to the general public 
if we occasionally foreswore our loyalty to 
our name and spent a portion of our time 
in re-stating established truths. Our con- 
tributions to the advancement of science 
are often fragmentary and devoid of special 
interest to the outside world. But every 
one of them has a place in the great temple 
of knowledge and the wise master builders, 
some of whom appear in every generation, 
will find them all and use them all at last,and 
then only will their true value come to light. 
We do not always know the real signifi- 
cance of what we have in hand. A factor 
an observation that we may put on record 
here may have in reality a different signifi- 
cance from what we are disposed to give it, 
and consequently may have far more im- 
portance than we recognize. 
We welcome our hosts to our meetings and 
our discussions. We cannot promise that all 
will be found interesting, but occasionally 
conflicting views will give rise to animated 
debate in which human nature sometimes - 
asserts itself so strongly and naturally that 
the debate would prove interesting to the 
outsider even though it may be carried on 
in what is practically a foreign tongue. 
Thanking you again for your words of 
welcome and gratefully recognizing the 
arduous and efficient labors of the several 
committees of the gentlemen and ladies 
of Columbus in providing for our enter- 
tainment, I now declare the forty-eighth 
meeting of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science open for the 
transaction of its appropriate business. 
