182 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 58. 



friend, and I owe much to his wisdom and 

 sympathetic assistance. It is thus that a 

 feeling of gratitude impels me to render 

 tribute to his genius. 



Dana's time fell in America's first epoch 

 of scientific research. There had been in- 

 vestigation in America before this time, but 

 in the earlier part of the century there 

 sprung up a group of scientific men born on 

 the continent who took a prominent part in 

 the creation of the world's stock of knowl- 

 edge and who practically organized the 

 scientific cult of America. In this brief ac- 

 count I cannot name all of these men, and 

 yet I will mention ten as the leaders who, 

 with a host of associates, inaugurated a 

 movement which has vigorously grown to 

 the present time and which will continue 

 while civilization lasts. These great leaders 

 were Henry, Logan, W. B. Rogers, Bache, 

 H. D. Rogers, Gray, Hall, Dana, Leidy and 

 Baird. 



It must be remembered that the develop- 

 ment of science is the work of many men, 

 and that which one accomplishes is but a 

 small integral part of the whole. But these 

 men as leaders of the host established Amer- 

 ican science upon an enduring basis. The 

 first phases of science are always ephemeral. 

 Before scientific principles are wrought into 

 a permanent form, they must be rendered 

 into philosophy. While many men gather 

 the materials, the far-seeing few whose 

 horizon is world-wide must ultimately be 

 the master builders of philosophy. 



Among the illustrious men whom I have 

 mentioned, Dana was preeminently the phil- 

 osopher. He was the man who formulated 

 definitions, axioms and laws which are the 

 fundamental elements of scientific philoso- 

 phy. The facts must be gathered, and all 

 honor to him who labors in the harvest 

 field of science and adds to the inventory 

 of significant facts; but the masters of sci- 

 ence do more, for they organize the facts of 

 science into a living philosophy. Science 



is not an architectural structure with founda- 

 tion walls and dome; it is an organic living 

 structure that develops by processes of 

 metabolism. The facts are the constituents 

 of the universal environment and the ele- 

 ments of which philosophy is constructed, 

 and they pour into its living form to be as- 

 similated, to play their part, and that which 

 is perennial is the system of principles 

 which includes all facts. 



The life of James Dwight Dana exhibits 

 a well-rounded half century of scientific 

 investigation. For more than fifty years 

 he was actively engaged in research, and 

 for more than fifty years a stream of contri- 

 butions to science issued from the well- 

 spring of his genius. 



For fifty years Dana was one of the edi- 

 tors of the Journal of Science, and during 

 that time he was a constant contributor of 

 articles on a wide range of topics, all in- 

 volving original research. He was probably 

 the best informed man in America in rela- 

 tion to the progress of science, and presented 

 a resume and criticism of research in many 

 fields which was generous and appreciative 

 on the one hand, far-seeing and profound 

 on the other. Then for more than fifty 

 years he was a professor in Yale College, 

 conducting lectures, guiding classes and 

 training men for scientific research, inform- 

 ing them with the spirit of investigation. 



But his editorial and his professorial labors 

 were the fruitage produced by the cultiva- 

 tion of many scientific fields. Instruction 

 and review were always vitalized with re- 

 search, and nothing came from his brain 

 but living thought. The being of knowl- 

 edge was transformed into the becoming of 

 knowledge for himself and for the world. 

 Dana was not only a professor and an edi- 

 toi', teaching and recording with wise guid- 

 ance and profound appreciation, but he was 

 also a zoologist, a mineralogist and a geolo- 

 gist, and in each of these three realms of 

 science a master. We learn that in his 



