10 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 392. 



moment that which it encounters; but a 

 lobster pursues its food, making compli- 

 cated movements in order to reach and 

 seize it. One can trap lobsters easily; I 

 doubt if one could trap a jelly tish at all. 

 The next great advance is marked by the 

 establishment of communication between 

 individuals of the same species. About 

 this phenomenon we know exceedingly 

 little; the investigation of it is one of the 

 most important duties of the comparative 

 physiologist. Its bionomie value is ob- 

 viously great, for it allows an individual 

 to iitilize the experience of another as well 

 as its own. We might, indeed, compare 

 it with the addition of a new sense, so 

 greatly does it extend the sources of infor- 

 mation. The communication between in- 

 dividuals is especially characteristic of 

 vertebrates, and in the higher members of 

 that subkingdom it plays a very gTeat role 

 in aiding the work of consciousness. In 

 man, owing to articulate speech, the factor 

 of communication has acquired a max- 

 imum importance. The value of language, 

 our principal medium of communication, 

 lies in its aiding the adjustment of the in- 

 dividiial and the race to external reality. 

 Human evolution is the continuation of 

 animal evolution, and in both the dominant 

 factor has been the increase of the re- 

 sources available for consciousness. 



In practical life it is convenient to dis- 

 tinguish the works of nature from the 

 works of man, the ' natural ' from the ' arti- 

 ficial.' The biologist, on the contrary, 

 must never allow himself to forget that 

 man is a part of nature and that all his 

 works are natural works. This is specially 

 important for the present discussion, for 

 otherwise we are likely to forget also that 

 man is as completely subject to the neces- 

 sity of adjustment to external reality as 

 any other organism. From the biological 

 standpoint all the work of agriculture, of 

 manufactures, of commerce and of govern- 



ment is a part of the work of consciousness 

 to secure the needed adjustments. All 

 science belongs in the same category as the 

 teleological efforts of a jelly fish or a 

 lobster. It is work done at the command 

 of consciousness to satisfy the needs of ex- 

 istence. The lesson of all this to us is that 

 we should accustom ourselves to profit by 

 our understanding of the trend of evolu- 

 tion, which, in the progress hiunanity 

 makes, obeys the same law of adaptation to 

 objective reality which has controlled the 

 history of animals. This view of the con- 

 ditions of ovir existence puts science in its 

 right place. As all sensations are symbols 

 of external reality useful to guide organ- 

 isms to teleological reactions, so is all sci- 

 ence symbolic and similarly useful. 



Nature never produces what to us seems 

 a perfect organism, but only organisms 

 which are provided with means of adjust- 

 ment sufficient to accomplish the survival 

 and perpetuation of the species. Man also 

 is imperfect, but in the struggle for exist- 

 ence wins his way because his consciousness 

 has greater resources than that of any other 

 organism. His great power arises from his 

 appreciation of evolution. His highest 

 duty is to advance evolution, and this duty 

 must be most strongly felt by those who 

 accept the religious interpretation of life. 

 The advancement of science is an obliga- 

 tion. To this view of the work of our As- 

 sociation I may safely claim the assent of 

 all present. 



The function" of science is to extend our 

 acquaintance with the objective world. 

 The purpose of the American Association 

 is not alone to increase the sum total of 

 science, but equally also to preach by word 

 and precept the value of truth, truth being 

 the correct conscious symbol of the object- 

 ive, by utilizing which our purposeful re- 

 actions are improved. The most serious 

 obstacle truth encounters is the prevalence 

 of what I may call 'doll ideas' — bv anal- 



