456 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 403. 



facture, supplied the world with a reliable, 

 powerful and cheap prime mover, made 

 the factory system practicable and modem 

 systems of manufacture feasible, the curve 

 of progress has been rapidly, and more and 

 more rapidly, mounting upward. Its co- 

 ordinates may, from that date, be accu- 

 rately measured and its locus precisely fol- 

 lowed by collating the statistics of iron 

 or the textile or the educational progress 

 of the world's leading nations. They all 

 follow a similar course and one is a gauge 

 quite as much as another. The output of 

 our colleges and especially of our colleges 

 of engineering now follows the trend of 

 progress of the nation and the output of 

 men learned in applied science and that 

 of our blast furnaces alike afford us a 

 measure and a gauge of the advancement 

 of the nation toward a still higher civiliza- 

 tion. 



A study of the curve of progress to date, 

 and especially of the trend of progress at 

 date, thus shows that we may find, in this 

 revelation the rise and the advance of civ- 

 ilization into our own times, evidence which 

 is convincing to the extent of proof that we 

 are entered upon a stage in which the char- 

 acteristic features are intelligent and sys- 

 tematic development of every department 

 of human knowledge and of human skill, 

 a stage in which scientific investigation is 

 assuming constantly a more and more con- 

 trolling share in the perfection of the sci- 

 ences, the applied sciences and the arts of 

 life. It is becoming constantly more and 

 more productive of results favoring the 

 progress of the race in its every depart- 

 ment of life and growth. 



Organized investigation of the problems 

 of the industries is thus becoming as ob- 

 viously useful and as generally employed 

 in those fields as in pure science itself. 

 ' The scientific method of science-advance- 

 ment' is the method of every worker in 

 every direction. The universities give 



large attention to research; it is cultivated 

 by the colleges; it is the object of pro- 

 fessional and industrial associations and of 

 great endowed institutions founded for 

 this special purpose. 



The beginning of the twentieth century 

 will probably become marked in history as 

 that also of the organized industry of in- 

 vestigation, in all the departments of na- 

 ture, of industry and of life, as that of 

 the commencement of a rapid rate of accel- 

 eration of fruitful production, and as that 

 of the firm establishment of science and of 

 the scientific method as recognized ele- 

 ments of hitman progress. 



In the promotion of this movement, no 

 influence should be more potent and more 

 general than that of Sigma Xi. This or- 

 ganization of the most brilliant minds de- 

 voted to science for science's sake— minds 

 selected with care from among the choicest 

 intellects coming forth from all schools, 

 educated, learned, enthusiastic and capa- 

 ble, trained and expert— must, if it is main- 

 tained at its original and its present high 

 standard, prove a mighty force for good in 

 every field of most intelligent human activ- 

 ity, of highest scientific achievement. 



Charles Sumner once said : ' ' This is our 

 talisman : Give us Peace ! And population 

 will increase above all experience, resources 

 of all kinds will embellish the land with 

 immortal beauty ; the name of the Republic 

 will be exalted until every neighbor, yield- 

 ing to irresistible attraction, seeks new life 

 in becoming part of the great whole and 

 the national example will be more puis- 

 sant than army or navy for the conquest of 

 the world."* 



"Give us Peace!" And science, art, in- 

 dustry and ability, conspiring, shall insure 

 growth of population in numbers, wealth, 

 comfort and intelligence and the revelation 

 of nature's secrets, the utilization of na- 



* ' Prophetic Voices concerning America,' Lee 

 and Shepard, 1874. 



