42 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 471. 



the American Society of Naturalists 

 should have met at a different place from 

 many of the national societies devoted to 

 the biological sciences which have usually 

 been affiliated with it; that the newly 

 formed Paleontological Society should 

 have met apart from the' Geological So- 

 ciety; that the psychologists should have 

 met at St. Louis and the philosophers at 

 Princeton; the mathematicians of the cen- 

 tral states at St. Louis and those of the 

 eastern states in New York, and the like. 

 The vast area of the country makes sec- 

 tional meetings inevitable, but it can 

 scarcely be assumed that the arrangements 

 this year were the best possible. 



This journal has consistently advocated 

 a convocation week meeting of our national 

 societies, in which all shall be represented, 

 if not by sessions and programs, then by 

 delegates. One of the most important 

 problems of the present decade is the proper 

 affiliation of men of science to promote their 

 interests, which we sincerely believe repre- 

 sent the interests of civilization. Combina- 

 tions of labor and of capital may be purely 

 selfish, promoting the interests of one class 

 at the expense of another, though there is 

 good reason to hope that in the end trades 

 unions and corporations will benefit the 

 whole community ; but from the very outset 

 every advance in science is for the benefit 

 of all. Faraday and Henry investigated 

 the phenomena of electromagnetism in the 

 laboratory; others joined in the work and 

 gave us the telegraph, the telephone, the 

 electric motor and the rest, adding billions 

 of dollars to the wealth of the world. The 

 direct and indirect work of a single man. 



such as Liebig or Pasteur, adds more to the 

 common wealth than all the scientific men 

 that have ever lived have drawn from it. 

 The material contribations of science are 

 obvious and trite; but it is sometimes not 

 fully realized that the social and intel- 

 lectual results are even greater. All our 

 mental, social and esthetic ideals have be- 

 come clarified. Great men lived before the 

 dawn of modern science, greater perhaps 

 than any now living, but their activity was 

 often fragmentary, and in many directions 

 childish. The doctrine of evolution and 

 other scientific concepts are now the com- 

 mon heritage of every one, guiding all 

 thought and all action. 



It is entirely reasonable to urge that 

 whatever advances science must benefit 

 every one; first perhaps an individual, but 

 then a class, a country and the world. 

 This truth must be impressed on the whole 

 people; and it must be done by those who 

 realize it most fully, that is by scientific 

 men themselves. Much progress has in- 

 deed been made in this country. The na- 

 tional government does more for scientific 

 work than any other ; the states and muni- 

 cipalities do more; private gifts to univer- 

 sities and scientific institutions are larger, 

 far larger, than elsewhere. But this is a 

 matter of the last twenty years; we have 

 only begun. The United States must as- 

 sume the leadership in science, not only for 

 its own advantage, but also for the welfare 

 of civilization. 



Our press, the pulpit, legislative bodies, 

 public sentiment generally, are well mean- 

 ing, but excessively crude. Scientific men 

 have a large problem in education before 



