January 8, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



43 



them, and it must be admitted tliat educa- 

 tion must begin at home. All dissensions 

 and petty quarrels are harmful. There is 

 too much rivalry and too little cooperation 

 in scientific work. We inherit from a long 

 past certain competitive tendencies which 

 should become obsolete. The attainment 

 of priority, degrees, honors, membership in 

 exclusive societies, and the like, have been 

 largely the rewards of scientific men. Bet- 

 ter no heaven than one with a limited seat- 

 ing capacity, for which each strives to the 

 exclusion of others. It is less selfish to 

 seek wealth by producing new wealth which 

 is shared by all, than to attempt to secure 

 honors at the cost of depreciating others. 



The moral intended is, of course, that 

 scientific men should unite to promote their 

 common interests. A single individual 

 should subordinate his interests to those of 

 the group, and a single society to those of 

 the general organization of societies. It is 

 fortunately the case that the interests of 

 the individual usually coincide with those 

 of the group ; the conflict is more often be- 

 tween the temporary and permanent inter- 

 ests of an individual or of a group. The 

 theory of evolution tells us that this con- 

 flict is due to maladjustment, the environ- 

 ment having changed more rapidly than the 

 individual or the group has been able to 

 adjust itself to it. 



This appears to be the case just now in 

 the organization of science. Scientific 

 workers have increased fivefold in from 

 ten to twenty years; new and specialized 

 lines of scientific work have arisen; the 

 geographical center of scientific population 

 and interest is moving from the eastern 



seaboard toward the west. The organiza- 

 tion that sufficed twenty years ago is no 

 longer adequate. Special societies for each 

 science have arisen and regional and local 

 sections have been formed. Organic fusion 

 must be slow, but better progress can be 

 made by intelligent guidance than by sub- 

 mission to the wasteful processes of natural 

 selection. No one can lay out a valid pro- 

 gram for the future, but suggestions can be 

 made subject to the survival of the fit, 

 among which the waste by failure is less 

 than in the case of experience by the rule 

 of thumb. 



The Smithsonian Institution, the Nation- 

 al Academy of Sciences and the Carnegie 

 Institution, each has had an opportunity 

 to become the center of scientific organiza- 

 tion for the country, and each has com- 

 pletely failed. This is not altogether re- 

 grettable. We live in a democratic age 

 and community; government by represen- 

 tation is better than any aristocratic or 

 despotic form, however benevolent. The 

 organization of the council of the American 

 Association adapts it for becoming the chief 

 center for scientific organization. The as- 

 sociation represents the entire country and 

 all the sciences. If any regions are inade- 

 quately represented in its membership or 

 any sciences are not included in its scope, 

 this need not continue to be the case. The 

 council is not only the representative body 

 of the association, but also of all scientific 

 societies that wish to be represented on it. 

 It is not known to every one that any scien- 

 tific society may by vote of the council be- 

 come affiliated with the association. In this 

 case it sends one or two delegates, accord- 



