jANtJAKT 11, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



55 



tury entered irrevocably upon the true 

 paths of science. Dogma and transmitted 

 authority are no longer its guides, but it 

 seeks for truth by the only methods found 

 fruitful for all science— experiment, obser- 

 vation and just inference. 



The domain which has been opened to 

 medicine during the last quarter of a cen- 

 tury by the introduction of new methods 

 and resulting discoveries in the causation 

 of infectious diseases has greatly increased 

 our power to cope with disease, and the 

 masterful pioneers in this new field, Pas- 

 teur and Koch, rank among the greatest 

 benefactors of mankind. The wider recog- 

 nition by governments and by the people 

 of the humane, the economic and the social 

 value of this power of preventive medicine 

 to check incalculable suffei'ing and waste of 

 energy from disease is urgent. One of the 

 most gratifying exemplifications of the use- 

 ful functions of this association is the ini- 

 tiation by the section on social and economic 

 science of an influential movement for the 

 establishment by the national government 

 of a bureau or department of public health. 



This leads me, in closing, to say a few 

 words concerning the scope and aims of 

 this association. Our retiring president, 

 in his introductory remarks, spoke of the 

 great growth of the association, which has 

 more than doubled its membership during 

 the six years since we last met in New York. 

 At its foundation and for many years after- 

 ward this association supplied all that was 

 demanded of a national society representa- 

 tive of the various natural and physical 

 sciences. In later years specialization, at 

 once a cause and a result of the great prog- 

 ress of science, has led to the formation of 

 many special scientific societies of national 

 scope, and the end is not yet in sight. It 

 became evident several years ago that the 

 association, in order to retain its usefulness, 

 if not its life, must adjust itself to the new 

 conditions, and this it did by taking the 



position of a central organization of science 

 with which the various special societies, 

 while remaining autonomous, should be- 

 come affiliated and constituent units. It 

 can not be doubted that the broad concep- 

 tion underlying this readjustment is the 

 correct one and that its application has 

 already been attended by a large measure 

 of success. 



There remain, however, certain difficul- 

 ties to be overcome and certain problems 

 to be solved before this association shall 

 have attained that ideal of organization 

 and of usefulness to which we may reason- 

 ably look forward. The need of such a 

 central, national organization as a coordi- 

 nating, unifying, harmonizing influence, as 

 an authoritative representative and expon- 

 ent before the public of scientific opinion 

 and of scientific workers, as an instrument 

 to secure cooperation among scientific in- 

 vestigators, to influence public opinion, to 

 advance the interests of science as a whole 

 as well as to inaugurate and to secure sup- 

 port for special scientific undertakings and 

 lines of investigation, and as a means of 

 securing that most desirable purpose, 

 placed first among the objects of the asso- 

 ciation in its constitution, 'to promote in- 

 tercourse between those who are ciiltivating 

 science in different parts of America' — 

 the need, I say, of a central organization 

 with these aims and others which might be 

 specified demands, I think, a wider and 

 deeper appreciation among the scientific 

 men and women of this country. Espe- 

 cially should our leaders in science realize, 

 as many of them do, the great possibilities 

 of usefulness of this association and work 

 actively for the promotion of its welfare. 

 Larger financial resources are needed to 

 perfect the organization and to enable the 

 association to cultivate more fruitfully the 

 fields which it already occupies and to enter 

 new ones. Within the near future the 

 membership should rise to at least ten thou- 



