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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 843 



Tie second is that there should be estab- 

 lished in our normal schools, colleges and 

 universities thoroughly scientific courses 

 in bacteriology. Such a course would lay 

 the foundation of the science and place it 

 on a par with other branches of biology, 

 such as botany and zoology. Such depart- 

 ments should be prepared to do research, 

 thereby fitting men for the special phases 

 of the subject in technical and professional 

 schools, and qualifying others to do re- 

 search of a purely scientific nature, with- 

 out reference to any particular trade, occu- 

 pation or profession. The problems here 

 are as numerous and their solutions are as 

 taxing upon the mental forces of the in- 

 vestigator as they are in any branch of 

 scientific endeavor. 



The third suggestion is a plea for more 

 scientific methods of teaching bacteriology 

 in our professional schools. The course 

 should, as a rule, be lengthened and the 

 theoretical teaching supplemented by as 

 much practical work as possible. 



We should in view of all conditions re- 

 joice in the achievements of the first half 

 century of practical bacteriology. There 

 is every reason to believe that with a better 

 understanding of the vital relation of the 

 microbian environment to higher forms of 

 life bacteriology will be productive of still 

 greater benefits, because of the education 

 of the public concerning it and because of 

 its more intelligent application by all. 



Veranus a. Mooee 



Cornell Univeesity 



'' THE PALEONTOLOGIGAL SOCIETY^ 



ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT 

 There is a respectable virtue in the ob- 

 servance of well-tried usages. In the so- 

 cieties out of which we have emerged it 



* Delivered by request at a joint meeting of this 

 society and the Geological Society of America, 

 Pittsburgh meeting, 1910. 



has been the established procedure to 

 penalize a retiring president with a some- 

 what formal address. It is a practise 

 which is at once a solace and an opportu- 

 nity; the former, inasmuch as successors to 

 this honor of office must share these heart- 

 searching efforts of its closing hours; an 

 opportunity, for here is an outlet to un- 

 spoken cogitations which seldom take on 

 the formal expression of the printed page, 

 a chance to weave together the threads of 

 evidence or suggestion we may have fol- 

 lowed many years and left dangling; per- 

 haps even, to perfect into some well-finished 

 form the smnmation of our larger prob- 

 lems. It seems to have been tacitly as- 

 sumed by our council and membership that 

 I should inaugurate for this society the 

 accustomed procedure anew. I frankly 

 face this situation, but with no promise of 

 the adequacy of the outcome. 



I. At the outset I propose to take brief 

 advantage of my own somewhat peculiar 

 position and experience as a public official 

 in paleontological science as a point of 

 view from which but few of you, my audi- 

 ence, may have had opportunity to con- 

 template the subject. You will, I pray, be 

 indulgent with this exploitation of a per- 

 sonal attitude, for it does seem to have 

 certain complementary attributes which 

 may in a way illuminate and supplement 

 your own experience. If you find it a 

 rather frank expression it will be couched 

 in terms of fraternal regard, and I hope 

 entirely devoid of unfair or invidious 

 comment which might expose the writer to 

 the charge of being a profane railer at the 

 sanctities. My contact with the public of 

 an intelligent and progressive government 

 is now of rather long standing and this ex- 

 perience has been illuminating in any esti- 

 mate of public sympathy with pure 

 science. 



