402 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 846 



ent civilizations that existed in this coun- 

 try — an idea that unfortunately the writers 

 of earlier times did not give us. 



At the same time, we must not forget to 

 study the cultural strata to see if there be 

 in some place some means of arriving at a 

 classification or chronological order in 

 which the civilizations followed one an- 

 other, a history that we have not been able 

 to establish up to this day. All these 

 propositions will require the cooperation 

 of the young who will learn and will in 

 turn become our teachers; who will con- 

 tinue our work, disregarding and boldly 

 setting aside the doubts and hesitancies of 

 the old, and who will not fear to open new 

 paths and with youthful vigor bring to a 

 happy end what we have only been able to 

 begin. Edtjaed Seler 



TEE PLACE OF RESEARCH IN UNDER- 

 GRADUATE SCHOOLS' 



The aim of this academy is the encour- 

 agement of research along scientific lines 

 by establishing and maintaining inter- 

 course among those engaged therein, thus 

 stimulating them by a consciousness of 

 companionship in productive intellectual 

 activity. In a small society, embracing in 

 its scope all the sciences, one does not ex- 

 pect in these days of specialization to find 

 others engaged in just the same field of 

 investigation as himself; it is through in- 

 spiration rather than information that the 

 investigator profits by these meetings. 



It is now hardly necessary to emphasize, 

 even to the non-scientific public, the impor- 

 tance of scientific research; to it mankind 

 owes in a large measure not only his ma- 

 terial prosperity, comforts and conve- 

 niences, which is sufficiently obvious, but, 

 what is even more important, his intellec- 

 tual freedom. The changes that have 

 taken place within the last century in our 



' Address of the president of the Indiana 

 Academy of Science, November 25, 1§10. 



physical environment, with the innumer- 

 able applications of science to useful pur- 

 poses, are no more profound than our in- 

 tellectual advance and the growing per- 

 vasiveness of the scientific spirit in all lines 

 of thought and endeavor for human better- 

 ment, phj'^sical, social and moral. Our in- 

 creasingly extensive and effective philan- 

 thropies, our giant strides in sanitary ad- 

 ministration, and the tottering barriers 

 between the sects of Christendom, are very 

 tangible evidences of the spirit that is not 

 satisfied with precedent or authority, but 

 craves certainty as to the facts, and reason- 

 able explanations for them, as well as the 

 application of all knowledge to the uses of 

 man. 



The membership of this academy hap- 

 pily includes scientific workers in many 

 fields. Some apply the results of research 

 to the needs of the state in developing 

 its resources and protecting its citizens 

 against the injuries inflicted by ignorance 

 and fraud ; others make science the servant 

 of industry and commerce; others, again, 

 are active in applying it to the preserving 

 and restoring of the health of our bodies. 

 A large part of our membership, however, 

 is made up of those whose chief occupation 

 is teaching. 



While it has not always been the case, it 

 is probably true at present that the most 

 valuable contributions to human knowledge 

 are made by those engaged in this profes- 

 sion of teaching. This is not surprising, 

 for the nature of his calling demands that 

 the teacher to be effective must ever con- 

 tinue to be a student, and the thorough 

 study of any subject reveals the limits of 

 our knowledge in that field and tempts the 

 man of active intellect to the task of ex- 

 tending those boundaries; there is surely 

 no keener pleasure than the learning by 

 one's own search some truth, however in- 

 conspicuous, not previously known. 



