694 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1037 



desert into fields of golden grain, dotted with 

 orchards bearing luscious fruits. When the 

 territory now within our national continental 

 boundaries was occupied by savage man, it 

 supported only a few thousands, now under 

 the stimulus of scientific agriculture it feeds, 

 shelters, clothes, supplies the necessities of life 

 to all and untold luxuries to many of its 

 ninety millions of inhabitants and sends 

 abroad enough to feed other millions. 



In the long ago, some man observed the 

 magnifying effect of a natural lens. The lap- 

 idary labored through centuries in the perfec- 

 tion and proper adjustment of lenses. The re- 

 sult was the evolution of the compound micro- 

 scope. In 1849 a village doctor on the Rhine 

 studied the blood of animals sick with anthrax 

 under his crude microscope and compared it 

 with the blood of healthy animals. He discov- 

 ered the bacillus of this disease. This work 

 under the genius and diligence of Davaine, 

 Pasteur, Koch and others demonstrated the 

 causal relationship between microorganisms 

 and disease. The science of preventive medi- 

 cine has been developed, the average of human 

 life has been lengthened by fifteen years within 

 one century and the way has been made clear 

 for a like prolongation within a like period, 

 provided the masses of the people acquire suffi- 

 cient intelligence to properly utilize the facts 

 already known. The capacity of the individ- 

 ual for work, rational pleasure and intellectual 

 growth has been multiplied. Pestilential re- 

 gions have been converted into fit dwelling 

 places for man and his dominion over antagon- 

 istic conditions and forces of nature has been 

 extended. Disease, which hitherto has ex- 

 cluded man from the fairest portions of the 

 earth, has exacted heavy toll in all climes, has 

 wrecked the greatest civilizations of ancient 

 times and has more than once threatened the 

 race with extinction, is now largely under 

 man's control. 



The foregoing are only illustrations of what 

 science has done in the improvement of our 

 race. I know of no scientific discovery which 

 has not aided in the betterment of mankind 

 and still science is in its infancy. Its ultimate 

 goal is the domination of the forces of nature 



and their utilization in the betterment of 

 mankind. 



The fundamental principles and facts of the 

 physical, chemical and biological sciences must 

 be included in the courses taken by every stu- 

 dent who wishes a broad, symmetrical educa- 

 tion, whatever his business or professional 

 calling is to be. Moreover, training in these 

 sciences should not be of the amateur kind, 

 but should be sound and thorough and accom- 

 panied by laboratory observation and demon- 

 stration. It should supply a sound basis which 

 will enable the student in after life to reach 

 correct conclusions, when scientific judgments 

 must influence his behavior. The failure of 

 those in high places to appreciate the value of 

 scientific equipment and procedure has proved 

 to be a serious matter many times. The im- 

 portance of this subject justifies the mention 

 of specific instances. When the Spanish- 

 American War began in 1898, Congress re- 

 fused to make appropriation for scientific med- 

 ical equipment. The graduates of West Point 

 up to that time had no instruction in army 

 sanitation. Not a regiment, either regular or 

 volunteer, went into the field with the medical 

 equipment necessary to recognize either ma- 

 laria or typhoid fever. Regimental command- 

 ers paid no heed at first to the protests of med- 

 ical officers as to the location and sanitation 

 of camps. The result was nearly twenty thou- 

 sand cases of typhoid with more deaths from 

 disease than from the shots of the enemy. 

 Still, the only golden chapter in the history of 

 that war is that which records the discovery of 

 the manner of transmission of yellow fever, the 

 lifting of the curse of this disease from the 

 " Pearl of the Antilles " and the subsequent 

 construction of the Panama Canal, made pos- 

 sible by this discovery. 



The officials of the state of California de- 

 nied the existence of the plague in San Fran- 

 cisco in face of the fact that its presence had 

 been demonstrated scientifically. The result 

 was the infection of certain rodents throughout 

 a large territory and the expenditure of lives, 

 money and energy in its eradication. 



Duluth placed the outlet of its sewers and 

 the intake of its water supply in close prox- 



