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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1103 



gresses and conferences and now we hold in 

 Washington a Pan-American intellectual congress 

 which, in some respects, is more important than all 

 the others. 



"Ideal Pan-Americanism can only be achieved 

 through cooperation in science, in education and in 

 intellectual effort as well as in finance and com- 

 merce. Particularly is this true of the relations 

 of the United States with the Latin-American 

 countries, where so much attention and prominence 

 are given to science and education. 



' ' The American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science is as well known throughout Latin 

 America as it is in the United States and I am 

 gratified to see so many of the Latin-American 

 delegates here to-night to manifest their interest 

 ill this meeting and to give a worthy hearing to 

 Dr. W. W. Campbell, director of the Lick Observa- 

 tory and president of the association. It is also a 

 pleasure to note that you are to be briefly ad- 

 dressed by Dr. Ernesto Nelson, Inspector General 

 of Education of the Argentine Republic and a 

 member of the Argentine delegation to the Pan- 

 American Scientific Congress. I have known him 

 for many years and can assure you that he stands 

 in the forefront of the educators of South America. 

 I am always glad, moreover, to assist at any gath- 

 ering presided over by my friend^ Dr. Woodward, 

 who is your past-president and also a member of 

 the United States delegation to the Pan-American 

 Scientific Congress." 



Dr. Woodward then called upon Dr. Ernesto 

 Nelson, director general of Secondary Industrial 

 and Commercial Education, Buenos Aires, Argen- 

 tina, and Commissioner of Education, Panama- 

 Pacific International Exposition, who addressed the 

 meeting on behalf of the Latin-American delegates 

 to the Scientific Congress. Dr. Nelson 's remarks 

 were as follows: 



"As a member of the Latin -American repre- 

 sentation to the Second Pan-American Scientific 

 Congress, I have been invited to welcome you to- 

 night to the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science. My presence here, there- 

 fore, emphasizes the delightful spirit of interna- 

 tionalism which characterizes scientific activities 

 where no international boundaries exist. 



"In these days, when we are busy telling one 

 another how much stranger we are to each other, 

 how much we have neglected to buy of or sell to 

 each other, it is only fitting that we should also 

 meet on a field on which we can recognize one 

 another as old acquaintances; on a field in which 



considerable cooperation has been taking place 

 steadily and inconspicuously. I refer not only to 

 the fact that science is a common good, a merchan- 

 dise whose importation is subjected to no duty, 

 and is not dependent upon treaties to gain pos- 

 session of markets, but to the fact that, through 

 the efforts of agencies like the Carnegie Institu- 

 tion, the universities of Harvard, Leland Stan- 

 ford, Michigan, Princeton, to say nothing of 

 American museums, a successful work of scientific 

 cooperation is helping to make Americans at large 

 better acquainted with each other. 



"The fact that we have come here to-night with 

 our minds prepared to learn heavenly things gives 

 me particular pleasure to recall that it was one of 

 the most illustrious members of the American As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science, Dr. 

 Benjamin Apthorp Gould, of Cambridge, Mass., 

 who started in Argentina the work of cataloguing 

 the stars of the Southern Hemisphere, a work 

 which, since then, has enlisted American men of 

 science to the extent that to-day the observatory of 

 the University of Michigan and that of La Plata 

 in Argentina are practically a single institution, 

 carrying a perfectly coordinated work under the 

 same head. 



"I am aware that science alone does not make 

 civilization, although it is the chief ingredient of 

 it; but I do believe, as you all believe who are 

 here, that science is the human activity that most 

 surely helped in bringing about mutual imder- 

 standing among different peoples. We may feel 

 differently, we may act differently, but we must, 

 necessarily, seek truth along the same lines and 

 have the same attitude before scientific facts. 



"Let me conclude, therefore, by hoping that, as 

 time goes on, further and further opportunities of 

 quiet scientific cooperation will present themselves 

 before the learned men of the three Americas." 



The main feature of the evening was the ad- 

 dress by Dr. William Wallace Campbell, director 

 of the Lick Observatory of the University of Cali- 

 fornia and president of the American Association, 

 on the subject of the "Evolution of the Stars." 

 This was a beautifully illustrated address cover- 

 ing for the most part the Hale lectures by Dr. 

 Campbell, given before the National Academy of 

 Sciences and printed in The Popular Science 

 Monthly for September, 1915, and The Scientific 

 Monthly for October, November and December, 

 1915. 



The meeting concluded with interchanges of 

 courtesies between the members of the American 



