SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLII. No. 1095 



be otherwise under the prevailing system. 

 The ordinary procedure is for each side 

 to choose a representative, generally a 

 lawyer, who is pledged to do his best as 

 an advocate, not as a judge. These two 

 after much difficulty, and sometimes by 

 the tossing of a coin, select a third who 

 is often secretly known to favor one side 

 or the other and thus the ease is won be- 

 fore it is begun. In the more favorable 

 case of the third arbitrator being open 

 minded and anxious for a correct decision, 

 the points in dispute are confused and 

 obscured by the pleadings of his legal col- 

 leagues whose trade is "to make the 

 worse appear the better reason." 



In their place put men who have had 

 ■ffincii training and long experience in 

 discriminating between appearances and 

 realities, whose life work is the ascertain- 

 ment of facts, the discovery and announce- 

 ment of truth regardless of consequences, 

 and arbitration would no longer mean a 

 mere temporary expedient or an illogical 

 and unsatisfactory compromise. 



Much of the history of modern civil- 

 ization might be summoned in support of 

 my contention that training and discipline 

 in the methods of scientific investigation 

 may be depended upon above all other 

 processes to give men power to distinguish 

 between the true and the false ; to analyze 

 and reconcile confusing and contradic- 

 tory evidence, and to extract therefrom 

 whatever of truth it may conceal. For 

 such men are guided by the sentiment that 

 inspired Galileo when, in speaking of the 

 Copernican system of the universe and 

 other scientific doctrines which the Pope 

 had condemned he had the courage to say : 



while there can be no doubt that his holiness has 

 absolute power either to admit or condemn, it is 

 not in the power of any creature to make them to 

 he true or false otherwise than in their own nature 

 and in fact they are. 



Omitting further consideration of the 

 many ways in which the academy might 

 serve the state, and ignoring entirely the 

 intrinsic value of contributions to science 

 which its existence might make possible, I 

 must refer briefly to the reciprocal obliga- 

 tion of the state to the academy. 



In the beginning the question was asked, 

 "What has the state done for the acad- 

 emy?" and the answer was, "nothing." 

 My answer to the question what should the 

 state do for the academy is almost as brief. 

 It is, "not much." Its usefulness to the 

 state will depend largely on its being free 

 from state control or departmental influ- 

 ence. At the same time their mutual rela- 

 tions should be close enough to justify the 

 state in calling upon it at any time for 

 services of the kind I have indicated. The 

 provision in the charter of our National 

 Academy already quoted seems to be quite 

 satisfactory. In return for services which 

 in time will become both numerous and 

 valuable the state should do two things for 

 the academy. It should undertake the 

 publication of its annual reports, including 

 monographs, memoirs and other contribu- 

 tions to its proceedings which are judged to 

 be of sufficient interest and importance to 

 the people of the state. This is already 

 the practise of several states in which acad- 

 emies of science flourish and it is done by 

 the national government for the National 

 Academy. It should also provide a suita- 

 ble building in which the regular meet- 

 ings of the academy could be held, where 

 its archives and collections could be stored 

 and where its special committees could 

 hold their meetings and prepare their re- 

 ports. This is certainly a modest demand 

 if the members of the academy pledge them- 

 selves in return to give to the state without 

 cost, in the form of advice and counsel, the 

 full benefit of their scientific training and 

 technical skill. 



