November 14, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



697 



the facilities for research, and the exten- 

 sive ramifications of science into special 

 fields, the societies and journals devoted 

 to particular lines of research naturally 

 arose and multiplied. The prestige of such 

 publications as the Proceedings and Trans- 

 actions of the Royal Society fortunately 

 enables them to hold their own, in spite of 

 the competition of so many journals de- 

 voted to special subjects. And the oppor- 

 tunity afforded by academies for the pub- 

 lication of extended memoirs beyond the 

 range of ordinary periodicals, is univer- 

 sally appreciated. As regards shorter com- 

 munications, the peculiar claims of the 

 special journals, which have been proved 

 by time to serve the purposes for which 

 they were designed, would naturally re- 

 ceive consideration in elaborating any new 

 plan of academic publication to meet ex- 

 isting needs. This subject will be more 

 fully considered in a later paper. 



In the management and distribution of 

 trust funds for research, the loan of instru- 

 ments, the award of prizes, and especially 

 in the advice of governments and individ- 

 uals as to the best means of initiating and 

 conducting scientific enterprises, national 

 academies occupy a position which private 

 foundations can hardly hope to rival. 

 The value of advice received from a body 

 of the highest reputation and prestige is 

 greatly enhanced, because of the increased 

 probability that it will be heeded and 

 carried into effect. For a similar reason, 

 recognition of individual achievement 

 through the award of prizes or election to 

 membership acquires its greatest weight 

 when received from such a body. 



After reviewing all of the activities 

 which we see so diversely exemplified by 

 the national academies of different coun- 

 tries, the conviction is forced upon one 

 that the first and best object of these bod- 

 ies must always be to uphold the dignity 



and importance of scientific research, and 

 to diffuse throughout the nation a true ap- 

 preciation of the intellectual and practical 

 benefits which will inevitably result from 

 its support and encouragement. But to ac- 

 complish great results in this field, an 

 academy must enjoy the active cooperation 

 of the leaders of the state. To appreciate 

 this, we have only to remember the many 

 striking illustrations afforded in the his- 

 tory of civilization. What was done by 

 Alexander the Great and the Ptolemies 

 for Egypt, by the house of Medici for 

 Italy, by Richelieu, Colbert and Napoleon 

 for France, can be done for other nations 

 by living statesmen to-day. In the midst 

 of his campaigns Napoleon never forgot 

 the paramount claims of science and the 

 arts. Writing to the astronomer Oriani 

 from Milan, which he had entered in 

 triumph, Napoleon said: 



The sciences which do honor to the human mind 

 and the arts which embellish life and perpetuate 

 great achievements for posterity, should be espe- 

 cially honored under free governments. 



... I invite the scholars to meet and to give 

 me their opinions as to the means that should be 

 taken, and the needs to be fulfilled, in order to 

 bring new life and activity into the sciences and 

 the fine arts. Those who wish to go to Prance 

 will be received with distinction by the govern- 

 ment. The French people set a higher value on 

 the acquisition of a skilled mathematician, a cele- 

 brated painter or a distinguished man of any 

 profession, than upon the possession of the larg- 

 est and richest eity.^i 



That such views are still shared by mod- 

 ern rulers is illustrated by the recent es- 

 tablishment of a great institution for sci- 

 entific research by the Emperor of Ger- 

 many. 



This article can not be better closed 

 than by a quotation from Laplace, the 

 most distinguished member of the Paris 



*i Maindron, ' ' L 'Academie des Sciences, ' ' p. 

 205. 



