September 23, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



395 



ley from a savage wilderness into what it 

 is to-day — tlien may you find compensation 

 for the want of a past like yours by seeing 

 with prophetic eye a future world power 

 of which this region shall be the seat. If 

 such is to be the outcome of the institutions 

 which we are now building up, then may 

 your present visit be a blessing both to 

 your posterity and ours, by making that 

 power one for good to all mankind. Your 

 deliberation will help to demonstrate to us 

 and to the world at large that the reign of 

 law must supplant that of brute force in 

 the relations of the nations, just as it has 

 supplanted it in the relations of individ- 

 uals. You will help to show that the war 

 which science is now waging against the 

 sources of disease, pain and misery offers 

 an even nobler field for the exercise of 

 heroic qualities than can that of battle. 

 We hope that when, after your all too 

 fleeting sojourn in our midst, you return 

 to your own shores, you will long feel the 

 influence of the new air you have breathed 

 in an infusion of increased vigor in pursu- 

 ing your varied labors. And if a new 

 impetus is thus given to the great intel- 

 lectual movement of the past century, re- 

 sulting not only in promoting the unifica- 

 tion of knowledge, but in widening its field 

 through new combinations of effort on the 

 part of its votaries, the projectors, organ- 

 izers and supporters of this Congress of 

 Arts and Science will be justified of their 

 labors. Simon Newcomb. 



TEE JETIDENCE OF EVOLUTION.* 

 Mr. President, Members of the Univer- 

 siTT OP Chicago, Ladies and Gentle- 

 men: 



The noble aim of university teaching is 

 the lifting up of mankind to a higher ap- 

 preciation of the ideas of life and truth. 

 It has to cultivate the most intimate con- 



* Convocation address, University of Chicago, 

 September 2, 1904. 



nection between theory and practise, be- 

 tween abstract science and actual life. 

 Throughout the world of research this con- 

 nection is felt to be the real stimulus of 

 the work, the very basis of its existence. 

 American universities and American sci- 

 ence have developed themselves on this 

 leading principle, and it is especially on 

 this account that high admiration is given 

 them by their European sisters. Nowhere 

 in this world is the mutual concourse be- 

 tween practise and science so general as 

 here, and nowhere is the influence of the 

 universities so widely felt as in this coun- 

 try. Perfect freedom of thought and in- 

 vestigation, unhampered rights of profess- 

 ing and defending one's conviction, even 

 if it should be wholly contrary to the uni- 

 versal belief, are the high privileges of all 

 real universities. Wealthy citizens spend 

 their possessions in the founding of such 

 institutions, convinced that this is the best 

 way of promoting public welfare. The 

 government liberally supplies funds for 

 scientiflc research, whenever its application 

 to practical business is clear. Your system 

 of promoting agriculture by means of ex- 

 periment stations, of scientifically con- 

 ducted farm-cultures, of inquiries in all 

 parts of the world, and of collecting, in- 

 troducing and trying all kinds of plants 

 that might become useful crops, is not only 

 admired, but even highly envied by us 

 Europeans. 



It is not without hesitation that I have 

 accepted the honorable invitation to speak 

 before this renowned center of learning. 

 The ideas to which I have been conducted 

 by my experiments are to a large degree 

 different from current scientific belief. 

 But I have trusted to your willingness to 

 listen to new facts and divergent convic- 

 tions, and to your readiness to acknowledge 

 whatever spark of truth might be found 

 in them. Unbiased by prejudice, the calm 

 air of the university and the enthusiasm of 



