426 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 509. 



sembled in this cosmopolitan congress to- 

 day. 



It has been our good fortune to witness 

 in recent decades an unparalleled series of 

 achievements in the fields of physical sci- 

 ence. All of them, from anthropology and 

 astronomy up to zoology, have yielded rich 

 harvests of results; and one is prone to 

 raise the question whether a like degree 

 of progress may be expected to prevail 

 during the century on which we have now 

 entered. No man can tell what a day may 

 bring forth; much less may one forecast 

 the progress of a decade or a century. But, 

 judging from the long experience of the 

 past, there are few reasons to doubt and 

 many reasons to expect that the future has 

 still greater achievements available. It 

 would appear that we have found the right 

 methods of investigation. Philosophically 

 considered, the remarkable advances of the 

 past afford little cause for marvel. On the 

 contrary, they are just such results as we 

 should anticipate from persistent iDursuit 

 of scientific investigation. Conscious of 

 the adequacy of his methods, therefore, the 

 devotee to physical science has every in- 

 ducement to continue his labors with un- 

 flagging zeal and confident optimism. 



R. S. Woodward. 



Columbia Univeesitt. 



MICIiO-OltGANISMS OF SOIL AND HUMAN 

 WELFARE.* 



Man has gained dominion in the earth 

 not as a birthright, but by many str.uggles 

 and by numerous conquests. Slowly dur- 

 ing the ages he has gained accessions of 

 knowledge and has succeeded in making 

 more and more use of the forces of nature. 

 The introduction of the art of printing en- 

 abled him to make readily and to keep per- 

 manently a record of his accomplishments ; 

 the discovei-y of the mariner's compass 



* Presidential address read at the Buffalo meet- 

 ing, August 24, 1904, of the American Microscop- 

 ical Society. 



added immensely to his domain; the appli- 

 cation of steam multipled a thousand times 

 his power, and now the subjection of the 

 electric forces makes him a veritable master 

 over time and space. As a help in gain- 

 ing knowledge applicable to the practical 

 affairs of earth and life the microscope 

 stands unrivaled. Its relations have been 

 incomparably important in regard to the 

 knowledge of man himself and to those 

 things immediately connected with his 

 daily existence and health. Bacteriology 

 is a branch of microscopy or at all events 

 could not have been developed without the 

 aid of the microscope, and in this connec- 

 tion alone the instrument has been useful 

 beyond any other piece of mechanism what- 

 ever in alleviating ills to which flesh is 

 heir and in promoting and prolonging life. 



So far bacteria have been more espe- 

 ciallj^ studied as disease germs. Witness 

 the advance which has been made on ac- 

 count of those studies in medicine and 

 surgery, in the efficiency of quarantines 

 and in the prevention of epidemics. It is 

 argued now in some quarters that even 

 old age is a germ disease, and that immor- 

 tality on earth is a possibility when bac- 

 teriology and its allied sciences come to 

 perfection. I am to ask your attention at 

 this time to some of the microorganisms 

 of the soil and their relation to soil fertility. 

 This is a technical subject. While it is 

 not possible to treat it as a popular theme, 

 it should not be difficult to show that there 

 are mattei's here which, whether we are 

 aware of it or not, intimately and im- 

 measurably affect every human being on 

 earth. 



First a few words as to the organisms 

 themselves. They are minute living crea- 

 tures belonging to the vegetable kingdom, 

 hence called plants, however unlike they 

 are to the leafy structures usually alluded 

 to by that name. Their most striking pe- 

 culiarities are their exceedingly diminutive 



