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SCIENCE. 



[N. S, Vol. XIV. No. 347. 



senate to coordinate spontaneous move- 

 ments, and thus to perpetuate the integrity 

 and vitality of the organization. To bor- 

 row analogy from planetary assemblages, 

 the representative body is as the centrifu- 

 gal force, the senate as the centripetal force, 

 combined in orbital progression. The im- 

 portant fact is that political organization of 

 the modern and successful sort is incom- 

 plete without provision for the maintenance 

 of internal harmony, of stability, of vitality 

 — as in the senates of the invented nation 

 and its constituent states. 



Now America has become a nation of 

 science. An unequaled proportion of her 

 citizens are engaged in scientific research, 

 while it is not too much to say that the 

 masses of the people recognize the principles 

 as well as the applications of science in 

 their everyday avocations ; the scientific 

 spirit is fostered and diffused by a number 

 of voluntary associations of scientific char- 

 acter probably larger in proportion to popu- 

 lation than can be found in any other 

 country ; and our statesmen are guided by 

 the conclusions of science, while our federal 

 and State governments support science, in 

 unequaled degree. Yet despite their ac- 

 tivity and numbers, despite the extent and 

 strength of their voluntary associations, 

 American scientists have not profited by the 

 example of the nation's founders, and have 

 taken no steps toward shaping the further 

 progress of science by representative organ- 

 ization. Many, if not most, of the volun- 

 tary associations indeed have executive 

 bodies to exercise appropriate administra- 

 tive and judicative functions, and perhaps 

 to propose legislative action ; but this 

 mechanism merely simplifies the transac- 

 tion of business, the powers of the elected 

 representatives are limited to the affairs 

 of a particular association of which the 

 body is a part, and there are no repre- 

 sentatives of the second order — no represen- 

 tatives of representatives — empowered to 



act in the interests of science in general. 

 It is not, of course, the function of science 

 to govern, so that governmental organiza- 

 tion 'per se is not required on the part of 

 scientific men or their associations ; but col- 

 lective action for common interests demands 

 organization — and one of the surprising 

 features of American science (especially in 

 view of the example set by statecraft) is its 

 unorganized condition. True, each special 

 science is fostered by one or more voluntary 

 associations, sometimes of national char- 

 acter ; true, general science is represented 

 in each principal city by one or more volun- 

 tary associations, perhaps loosely confeder- 

 ated, as in New York and Washington; 

 true, some fields of research have been pre- 

 empted by the federal government in the 

 public interest ; true, different sciences are 

 cultivated by the aid of special journals ; 

 yet the great fact remains that the scientists 

 and scientific interests of America are not 

 well coordinated, much less unified in a sym- 

 metric whole. The centrifugal tendency is 

 strong ; the centripetal factor requisite for 

 independent character is lacking. 



An effective mode of organizing American 

 science is suggested by the constructive or- 

 ganization of the nation in which scientific 

 progress has been most rapid — it is that of 

 organizing the voluntary associations in 

 what might be called a Senate of American 

 Science. The successful example of Amer- 

 ican nationality would suggest that such a 

 senate should be made up of delegates 

 chosen by the voluntary scientific associa- 

 tions of the country, for limited terms, in 

 numbers equitably proportionate to the size 

 of the representative associations. The 

 functions of the general body would natu- 

 rally include (1) coordinating scientific in- 

 terests and progress ; (2) representing 

 science in its broader aspects on behalf of 

 the country; (3) forming a nucleus for 

 scientific congresses, national and inter- 

 national ; (4) fixing the bases of represen- 



