August 30, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



311 



of humanity justify ardent hopefulness if 

 not sanguine optimism with respect to the 

 future of scientific achievement. The rea- 

 sons for thi« hopefulness are numerous ; 

 some of th*em arising out of the commercial 

 and political conditions of the world, and 

 others arising out of the conditions of sci- 

 ence itself. 



Perhaps the most important of all these 

 reasons is found in the general enlargement 

 of ideas which has come, and is coming, 

 with the extension of trade and commerce 

 to the uttermost parts of the earth. We 

 are no longer citizens of this or that country, 

 simply. Whether we wish it or not we 

 are citizens of the world, with increased 

 opportunities and with increased duties. 

 We may not approve — few men of science 

 would approve, I think — that sort of ' ex- 

 pansion ' which works ' benevolent assimi- 

 lation ' of inferior races by means of a 

 bible in one hand and a gun in the other ; 

 but nothing can help so much, it seems to 

 me, to remove the stumbling blocks in the 

 way of the progress of science as actual 

 contact with the manners, the customs, the 

 relations and the resulting questions for 

 thought, now thrust upon all civilized na- 

 tions by the events of the day. That sort 

 of competition which is the life of trade, 

 that sort of rivalry which is the stimulus 

 to national effort, and that sort of cooper- 

 ation which is essential for mutual protec- 

 tion, all make for the cosmopolitan dissem- 

 ination of scientific truth and for the 

 appreciation of scientific investigation. I 

 would not disparage the elevated aspirations 

 and the noble efforts of the evangelists and 

 the humanists who seek to raise the lower 

 to the plane of the higher elements of 

 our race ; but it is now plain as a mat- 

 ter of fact, however repulsive it may seem 

 to some of our inherited opinions, that the 

 railway, the steamship, the telegraph and 

 the daily press will do more to illumine the 

 dark places of the earth than all the apos- 



tles of creeds and all the messengers of the 

 gospel of '■ sweetness and light.' 



A question of profound significance grow- 

 ing out of the extension of commercial re- 

 lations in our time is what may be called 

 the question of international health. An 

 outbreak of cholera in Hamburg, the preva- 

 lence of yellow fever in Havana, or an epi- 

 demic of bubonic plague in India is no 

 longer a matter of local import, as nations 

 with which we are well acquainted have 

 learned recently in an expensive manner. 

 The management of this great international 

 question calls for the application of the 

 most advanced scientific knowledge and for 

 the most intricate scientific investigation. 

 Large sums of money must be devoted to 

 this work, and many heroic lives will be 

 lost, doubtless, in its execution ; but it is 

 now evident, as a mere matter of interna- 

 tional political economy, that the cost of 

 sound sanitation will be trifling in compari- 

 son with the cost of no sanitation ; while 

 further careful study of the natural history 

 of diseases promises practical immunity 

 from many of them at no distant day. In- 

 ternational associations of all kinds must 

 aid greatly also in the promotion of prog- 

 ress. Many such organizations have, in- 

 deed, already undertaken scientific projects 

 with the highest success. Comparison and 

 criticism of methods and results not only 

 lead rapidly and effectively to improve- 

 ments and advances, but they lead also to 

 a whole-hearted recognition of good work 

 which puts the fraternalism of men of sci- 

 ence on a plane far above the level of the 

 amenities of merely diplomatic life. 



When we turn to the general status of 

 science itself, there is seen to be equal 

 justification for hopefulness founded on an 

 abundance of favorable conditions. The 

 methods of science may be said to have 

 gained a footing of respectability in almost 

 every department of thought, where, a half- 

 century ago, or even twenty years ago, 



