966 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 286. 



Rensselaer Polytechnic, Troy, N. Y. 

 Union College, Schenectady, N. Y. 

 Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 

 Kansas University, Lawrence, Kas. 

 Yale University, New Haven, Conn. 

 Nebraska University, Lincoln, Nebr. 

 Minnesota University, Minneapolis, Minn. 

 Ohio, State University of, Columbus, Ohio. 

 Pennsylvania, University of, Philadelphia, Pa. 

 Brown University, Providence, E. I. 

 Iowa, University of, Iowa City, Iowa. 



In the Universities where the chapters 

 have been established, the organization 

 takes the place of Phi Beta Kappa among 

 the science men, and the purpose of the or- 

 ganization is to recognize and associate the 

 men of marked ability in scientific studies. 

 The Society has been running long enough 

 to show very clearly that there is an aca- 

 demic side to science, as well as to literature, 

 and that the academic qualities promoted 

 by scientific studies are as important as 

 those fostered by the pure study of litera- 

 ture. It will be interesting to note in the 

 course of the year to what extent the culture 

 of the scientific qualifications of men gives 

 them power of leadership among their fel- 

 lows. It is certain that in business affairs 

 we are already observing the important 

 place which scientific ability takes in the 

 really dominant men in America. If the 

 conceptions of Sigma Xi are correct, we 

 shall see a similar condition of leadership 

 among the scientific scholars of the country 

 when sufiicient numbers of such scholars 

 have been developed to overcome the prec- 

 edence which we are accustomed to grant 

 to literature as the standard of real scholar- 

 ship. The chapters recently started in the 

 University of Pennsylvania and in Brown 

 University exhibit the enthusiasm which is 

 already being kindled in this department of 

 university life. The charter membership in 

 both of these cases was composed, practi- 

 cally, of the whole staff of scientific profess- 

 ors of the university. As an honor society, 

 it promises to take a leading part in all our 



universities in which science holds a prom- 

 inent place. 



The present ofiQcers of tte Society are : 

 President, H. S. Williams, Yale; Vice-Presi- 

 dent, S. W. Williston, Kansas; Correspond- 

 ing Secretary, J. McMahon, Cornell; Record- 

 ing Secretary, F. C. Caldwell, Ohio; Treasurer, 

 E. W. Davis, Nebraska ; Chairman of Coun- 

 cil, E. L. Nichols, Cornell. 



TEE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND THE 

 PEOPLE* 



Like the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science (and other similar 

 organizations), the Michigan Academy is an 

 expression of the voluntary scientific activ- 

 ity of the people of the State, and depends 

 for its continued usefulness on a rational 

 interest and a helpful co-operation on the 

 part of the people. 



It has therefore occurred to me to inquire 

 in what way the biological sciences, from 

 whose adherents the Academy draws most 

 of its membership, touch the people : what 

 in the growth of these sciences makes toward 

 and what away from a contributory interest 

 on the part of the people. By contributory 

 interest is meant that which aids in the 

 upbuilding of the sciences by adding some- 

 thing of importance to their store of fact or 

 theory. The question that is raised is then , 

 not what benefit do the people receive from 

 the biological sciences, for these are many in 

 the practical and in the educational applica- 

 tion of these sciences ; the question is rather 

 how may or how do the people benefit these 

 sciences by aiding in their further growth. 



I shall speak from the zoological stand- 

 point, but what is true of zoology, is true, 

 in this matter, in large measure, also of 

 botany. 



The question seems to be intimately as- 

 sociated with the recent history of zoology. 



* Abstract of the address of the retiring president 

 of the Michigan Academy of Sciences, delivered at the 

 Lansing meeting, March 29, 1900. 



