THE 



CANADIAN RECORD 



OF SCIENCE. 



vol. iv. october, 1890. no. 4. 



The Relations of Men of Science to the 

 General Public. 1 



By T. C. Mbndenhall. 



Just fifty years have passed away since a small body of 

 enthusiastic students of Geology and Natural History or- 

 ganized themselves into an Association which was, for the 

 first time in the history of this country, not local in its 

 membership or its purpose. As the "Association of Ameri- 

 can Geologists and Naturalists," it was intended to include 

 any and all persons, from any and all parts of the country, 

 who were actively engaged in the promotion of Natural 

 History studies, and who were willing to re-inforce and 

 strengthen each other by this union. So gratifying was the 

 success of this undertaking, that after a few years of in- 

 creasing prosperity under its first name, the Association 

 wisely determined to widen the fields of its operations, by 

 resolving itself into the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, thus assuming to be in title what it 

 had really been in fact, from the beginning of its existence. 

 One of the articles of its first constitution, adopted at its first 

 meeting, provided that it should be the duty of its president 

 to present an address at a General Session following that 



1 Address by the retiring President of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science. Indianapolis, August, 1890. 

 16 



