89 



[president's address.] 

 Recent Developments in Physical Science. 



[Publication No. 34.] 



By Arthur L. Foley. 



On this — the twenty-fifth — birthday of the Indiana Academy of Science, 

 it is meet that we survey the progress made and take an inventory of 

 stock on hand. Where were we? Where are we? 



Comparing physical science of today with physical science of twenty- 

 five years ago, I am forced to the conclusion that there has been a revo- 

 lution. 



In the first place there has been a revolution in the methods of teach- 

 ing science. I would remind you that the physics laboratory of the Uni- 

 versity of Berlin was founded in lSGo. the Cavendish laboratory of Cam- 

 bridge in 1874. In 1871 Professor Trowbridge, of Harvard, was obliged 

 to borrow some electrical measuring instruments, as the university had none 

 of* its own. It is not surprising, then, that a few years later — at the time 

 the Indiana Academy of Science was founded — there were in the United 

 States very few physics laboratories worthy of the name. Physics teach- 

 ing in college and high school was chiefly from the text-book. Today a 

 college which would offer work in physics without a laboratory would be 

 considered a joke; and in order to be commissioned, a high school must 

 have a certain minimum of laboratory equipment and the physics teacher 

 must devote a part of his time to laboratory instruction. 



In the second place there has been a complete change in the attitude 

 of men of affairs toward the physics professor and his students. No longer 

 do they consider us theoretical, and therefore impractical. No longer do 

 they look with distrust or contempt on laboratory methods and data. No 

 longer do they hold that apprenticeship and experience are sufficient for 

 their needs. Today the large industrial concerns are establishing labora- 

 tories of their own and employing in them the best trained men they can 

 command. 



In the third place, there has been a revolution in some of our physical 

 theories. By the term revolution I do not mean a destructive upheaval 



