66 Scientific Intelligence. 



of what Prof. Silliman, in the work to which I have already re- 

 ferred, found that he could not include on more than 100 closely- 

 printed pages, thousch he proposed merely to give the names of 

 American chemists' and the titles of their works. It would be 

 equally useless and indeed an invidious task to offer a selection ; 

 but this may be said, that among the more prominent memoirs 

 there are many not inferior to the foremost that the chemical 

 literature of Europe can present. How unsatisfactory then i- this 

 brief statement I have made of what might be justly claimed for 

 American science ! Had it been ten times as long, and far more 

 forcibly offered, it would still have fallen short of completeness. 

 I still should have been open to the accusation of not having done 

 justice to the subject. 



Have those who gloat over the shortcomings of American sci- 

 ence ever examined the Coast Survey Reports, those of the Naval 

 Observatory, the Smith , ,. those of the American 



Association for the Advancement of Science, the Proceedings of 

 the American Academy of Arts and Science, those of the Ameri- 

 can Philosophical Society, the Lyceum of Natural Historv, and 

 our leading scientific periodicals? Have they ever looked "at the 

 numerous reports published by the authority of Congress on geo- 

 graphical, geological, engineering, and other subjects— repi 

 often m imposing quartos magnificently illustrated. 



Not without interest may we explore the origin of the depre 

 tion of which we complain. In other countries it is commonly 

 t'a*< that ea. h ■ hums for itself all that it can, and often more t 

 is its due. Each labors to bring its conspicuous men and its pub- 

 lic acts into the most fa <.v ; each sjoes upon the 

 " — lally valued at the value he puts 

 ritb us? Can an impartial person 

 ers which we so often attribute to 

 in political, and what is worse, in s 



himself. But hov 



,- is 



withe 



>ut pain the chai 





illustrious c 





life? 



^wheTbeTo 



o,; ; 



NV, 



3 need not gc 



■ r' ,', 



politi 



cal condition 



. I 



r things ? 



detect the origin of all this -it is ii 

 Here wealth, power, preferment— prefer) 

 even to the highest position in the nation-- are secminulv wii bin 

 the reach of all, and in the internecine struggle that takes 

 place every man is occupied in pushing some other man 

 into the background. I fear th there is no 



remedy for this, such is the violence of the compi tition. so _o< at 

 are the prizes at stake. But in the less turbulent domain of 

 science and letters we may hope for better things. And those 

 who make i1 leery the contributions of their own 



country to the stock of knowledge may perhaps stand rebuked by 

 the express j„. r generoan rivals- 



How can they read without blushing at their own eon 



os as that recently uttered by tl 

 lish opinion, the foremost of English journals ? The Times, which 

 no one will accuse of partiality in this insta-.c , sav- : "In th. 



