154. P. A. Daly — Problems of the Pacific Islands. 



another world gateway, one-third of the earth's circumference 

 from Gibraltar, the last great field for scientific conquest 

 sparkles in our eyes. 



Beyond the Pacific is the Old World, rapidly yielding its 

 last secrets to its own peoples. Is not the piercing of Panama 

 a suggestion, a brilliant symbol, for American geographical 

 science ? The Golden Gate is not the end of the world for it. 

 Already Dana has made immortal the Wilkes expedition to 

 the South Sea ; Brigham at Honolulu has long been a clearing- 

 house for ideas regarding the culture of Polynesia ; Agassiz 

 has lavished his vast energies in reconnaissance of the Pacific 

 islands ; Californians have brought rich scientific booty from 

 the Channel islands and from Galapagos ; the founding of a 

 volcanological observatory in Hawaii is an important step in 

 the American exploration ; two Harvard expeditions to the 

 southwestern Pacific within the last eighteen months deal with 

 island problems full of meaning for general science. To the 

 many researches of individuals are to be added those of gov- 

 ernment bureaus — Hydrographic Office, Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey, Geological Survey, and Fish Commission — operating 

 chiefly on mainland and island coasts which are under the 

 American flag. 



To the government bureaus, or scientific bodies of the differ- 

 ent nations concerned, may be assigned the duty of scientific 

 exploration in the Aleutian, Kurile, Japanese, and East Indian 

 archipelagoes ; but Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia need 

 different treatment. My thesis to-night is that the thorough 

 study of these oceanic islands offers a highly desirable program 

 for large-scale private enterprise in science, and that the pro- 

 gram is highly appropriate for American enterprise in particu- 

 lar. The citizens of this republic co-operated to build the 

 marvellous canal, opening a new, main door to the Pacific. 

 Their engineers did it under the control of the general govern- 

 ment. The systematic exploration of archipelagoes which are 

 under a half-dozen flags obviously cannot be undertaken by 

 any government, but, with private association, the citizens of 

 America are perfectly capable of attacking the task in pure 

 science, which is at once less than, and greater than, the cutting 

 of the Panama canal. Among the many projects submitted to 

 this society for the advancement of science, no other seems 

 more fitting on the present occasion ; no other would seem 

 more certain to yield new and important results. 



Need of comprehensive exploration. — The history of natural 

 science amply shows the waste of effort and the danger of 

 positive error that are due to the compartment method of 

 study. Much of the literature dealing with the principles 

 of chemistry, published even in the last quarter of the nine- 



