80 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IV., No. 77. 



THE ORGANIZATION OF AN INTERNA- 

 TIONAL SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION. 



Several months ago Science published an 

 editorial on the proposed foundation of an In- 

 ternational scientific association. Since that 

 first public announcement of the project, inter- 

 est in it has deepened and spread. There is 

 now in circulation, for additional signatures, a 

 request supported by some of the leading scien- 

 tific men of America, and addressed to the two 

 national associations which meet on our side 

 of the ocean this year. This request is to 

 the effect that the two bodies shall consider the 

 advisability of forming an international asso- 

 ciation : it is therefore appropriate to consider 

 the grounds upon which we may advocate the 

 execution of the proposal. 



There are many persons who have long held 

 the conviction that some regular opportunity 

 for international intercourse between scientific 

 men, bringing them from all countries into 

 personal contact with one another, would be 

 equally useful and pleasant. The only feasi- 

 ble manner yet suggested, so far as I am aware, 

 of insuring the desired opportunities, is to 

 establish an international societ\ T after the gen- 

 eral type of the national associations and the 

 international congresses, such as the medical, 

 geological, etc., — organizations which have 

 alread} r justified their existence by the good 

 they have accomplished. It is believed that 

 the time has now come for extending habitual 

 scientific co-operation beyond the limits of each 

 country, to all those that are active in the pro- 

 motion of science. Moreover, the manifold 

 sciences of the present have so many common 

 interests, that the welfare of each is inseparable 

 from the welfare of all ; and therefore, when 

 they all unite for the common good, will the 

 highest purposes of knowledge be best served. 

 This it is which renders a general scientific con- 

 gress more advisable than a number of special 

 ones. The bod}^ of wider purpose would also 

 represent more fitly the full dignity of science. 



What advantages may be expected from the 

 proposed International scientific association? 

 Foremost must be placed, I think, the opportu- 



nities for personal intercourse between men of 

 the same interests, but who, living in countries 

 wide apart, would otherwise never meet. Ex- 

 perience amply demonstrates the reality of the 

 interest and advantage of contact, direct and 

 immediate, of mind to mind, which affords an 

 insight into another's way of thought otherwise 

 impossible. This is because conversation en- 

 ables one to get by a short cut to the pith of 

 thought, and to secure an explanation of just 

 whatever has been obscure in the conceptions of 

 another. The action of others' minds becomes 

 understood as it never can be from books. New 

 points of view open up, and the error of the 

 personal equation is diminished. Another ad- 

 vantage must be sought in the meeting of spe- 

 cialists of different branches, who mutually 

 inform one another of the living interests of 

 each other's science. The importance of the 

 actual sessions lies in the discoveries and dis- 

 cussions filling them, and is so well recognized 

 that this allusion is sufficient. As the associa- 

 tion will have great dignity and high standing 

 in all countries, it will be appropriate for it to 

 undertake the adjustment of many of the 

 international interests of science, such as the 

 unification of standards, and other affairs 

 requiring the concerted action of separate 

 nations. The establishment of uniformity the 

 world over, in many matters, may certainly be 

 more authoritatively made through the medium 

 of a representative congress of scientific men 

 of all nations than by any other means. 



As regards the special occasion of founding 

 the new organization, the advocates of doing 

 so in America* this summer maintain that an- 

 other opportunity is not likely to soon re-occur 

 so favorable as will be afforded by the meeting 

 of the British association in Canada, followed 

 immediately by that of the American associa- 

 tion in Pennsylvania. If the scheme is carried 

 out, it will, in fact, be the legitimate and an- 

 ticipated culmination of a movement of which 

 the coming to America of the British associa- 

 tion is one part. In 1881 the proposal was 

 made that the American association invite the 

 British to America. This was actively dis- 

 cussed ; and finally it was determined — largely, 



