190 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IV., No. 83. 



science in the public service. More than this, 

 individual citizens have discovered that there 

 is no better use for wealth than by endowments 

 like those which are annually added to the edu- 

 cational resources of the country. In aiding 

 all such tendencies, the American association 

 has performed a noble part. 



As we have seen, the founders of the asso- 

 ciation declared as their first object the pro- 

 motion of " intercourse between those who are 

 cultivating science in different parts of the 

 United States." One of the obstacles to prog- 

 ress in this country is the wide separation of 

 those who are workers in kindred departments. 

 A professor in Dublin or in Edinburgh may 

 go to London in a night ; but it takes seven 

 days for our California friends, and half that 

 time for many a professor in the interior, to 

 reach Washington or Boston. So much the 

 more reason is there that these annual con- 

 gresses, bringing people together from every 

 part of the land, should be kept up. Acquaint- 

 ances, friendships, copartnerships, promotions, 

 criticisms, suggestions, assistance, are the 

 fruits of this intercourse. Those who live in 

 the centre of scientific activities, who see more 

 people of mark in every month than are to be 

 seen at other places in a year, are in danger of 

 undervaluing all popular assemblies and conven- 

 tions, and are tempted to stay away from the un- 

 satisfactory throng. But it has been fortunate 

 that nearly all the most eminent members of 

 the American association have been read} T to 

 attend these meetings frequently , if not invari- 

 ably, and to give the encouragement of their 

 presence, their counsel, and their friendly 

 greetings, to those who were younger. Not to 

 mention any who are living, was there ever 

 a more benignant and inspiring teacher than 

 Agassiz ? did an} T one ever forget the greetings 

 of Bache who once felt his friendly grasp? 

 and could anybod}' be more ready than Henry to 

 lend a helpful hand to all who needed encour- 

 agement? Are there not scores of workers in 

 the field to-da} r who remember with gratitude 

 this trio, and others of their kin, as they ap- 

 peared, for instance, at the Albany meeting 

 when the association was in the first flush of 



its youthful vigor? Are there not like rec- 

 ollections of the great assembly of 1880, when 

 Boston and Cambridge gave such admirable 

 facilities for seeing institutions and men? 



It seems to us that there is always danger 

 of so multiplying the number of meetings, and 

 of so subdividing the sections, as to confuse 

 the members of the association, detract from 

 the general interest, and interfere with the ex- 

 change of personal courtesies. The remed} T 

 lies with the officers of the association, pre- 

 venting with firm and judicious decisions .the 

 reading of poor papers, and cutting off the 

 discussions of wordy and- rambling speakers. 

 A few able papers are much better worth the 

 consideration of the association than a multi- 

 tude of unimportant communications. Pon- 

 der anda non numeranda. 



As we write these lines, the meeting has not 

 begun ; but the circulars which have been 

 issued show that every thing has been done in 

 Philadelphia which experience in hospitality 

 can suggest for the pleasure of the associa- 

 tion. We trust that the reflex influences of the 

 gathering will be felt upon the new institute of 

 biology, on the great schools of medicine, on 

 the Universit} T of Pennsylvania, on the Acad- 

 emy of natural sciences, and on all the other 

 scientific foundations of which the city is justly 

 proud. The seat of the American philosophi- 

 cal society is a shrine which the countrymen 

 of Franklin and Rittenhouse will visit with 

 pleasure under the presidency of Lesley. 



J. PETER LESLEY. 

 The subject of this notice was born Sept. 

 17, 1819, in Philadelphia. Both his grand- 

 father and father were cabinet-makers, intelli- 

 gent, strong, and honest men, who brought up 

 large families in the faith of the Church of 

 Scotland, and in a love for hard work of every 

 kind, physical and intellectual. He was sent 

 to school on his sixth birthday, to the academy 

 on his twelfth, and to the University of Penn- 

 sylvania on his fifteenth, getting his diploma 

 in 1838. At an early age, his religious expe 

 riences were of the severest type. He knew 



