INFLUENCE OF MODERN SCIENCE IN THE FORMATION OF 
IDEALS. 
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 
BY C. 0. BATES. 
Gentlemen of the Academy: 
Allow me to congratulate you on the completion of another year’s 
successful and profitable work. Self-imposed scientific effort brings 
its own reward to every earnest soul in search of truth. The acqui- 
sition of new knowledge is both fascinating and stimulating. In 
proportion as we get knowledge at first hand, just in that proportion 
is the fascination and the stimulation increased, and our acquire- 
ments become a part of our being. 
In 1819 Crested discovered that a wire carrying a current of 
electricity caused a magnetic needle to be deflected. This little and 
apparently insignificant force is, by a device for multiplication, run- 
ning our elevators, propelling our street cars, and driving our ma- 
chinery. The same force by a device for division is sending wireless 
messages across the ocean. Over two centuries ago Leeuwenhoek 
discovered an apparently insignificant class of microscopic organ- 
isms which on account of their rodlike shapes were termed bacteria. 
Today from a study of these organisms and their products, pesti- 
lences have been banished, disease conquered, and the average 
length of life increased by more than ten years. The miracle of 
the loaves and fishes was not more wonderful in some respects 
than the accomplishments of electro-magnetism, or of antitoxines. 
Knowledge revealed through nature in this age is “as the rain 
that cometh down and the snow from Heaven, and returneth not 
thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it to bring forth and 
bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater.” 
( 7 ) 
