IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIEINCE 
17 
ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCE. 
HERBERT OSBORN. 
There is an old and familiar phrase which reads: To all to whom these 
presents may come, greeting. I remember how in youthful days this phrase 
struck me as of peculiar mold and how, without perhaps realizing its antiquity 
or history, I puzzled as to its full significance and the conditions which in 
some distant era must have given it birth. We need not now attempt to trace 
its lineage or discover how ancient ambassadors or messengers may have used 
it in their visits to friend or foe, but I like to fancy for the moment that 
I am commissioned to bring to you on this anniversary occasion the greetings 
and congratulations of the world of science. Certain I am that such greetings 
and congratulations must extend from organized science in general and 
especially from all societies of similar scope. 
Science is essentially mutualistic and the success of one organization is the 
gratification of all — the triumphs and discoveries of one are shared with the 
many and the feeling of pride in the progress of the one may be shared 
without loss by sister organizations. As the discovery made in one branch of 
science may be the necessary foundation for the solution of some problem 
in another, so the contribution from one society may be the stepping stone 
to advancement in another. It is all hail then, greetings and felicitation and 
God speed in the accomplishments of your future destiny. 
The state academies of science, or societies of the scope of ours, are of 
comparatively recent origin, so that the achievements of the quarter century 
of activity and growth are well worthy of recognition. Such societies have 
tlieir antecedents in the local academies formed by groups of scientific workers 
in various cities or limited communities, which again may doubtless be con- 
sidered as an introduction from the old-world, where academies of science 
under various names have been in active progress for a mnich longer period 
of time. Among the first and most notable which were organized in this 
country are the American Philosophical Society and the Academy of Natural 
Sciences, of Philadelphia, the Brooklyn Academy of Arts and sciences, the 
American Academy and the Boston Society of Natural History, of Boston, and 
the St. Louis Academy of Science. 
Such local societies were established for the association of scientific workers 
in centers containing a sufficient number to serve as a stimulus for such 
.work and for a time at which ready communication between distant cities 
was not so convenient as at the present time. The organization of the state 
academies, however, seems to have occurred particularly in the Central-Western 
country and may be looked upon as resulting from the isolated condition of 
scientific workers within the boundaries of these commonwealths. The scope 
of these academies has, however, taken on a somewhat different range, at least 
for many of them, since they have in many cases served as scientific advisors 
to the states in which they exist. This particular function of course makes 
the state boundary of special significance and is perhaps in itself a sufficient 
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