THE TEXAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
lAnnual Address by the President, October 13, 1899.^ 
FEOM THE STANDPOINT OF A MAN OF SCIENCE. 
DR. FREDERIC W. SIMONDS, 
University of Texas. 
■ We are living in a great age — the best, perhaps, the world has ever 
seen — ^the Age e'f Scientific' Achievement. Compared with the present 
the past is darkness, or at most, illnmined with a dim and feeble light. 
So marked is the contrast, notwithstanding the high civilization of Rome, 
Grreece, Egypt and India, this, our day, is, by many, regarded as the be- 
ginning. If the beginning, what, we may well inquire, will be the end? 
That wonderful instrument, the human mind, fearless, penetrating, 
persevering, is wresting from ISTature her closest secrets, which, classified 
and utilized under the name of Science, are of incalculable benefit to the 
world. Yet, strange as it may seem., by the public at large, and even in 
the more enlightened countries. Science, though a direct contributor to 
civilization and happiness, placing at man^s disposal resources practically 
unlimited, is little understood and the Man of 'Science, at times, posi- 
tively misunderstood. In this address it is my purpose to point out some 
of these misunderstandings and to illustrate by example, some of the 
differences between real science and what is popularly conceived to be 
science. 
THE IDEAL SCIENTIEIG MAN. 
At the outset, let me picture the ideal Man of Science. If he be scien- 
tific he must be honest — his work must be thorough and well done. Will- 
ing to plod, willing to wait — ^Truth is not an ignis-fatum ever escaping 
from his hand, but a tangible thing, which, as a reward of patience and 
industry may, through him, be given to the world. Modest and unassum" 
ing, he may not proclaim his own fame from the housetop, he may not 
advertise his wares, he may not seek notoriety; but rather the quietude 
of his laboratory, the solitude of the wilderness, or, perchance the pres- 
ence of death itself. His highest aim is not personal fame, but to add 
to human knowledge, to contribute something, though it be a mite, to the 
