8 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
of life when the scientist should be producing his best work, 
say from 30 to 50 years of age, he is held down to mere in¬ 
structional routine by the American quality of his college or 
university professorship. To take the lead in science our schol¬ 
arship must become catholic; we must contribute to knowl¬ 
edge a due share of the great generalizations, of the funda¬ 
mental principles. This requires that all professors in all in¬ 
stitutions should be engaged in productive work, so that in the 
multitude the genius may be discovered and advanced to greater 
opportunity. 
Let; us attempt to name, as others have, the great scientific 
truths which the 19th century added to the sum of knowledge." 
The list is about as follows :— 
1. The principle of evolution. 
2. The atomic structure of matter. 
3. The existence of the aether and the undulatory theory of 
light and electricity. 
4. The principles of electro-magnetic induction, 
5. The principles of electrolytic action. 
6. The discovery of micro-organisms and the germ theory 
of contagious disease. 
7. The principle of conservation of energy. 
The question for us to raise is:—IIow much would the dis¬ 
covery of these truths have been retarded if America had not 
existed ? What would be the loss to science and humanity if 
the American contributions to these great principles could be 
removed from the libraries of the world ? The answer must be 
that America has not materially affected the general result. 
Such is likely to be the case in the future if the position of 
the scholar in the educational system is to remain as it is at 
present. 
Nearly every college and university instructor in the land 
needs wider opportunity for productive scholarship than our 
system permits. It is in the multitude of scientific workers 
that there is hope. The man of genius is a rare bird, and 
we must have a numerous class from which to produce him. 
A few institutions with high ideals cannot raise America from 
*1 have added 5 and 6 to the list of Sir William Preece. 
