10 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
will not adrojit that America is too young to have attained dis¬ 
tinction in science and art. He has no doubt that the cause 
of America’s scientific inferiority is the too great triumph of 
democracy. He says: ‘‘The idea of the moral equality of 
citizens brings about in most minds the idea of intellectual 
equality, which is of course a profound error. The result is 
the “bourgeoisisme” not only of a class, as in France, but of 
the whole nation. Democracy assures the triumph of utilita¬ 
rianism. The formula of both is the greatest good for the 
greatest number. How the value of a principle depends upon 
the person who adopts it. In the mouth of the majority this 
principle has come to mean:—‘So long as I do not interfere 
with another, there is no reason why I should honor him rather 
than myself.’ It is easy to see what this means in the mouth 
of one of average intelligence; it is the end of all spirit of dis¬ 
interestedness, not only in science, but in art and in moral¬ 
ity. Men who will not sacrifice themselves for another man 
will hardly do so for an idea,, a precept. Worldly success, the 
money making ideal, has fettered and will continue to fetter 
American science.In the United States, it 
may be said, the school governs science, the masters govern the 
school, the parents govern the masters, the children govern the 
parents,—therefore the children govern science.” 
“Again there is too much attention paid to athletics. A di¬ 
rector of football at an American university gets $6,000.00 a 
year; a coach, $1,500,00 for ten or twelve weeks’ service, with 
board and lodging. Sports occupy a proportional amount of 
space in American newspapers.” 
“The true scientific spirit, according to Herbert Spencer, is 
the synthetic spirit, which sees likenesses where the common 
mind only sees divergencies.” It is this which M. Jussieu 
considers is almost lacking in America. Here scientific writ¬ 
ings are almost always merely analytical—statistics, compila¬ 
tions, observations, etc., requiring altogether a lower order of 
intelligence. 
The criticisms of M. Jussieu cannot be ignored or lightly 
dismissed. It is hard, or impossible, for an American to admit 
that science and democracy cannot both triumph on American 
