THE FUNCTION OF CRITICISM IN THE ADVANCE¬ 
MENT OF SCIENCE 
BY 
Frank Hagar Bigelow 
THE ANNUAL PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 
DELIVERED 
January 7, 1899 
The history of the development of human knowledge 
towards its goal, perfection, which may also be regarded as 
the history of science itself, shows that there has been a 
gradual improvement in the number and precision of the 
facts known to man, in the mechanical and intellectual 
skill with which these are handled, and in the forecasting 
of the ultimate truths to which they point. This advance¬ 
ment in scientific knowledge has been compared to the 
gradual rise in the level of the sea upon the shore, which is 
marked by the ceaseless beat of the waves upon the rocks 
and sands, with the advance and the retreat of individual 
billows, and the bewildering swirl and foam of breakers and 
the returning undertow. We may not inappropriately com¬ 
pare the practical aspects of criticism to the waves of re¬ 
search which advance and retreat, in dependence upon the 
mighty ocean that impels it onwards, sometimes concealing 
with strife and controversy the grand harmony as it seeks 
its lawful expression. 
Now, while it may be taken for granted that all educated 
persons, especially those who have attempted to add some¬ 
thing to the sum of human knowledge, have general ideas 
49-Bull. Phil. Soc., Wash., Vol. 13. (337) 
