BY
SCIENCE
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: S. NEWCOMB, Mathematics; R. S. WOODWARD, Mechanics;E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics; R. H. THURSTON,Engineering; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry; J. LE CONTE, Geology; W. M. DAVIS,Physiography; HENRY F. OSBORN, Paleontology; W. K. BROOKS, C. HART MERRIAM,Zoology; S. H. SCUDDER, Entomology; C. E. BESSEY, N. L. BRITTON, Botany;C. S. MINOT, Embryology, Histology; H. P. BOWDITCH, Physiology; J. S.BILLINGS, Hygiene; J. MCKEEN CATTELL, Psychology; J. W. POWELL,Anthropology.
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1899
GENTLEMEN AND FELLOW PHYSICISTS OF AMERICA: We meet to day on anoccasion which marks an epoch in the history of physics in America; maythe future show that it also marks an epoch in the history of thescience which this Society is organized to cultivate! For we meet herein the interest of a science which above all sciences deals with thefoundation of the Universe, with the constitution of matter from whicheverything in the Universe is made and with the ether of space by whichalone the various portions of matter forming the Universe affect eachother even at such distances as we may never expect to traverse,whatever the progress of our science in the future.
We, who have devoted our lives to the solution of problems connectedwith physics, now meet together to help each other and to forward theinterests of the subject which we love. A subject which appeals moststrongly to the better instincts of our nature and the problems of whichtax our minds to the limit of their capacity and suggest the grandestand noblest ideas of which they are capable.
In a country where the doctrine of the equal rights of man has beendistorted to mean the equality of man in other respects, we form a smalland unique body of men, a new variety of the human race as one of ourgreatest scientists calls it, whose views of what constitutes thegreatest achievement in life are very different from those around us. Inthis respect we form an aristocracy, not of wealth, not of pedigree, butof intellect and of ideals, holding him in the highest respect who addsthe most to our knowledge or who strives after it as the highest good.
Thus we meet together for mutual sympathy and the interchange ofknowledge, and may we do so ever with appreciation of the benefits toourselves and possibly to our science. Above all, let us cultivate theidea of the dignity of our pursuit so that this feeling may sustain usin the midst of a world which gives its highest praise, not to theinvestigation in the pure etherial physics which our Society is formedto cultivate, but to one who uses it for satisfying the physical ratherthan the intellectual needs of mankind. He who makes two blades of grassgrow where one grew before is the benefactor of mankind; but he whoobscurely worked to find the laws of such growth is the intellectualsuperior as well as the greater benefactor of the two.
How stands our country, then, in this respect? My answer must still be,now, as it was fifteen years ago, that much of the intellect of thecountry is still wasted in the pursuit of so-called practical sciencewhich ministers to our physical needs and but little thought and moneyis given to the grander portion of the subject which appeals to ourintellect alone