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 5 
 
 UC-NRLF 
 
NATIONAL ACADEMIES AND THE 
 PROGRESS OF RESEARCH 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE ELLERY HALE 
 
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 o 
 
 M 
 
 H R 
 
 w 
 
/ 
 
 / 
 
 NATIONAL ACADEMIES AND THE 
 PROGRESS OF RESEARCH 
 
 BY 
 GEOKGE ELLEEY HALE 
 
 Foreign Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences 
 
 Eeprinted from SCIENCE, Vol. XXXVflL, No. 985, Pages 681-698, 
 November 14, 1913; Vol. XXXIX, No. 997, Pages 189-200, February 
 6, 1914; Vol. XL., No. 1043, Pages 907-919, December 25, 1914; 
 Vol. XLL, No. 1044, Pages 12-22, January 1, 1915. 
 
PRESS OF 
 
 THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY 
 LANCASTER, PA. 
 
I. THE WORK OF EUROPEAN 
 ACADEMIES 
 
 THE Academy of Plato, who bequeathed 
 to his followers the walled garden and ap- 
 pointments in the place named after the 
 hero Hekademus, was at once a school of 
 instruction and a society for the develop- 
 ment of new knowledge. Here he discussed 
 his philosophy with associates and students 
 while it was still in the making, thus bring- 
 ing them under the stimulating influence of 
 fresh thought, developing and expanding 
 from day to day. Writing of the Old Acad- 
 emy, which included the schools of Plato 
 and his immediate successors, Cicero re- 
 marks : 
 
 From their writings and systems all liberal 
 learning, all history, all elegance of language, may 
 be derived; and also, so great is the variety of arts 
 of which they were masters, that no one can come 
 properly armed for any business of importance 
 and credit without being tolerably versed in their 
 writings. ... It is from this Academy, as from a 
 regular magazine of all the arts, that mathema- 
 1 
 
ticians, poets, musicians, aye, and physicians too, 
 have proceeded, i 
 
 The Old Academy was thus the prede- 
 cessor of our modern academies of science 
 and of our universities as well. Its world- 
 wide influence, while of course primarily 
 due to the brilliant thinkers of the day, may 
 certainly be ascribed in part to the fact that 
 its instruction was given in an atmosphere 
 charged with the stimulus of original 
 thought and constantly broadening ideas. 
 The great success of the German univer- 
 sities, and the outflow from them of the 
 spirit of research into every phase of Ger- 
 man life and thought, is undoubtedly due 
 in the largest measure to the application of 
 this principle. Fortunately for the intel- 
 lectual advancement of the United States, 
 the recognition of its importance has al- 
 ready permeated most of our advanced 
 schools, and is rapidly gaining acceptance 
 in the minds of their governing boards of 
 trustees. 
 
 Aristotle, called by Plato "the mind of 
 my school, " came from a family of physi- 
 cians, and thus inherited a taste for experi- 
 
 i Cicero, "De Finibus," Book 5, Yonge's trans. 
 2 
 
mental knowledge. To him we owe the 
 beginnings of exact science and the organi- 
 zation of research on a large scale. Thanks 
 to his influence with his pupil Alexander 
 the Great, he was able to command the 
 great sum of eight hundred talents for the 
 purchase of books and for other expenses 
 involved in the preparation of his treatise 
 on zoology. More than this, a thousand men 
 throughout Asia and Greece studied under 
 his direction the life and habits of birds and 
 beasts, fishes and insects. 2 The territories 
 conquered by Alexander were carefully 
 surveyed, by measuring the position of 
 terrestrial objects with respect to stars. 3 
 Although Aristotle maintained the fixity of 
 the earth, and supposed comets and the 
 Milky Way to be in its higher atmosphere, 
 
 2 Wheeler, ''Alexander the Great/' p. 37. The 
 strict accuracy of these assertions, which were 
 made by several classical authors, is questioned by 
 Grote and also by Humboldt, who nevertheless 
 concede that Aristotle received from both Philip 
 and Alexander the most liberal support in pro- 
 curing zoological material from Grecian territories 
 and in the collection of books. "Cosmos/' Sa- 
 bine's trans., Vol. II., p. 158. 
 
 sBossut, "Histoire des Mathematiques/ ' Vol. 
 1, p. 116. 
 
 3 
 
his reasoning in many astronomical prob- 
 lems was sound, as when he concluded that 
 the earth must be spherical because its 
 shadow on the eclipsed moon is always 
 curved. 4 Thus his studies of natural science 
 foreshadowed the work of the present-day 
 investigator and led to the most far-reach- 
 ing results. 
 
 After his time a gradual division of labor 
 ultimately separated investigations in natu- 
 ral science from the speculations of the 
 philosophers. In Sicily, Egypt and the 
 islands of the Mediterranean true scientific 
 research, in the strictly modern sense, devel- 
 oped with remarkable rapidity, while in the 
 old Lyceum at Athens the philosophy of 
 reasoning and dialectics, caring little for 
 physical causes, was devoted exclusively to 
 the soul. 
 
 A deep-seated belief that the senses are 
 deceptive, and the natural impatience of the 
 Greeks, inclining them toward reasoning 
 and speculation rather than the slow and 
 laborious processes of observation and ex- 
 periment, had first to be overcome. 5 But in 
 
 *IUd., p. 117. 
 
 5 Weber, "History of Philosophy/' Thilly's 
 trans., p. 133 et seq. 
 
the third century B.C. the greatest geometer 
 of antiquity, Archimedes, taught at Syra- 
 cuse a system of astronomy closely resem- 
 bling that of Copernicus, founded the 
 science of mechanics in his treatise "De 
 -^.quiponderantibus, " and devised some of 
 the fundamental experimental methods of 
 modern physics. At the same period Aris- 
 tarchus of Samos made a first determination 
 of the distance of the sun from the earth 
 and held that "the center of the universe 
 was occupied by the sun, which was im- 
 movable, like other stars, while the earth 
 revolved around it." 6 This view was also 
 taught by Seleucus the Babylonian, but it 
 was rejected by Ptolemy, the most cele- 
 brated astronomer of his day. 
 
 THE MUSEUM OF ALEXANDRIA 
 
 Of all the ancient prototypes of the 
 modern academy, the great Museum of 
 Alexandria holds the first place. Founded 
 by Ptolemy Soter, whose preference would 
 have confined its work to the moral and 
 political sciences, its scope soon expanded 
 under the influence of Ptolemy Phila- 
 
 e See Humboldt, ''Cosmos," Vol. II., p. 309, and 
 notes, p. cix. 
 
 5 
 
delphus and the pressure of circumstances, 
 until it embraced the whole field of knowl- 
 edge. 7 Here almost all of the important 
 results of Greek science were obtained in a 
 period covering nine centuries. The 
 museum established by Ptolemy was an 
 extensive palace, housing the brilliant com- 
 pany of scholars and investigators gathered 
 together from all parts of Greece. As a 
 state institution, endowed with special 
 revenues, it was under the direction of the 
 government, which appointed its head. 
 This, in accordance with the traditions of 
 the day, was a priest, whose ecclesiastical 
 office, and even the name of the museum 
 itself, gave a kind of religious character to 
 the institution, 8 though it subsequently be- 
 came purely secular. 
 
 Ptolemy Philadelphus collected strange 
 animals from many lands, and sent Diony- 
 sius on exploring expeditions to the most 
 remote regions. 9 But while the investi- 
 gators of the museum doubtless profited by 
 these collections and explorations for their 
 
 7 Matter, "Histoire de PEcole d 'Alexandrie, " 
 2d ed., Vol. II., Introduction, p. v. 
 s Op. tit., Vol. I., pp. 87 and 96. 
 p. 158. 
 
 6 
 
studies in natural history and geography, 
 Matter finds no evidence that at this period 
 the museum possessed either a distinct 
 natural history collection or a zoological 
 park, 10 though the study of medicine was 
 encouraged, and a great art collection was 
 developed. 
 
 The rising tide of science soon brought 
 all the material requisites of research, sup- 
 plementing the great library of 700,000 
 volumes by the instruments, laboratories 
 and collections demanded by the astron- 
 omer, the physicist and the student of 
 biology. A botanical garden, a zoological 
 menagerie, an anatomical laboratory and 
 an astronomical observatory in the Square 
 Porch, provided by Ptolemy Euergetes 
 with an equinoctial and a solstitial armil- 
 lary, stone quadrants, astrolabes and other 
 instruments, illustrate the nature of the 
 extensive equipment provided. The work 
 of the Alexandrian school thus continued 
 to grow, until it embraced all of natural 
 and physical science, medicine, mathe- 
 matics, astronomy and geography, history, 
 philosophy, religion, morals and politics. 
 It is significant that an institution which in 
 nU, p. 159. 
 
 7 
 
many respects would be regarded as a 
 model to be striven for to-day, should have 
 developed at so early a period in the history 
 of civilization. 11 
 
 To the Alexandrian school we owe the 
 " Geometry " of Euclid, and his treatises 
 on " Harmony," " Optics " and "Catop- 
 trics"; the hydraulic screw and some of the 
 mathematical and physical discoveries of 
 Archimedes of Syracuse, who spent part 
 of his time in Egypt; the mathematical, 
 astronomical, geographical and historical 
 investigations of Eratosthenes, who first 
 endeavored to determine the circumference 
 of the earth by measuring the difference of 
 latitude and the distance between Alexan- 
 dria and Syene, and wrote on such subjects 
 as the geological submersion of lands, the 
 elevation of ancient sea-beds, and the 
 origin of the Dardanelles and the Straits of 
 Gibraltar; the "Conic Sections" of Apol- 
 lonius; the mathematical and astronomical 
 researches of Hipparchus, whose discovery 
 of the precession of the equinoxes was 
 based on observations made five hundred 
 years previously by Timochares at Alexan- 
 
 11 Draper, " Intellectual Development of Eu- 
 rope," Vol. L, p. 188. 
 
 8 
 
dria; and the great "Syntaxis" of Ptolemy, 
 translated as the "Almagest" by the 
 Arabians, which stood as a commanding 
 authority in Europe for nearly fifteen hun- 
 dred years. Founded on the geocentric 
 hypothesis, the "Almagest" is nevertheless 
 replete with astronomical methods and 
 observations of the widest range and signifi- 
 cance, and includes Ptolemy's discovery of 
 the lunar evection, a rough determination 
 of the distance of the earth from the sun, a 
 masterly discussion of the motions of the 
 planets, and a catalogue of 1,022 stars. 
 These remarkable advances, which include 
 only a fraction of the enormous scientific 
 product of the Alexandrian school, were 
 supplemented by equally striking contribu- 
 tions to literature and art. Philology, criti- 
 cism and the history of literature became 
 sciences, while the coming together of Budd- 
 hists, Jews, Greeks and Egyptians, with 
 the most diverse beliefs, led to the develop- 
 ment of comparative theology. Of the 
 literary works of the Alexandrian school, 
 the Septuagint and the poems of Theocritus 
 are perhaps the most widely known. 12 
 
 12 Recent works on Greek science include those 
 of Tannery, Duhem, Lones and Heath. 
 9 
 
The rising power of Eome, which finally 
 made of Alexandria a mere provincial 
 town, was coincident with the decline of 
 Greek intellectual life. In this paper only 
 the more significant epochs in the develop- 
 ment of academies can be mentioned, and 
 we must pass over the work of the imme- 
 diate successors of the Alexandrian school 
 in Eome and Byzantium, and the achieve- 
 ments of Arabian science in Africa, Spain 
 and Persia. In 1453, by the fall of Con- 
 stantinople, where Greek scholars had pre- 
 served, in antiquated and pedantic form, 
 the literary and philosophical traditions of 
 the Alexandrian age, Italy was once more 
 raised to its old position of "Magna 
 Graecia." Some years earlier the scholar 
 and ambassador Pletho, aided by Cosimo 
 de Medici, had established a Platonic acad- 
 emy in Florence. Under this stimulus, and 
 the influence of the Greek refugees, philos- 
 ophy became popular, and Greek was 
 widely studied. The voyages of Columbus, 
 Da Gama and Magellan, and the astro- 
 nomical achievements of Tycho Brahe, 
 Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo reawak- 
 ened the appreciation of scientific research 
 and its possibilities. Leonardo da Vinci, 
 10 
 
continued the work of Archimedes and the 
 Alexandrian school in optics, mechanics 
 and other branches of physics, Vesalius 
 established human anatomy on a firm 
 foundation, and Harvey proved the theory 
 of the circulation of the blood. It is not 
 surprising that under such conditions acad- 
 emies of literature and science should 
 multiply in Europe. 
 
 ITALIAN ACADEMIES 
 
 Among the earliest Italian academies 
 were the academy of history, philology and 
 archeology, founded in Rome by Pomponio 
 Leto in 1457; the Accademia di S. Luca, 
 devoted to the fine arts, established in 1577 ; 
 and the Accademia della Crusca, founded 
 in 1582, which has published several edi- 
 tions of its great Italian dictionary. 13 In 
 addition to these organizations seriously 
 devoted to the encouragement of literature 
 and the arts, a host of imitations sprang up 
 all over Italy during the sixteenth century. 
 Perhaps the gaiety of their proceedings was 
 considered to find sufficient warrant in the 
 
 is Carutti, ' l Breve storia dell 'Accademia del 
 Lincei," p. 157. 
 
 11 
 
splendid suppers offered to the academy of 
 Pomponio by the wealthy German Goritz, 
 regarding which Ginguene 14 quotes the 
 remarks of an earlier authority: 
 
 Ainsi, dit avee un juste sentiment de regret, le 
 bon TiraboscM, ainsi parmi les verres et les jeux 
 d 'esprit, on cultivait joyeusement les lettres, et 
 les plaisirs memes servaient & en encourager et & 
 en ranimer 1 'etude. 
 
 Leonardo da Vinci founded and directed 
 the first scientific and experimental acad- 
 emy in Italy. 15 Another early academy de- 
 voted to the pursuit of science was the 
 Academia Secretorum Naturae of Naples, 
 which dates from 1560. 
 
 Of special interest to the modern inves- 
 tigator is the Aecademia del Cimento, which 
 possessed a large collection of physical in- 
 struments, many of which are now pre- 
 served in the Galileo Museum at Florence. 
 The "Saggi di Natural! Esperienze" made 
 in the laboratories of this institution is an 
 admirably illustrated account of early 
 academic activities. The experiments, 
 
 i* Ginguene, "Histoire literaire d'ltalie," Vol. 
 7, p. 353. 
 
 isLibri, "Histoire des sciences math&natiques 
 en Italic, " Vol. 3, p. 30. 
 12 
 
which are described in great detail, with 
 the aid of excellent woodcuts of instru- 
 ments, are in some cases attributed to 
 Galileo, Torricelli and other investigators, 
 and in other cases are said to have been 
 first performed in France. They include a 
 wide variety of subjects, such as the effects 
 of artificial freezing on various waters, 
 wines, acids and oils, the compression of 
 liquids, various phenomena in a vacuum, 
 the electrical properties of amber, and the 
 motion of projectiles. 
 
 This important volume was published in 
 1666, ten years after the establishment of 
 the Academy, which lasted only during 
 this period. The one great Italian acad- 
 emy of science which still survives is the 
 Accademia dei Lincei, founded by Federico 
 Cesi in 1603. His vast plans of organiza- 
 tion for the Academy, resembling those of 
 the religious and military orders of the day, 
 are described in an unpublished work en- 
 titled the "Lineeografo." The Academy 
 was to comprise establishments in the four 
 quarters of the world, where the members 
 would lead a common life in the midst of 
 libraries, museums, observatories, labora- 
 tories and botanic gardens, provided with 
 13 
 
every requisite means of research, and in 
 constant communication with the other con- 
 stituent bodies of the organization. The 
 name Lincei, or Lynx-eyed, was taken in 
 recognition of the reputation of the lynx 
 for extreme penetration of vision, "vedendo 
 non solo quello che e di fuori, ma anche do 
 che dentro si asconde." 
 
 After a stormy period of youth, during 
 which Cesi and his three fellow organizers 
 underwent many vicissitudes, the Academy 
 was vigorously revived in 1609. Two years 
 later, to its lasting renown, it was joined 
 by Galileo, whose earliest telescopic dis- 
 coveries had just been made. Under this 
 stimulus, and aided by the widespread 
 interest in Galileo's work, the Academy 
 now advanced rapidly. While devoting 
 special attention to the mathematical and 
 physical sciences, it did not neglect the 
 cultivation of literature, counting among 
 its members historians, poets, antiquarians 
 and philologists. Its cosmopolitan char- 
 acter is indicated by the diverse nationality 
 of its membership, which was drawn from 
 many of the nations of Europe. An Eng- 
 
 16 Carutti, ' ' Breve storia dell 'Accademia . del 
 Lincei," p. 8. 
 
 14 
 
lish member of this period was Francis 
 Bacon. 17 
 
 In November, 1612, Galileo communi- 
 cated his discovery and observations of sun- 
 spots, which were published by the Acad- 
 emy under the title ' 'Istoria e Dimostra- 
 zioni intorno alle Macchie Solari." The 
 manuscript of this epoch-making discovery 
 is still preserved by the Academy. This 
 was followed in 1622 by his "Saggiatore," 
 published in great haste, to avoid interfer- 
 ence from the Church. Two years later 
 he demonstrated at Rome the use of the 
 microscope, so named by Fabri, a member 
 of the Lincei. In 1629 Galileo completed 
 his dialogue on "Due Massimi Sistemi del 
 Hondo, ' ' and proposed to go to Kome to see 
 it through the press. 18 
 
 Limitations of space forbid mention of 
 the memorable events of this time, during 
 which the Academy supported Galileo in 
 his difficulties with the Inquisition, and 
 accepted the resignation of Valerio, who 
 had attacked his doctrines. It was a stir- 
 ring period, full of new and vigorous 
 thought, which sharply conflicted with the 
 
 IT Carutti, op. cit., p. 26. 
 is lUd., p. 28. 
 
 15 
 
traditions of a vanishing age. Led by such 
 men as Cesi, Porta, Galileo and Colonna, 
 the Lincei played a prominent part in the 
 development of the scientific advance of 
 Italy and in the cultivation of the growing 
 love of truth which spread throughout the 
 civilized world. But in 1830 the Academy 
 came to a sudden end, attributed by Carutti 
 to the withdrawal of the patronage of 
 Cardinal Barberini. 19 
 
 Since that date it has seen several re- 
 vivals, which are described in the history 
 from which the present notice is derived. 
 Reconstituted under Victor Emmanuel II. 
 in 1875 as the Reale Accademia dei Lincei, 
 it now flourishes as the national academy 
 of Italy. The class of physical, mathe- 
 matical and natural sciences has 55 mem- 
 bers, 55 national correspondents, and 110 
 foreign members. The class of moral, his- 
 torical and philological sciences has 45 
 members, 45 national correspondents and 
 45 foreign members. The president belongs 
 to one class, the vice-president to the other, 
 and each has a secretary and an assistant 
 secretary. 20 
 
 i Op. tit., p. 97. 
 
 20 See revised statutes, Carutti, op. cit., p. 245. 
 16 
 
The home of the Lincei in the Palazzo 
 Corsini is admirably adapted for the pur- 
 poses of an academy. The collections in- 
 clude an extensive library, rich in rare 
 books and manuscripts, and a large gallery 
 of paintings, most of which is open to the 
 public. The annual meeting, held in the 
 great hall of the palace, is a very impressive 
 function, attended by the King and Queen 
 and other members of the royal family, 
 whose keen and intelligent interest in the 
 work of the Academy is a powerful incen- 
 tive to increased effort and broader useful- 
 ness. 
 
 THE PARIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
 
 A brilliant and inspiring picture of the 
 Paris Academy of Sciences at the zenith of 
 its development and fame may be found in 
 the opening chapter of Merz's "History of 
 European Thought. " This Academy, or- 
 ganized through the efforts of the far-seeing 
 statesman Colbert at the period when New- 
 ton was engaged in the composition of his 
 "Principia," has probably exerted a more 
 favorable influence on the progress of sci- 
 ence than any other similar institution in 
 Europe. Enjoying both the moral and 
 17 
 
financial support of the French govern- 
 ment, and permeated by an enthusiasm for 
 scientific research which led its members 
 to develop the most extensive cooperative 
 projects, it offers a pattern which other 
 academies may well seek to imitate. Great 
 as it remains to-day, the period in its his- 
 tory which deserves our most careful con- 
 sideration is that inspiring epoch, at the end 
 of the eighteenth century, when France 
 was everywhere recognized as the leader of 
 the scientific world. 
 
 The academicians named by Colbert held 
 their first informal meeting in the library 
 of the Hotel Colbert in June, 1666. In the 
 words of Fontenelle, heaven seemed to 
 favor the rising company, which was for- 
 tunately able to observe two eclipses 
 within the short interval of fifteen days. 
 The second of these was observed with the 
 aid of an instrument devised by Huygens 
 (who was one of the members), and per- 
 fected later by Auzout and Picart the 
 well-known micrometer of the astronomer. 
 
 The original group, composed wholly of 
 mathematicians and astronomers, was soon 
 enlarged to sixteen, through the addition 
 of Claude Perrault, Mariotte and other 
 
 18 
 
well-known chemists, physicians and anato- 
 mists. Laboratories and collections were 
 established in the Bibliotheque du Roi, and 
 the astronomical instruments were mounted 
 in the garden, awaiting the completion of 
 the great observatory designed by Perrault, 
 where some of the meetings were subse- 
 quently held. Picart undertook the meas- 
 urement of an arc of the meridian which, 
 when completed by Cassini, removed the 
 last doubt of Newton as to the theory of 
 gravitation. He was also sent to Denmark 
 to determine the position of the ancient 
 observatory of Tycho Brahe. Geographical 
 maps were corrected and the latitudes and 
 longitudes of a great number of points were 
 measured. Eicher went to Cayenne to 
 determine the length of the pendulum and 
 to make other observations. In short, the 
 greatest activity reigned under the personal 
 stimulus of Colbert, whose correspondence 
 shows how large an amount of time he de- 
 voted to the interests of the Academy. 
 Well-known names were added to the list 
 of members, including those of Roemer, 
 who determined the velocity of light from 
 the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites; Cassini, 
 the first of a remarkable lineage of astron- 
 19 
 
omers; the anatomist du Verney; and the 
 great Leibnitz. 
 
 Under Louvois, the successor of Colbert, 
 the Academy languished, but Bignon's plan 
 of reorganization, adopted in 1699, inaugu- 
 rated a new period of progress. The Acad- 
 emy was provided with quarters in the 
 Louvre, where it remained until Napoleon 
 assigned to the Institute the former College 
 Mazarin, which it still occupies. Its unpub- 
 lished memoirs were promptly printed, and 
 were so favorably received by the public 
 that as many as three editions were some- 
 times demanded. At this period a class of 
 "associes libres" was established, to which 
 such men as Turgot, the engineers Perronet 
 and Belidor and Bougainville the explorer 
 have since belonged. 
 
 During the eighteenth century the Acad- 
 emy attained a height only surpassed dur- 
 ing the great epoch following the Revolu- 
 tion. Among the important events of this 
 century were the mathematical researches 
 of Clairaut and d'Alembert; the expedi- 
 tions of Clairaut and Maupertuis to Lap- 
 land and of Godin, Bouguer and La Con- 
 damine to Peru, for the measurement of 
 arcs of the meridian; the similar under- 
 20 
 
taking of La Cattle at the Cape, where he 
 also determined the lunar parallax in co- 
 operation with astronomers in the northern 
 hemisphere and measured the positions of 
 ten thousand stars ; and the observations of 
 the transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769 by 
 Pingre at Eodrigues' Island, LeGentil in 
 India, and Chappe in Siberia and Cali- 
 fornia, The Cassinis continued their exten- 
 sive astronomical and geodetic investiga- 
 tions in France, where the activity of 
 astronomical research is illustrated by the 
 fact that when Bernoulli! came to Paris in 
 1760 he found, in addition to the original 
 observatory, eight or ten other observatories 
 engaged in investigation under the direc- 
 tion of academicians. Lalande, known as 
 a severe critic, wrote in 1766: 
 
 The collection of Memoirs of the Academy of 
 Sciences is the richest storehouse of astronomical 
 knowledge that we possess. 
 
 But the work of the Academy was by no 
 means confined to astronomy and its sister 
 sciences. Through the investigations of its 
 chemists, the way was prepared for the 
 creation of modern chemistry by Lavoisier. 
 Reaumur, Buffon and their contemporaries 
 were making extensive contributions to 
 21 
 
natural history, while Haiiy was laying the 
 foundations of mineralogy. At the same 
 time Geoffroy and the three Jussieus shared 
 with Linnaeus the honor of creating the 
 science of botany. 
 
 Under such conditions it is not surpris- 
 ing that the nation should turn to the Acad- 
 emy for assistance and guidance in many 
 of its enterprises. Ministers, parliaments, 
 administrators and state assemblies often 
 sought its aid and accepted its decisions. 
 So commanding was its position that when 
 all the academies were suppressed under the 
 Eevolution, it was stipulated that the Acad- 
 emy of Sciences should provisionally con- 
 tinue its functions and receive its annual 
 revenues from the state. 
 
 As there are still those who see in a 
 national academy a menace to true democ- 
 racy, and who criticize our own National 
 Academy on this score, the attitude of the 
 revolutionists toward the Paris Academy is 
 not without interest. In the report on 
 public instruction made by Talleyrand to 
 the National Assembly in 1791, on behalf 
 of the committee, it was proposed to estab- 
 lish a National Institute to continue and 
 extend the functions of the various exist- 
 
 22 
 
ing academies. 21 In a later report on behalf 
 of the Committee on Public Instruction, 
 Condorcet showed that the only satisfactory 
 method of determining the membership of 
 such an academy is to leave the elections to 
 the members themselves. 22 Article 298 of 
 the Constitution, adopted August 22, 1795, 
 declares : 
 
 II y a pour toute la Bepublique un Institut na- 
 tional charge de recueillir les decouvertes, de per- 
 fectionner les arts et les sciences. 23 
 
 This differed from the former group of 
 academies mainly in the unity of the aca- 
 demic body, which covered the whole range 
 of knowledge (though the Academic Fran- 
 Qaise was not represented), and the equality 
 in number and privilege of the members 
 resident in Paris and the non-resident 
 members of the provinces. 24 Far from 
 losing its prestige through the effects of the 
 Eevolution, the Academy of Sciences rose 
 to its greatest success in the years follow- 
 
 21 Hippeau, ' ' L 'instruction publique en France 
 pendant la revolution," Vol. I., p. 102. 
 **lUd., p. 327. 
 
 23 Simon, ' ' Une Academie sous le Directoire, ' ' 
 p. 39. 
 
 24 Simon, op. cit., pp. 44, 46, 50. 
 
 23 
 
ing the Terror, and formed, with its sister 
 academies, the chief connecting link be- 
 tween the modern democracy and the old 
 regime. 25 
 
 The National Institute, as thus consti- 
 tuted, lasted until 1803, when Napoleon 
 Bonaparte again reorganized it. The mem- 
 bers of the first class (Academy of Sci- 
 ences) were grouped in two divisions, con- 
 taining eleven sections in all. The two 
 secretaries, no longer connected with any 
 section, were made permanent. This or- 
 ganization, with no essential change, still 
 remains in force. The law of 1803 sup- 
 pressed the national associates, replacing 
 them in the case of the Academy of Sci- 
 ences by 100 correspondents (national and 
 foreign), increased to 116 in 1899. 
 
 It is interesting to remember that Napo- 
 leon took an active part in the Academy of 
 Sciences, of which he was elected a member 
 in 1797. During the expedition to Egypt 
 he invariably signed himself "Le membre 
 de Tlnstitut, general en chef." 26 His 
 appreciation of the importance of scientific 
 
 25Maury, "L'ancienne Academic des Sciences," 
 p. 1. 
 
 26 Simon, op. tit., p. 40. 
 
 24 
 
research is amply illustrated by the dis- 
 tinguished company of investigators which 
 he took with him on this expedition, where 
 he organized the Institute of Egypt in 
 Cairo, and proposed to establish an astro- 
 nomical observatory. 27 The extensive and 
 superbly illustrated report of his investi- 
 gators on the antiquities of Egypt was the 
 first great step in Egyptian archeology, 
 leading to the successful labors of Champol- 
 lion, Mariette and Maspero, and the domi- 
 nance of the French school in Egypt even 
 under British control. 
 
 In the great days of the First Empire 
 began the brilliant period in the history of 
 the Academy which Merz so justly empha- 
 sizes. With such members as Lagrange, 
 Laplace, Legendre and Cauehy in mathe- 
 matics; Messier, Arago, Lalande and Del- 
 ambre in astronomy; Biot, Ampere, 
 Fourier, Fresnel, Becquerel and Regnault 
 in physics ; Berthollet, Gay-Lussac, Dulong, 
 Dumas and Chevreul in chemistry ; Cuvier, 
 de Jussieu, Lamarck and Geoffroy Saint- 
 Hilaire in biology, and with others equally 
 celebrated in other fields, it is not sur- 
 prising that the Academy commanded the 
 
 27"M&noires sur PEgypte," Paris, An VIII. 
 25 
 
respect and the admiration of the civilized 
 world. 
 
 Some of the elements which have entered 
 into the success of the Paris Academy are 
 not difficult to recognize: the sympathy 
 and support of such statesmen as Colbert 
 and Napoleon, who appreciated the funda- 
 mental importance of science to the nation, 
 as Alexander the Great and the Ptolemies 
 had done before them; the cooperative 
 spirit which led the members to work to- 
 gether for a common cause; the perfection 
 in the hands of the academicians of the 
 powerful mathematical methods which con- 
 tributed so largely to the application and 
 widespread usefulness of Newton's dis- 
 coveries; and the popularization of science 
 and the diffusion of the scientific spirit 
 through the brilliant writings of Cuvier, 
 Laplace, Buffon, Fontenelle and many 
 others. Far from disdaining the transla- 
 tion of technical papers into attractive 
 literature, these great leaders set an exam- 
 ple which was followed hardly less effec- 
 tively, though in a different manner, by 
 Davy and Faraday at the Royal Institu- 
 tion. Cuvier, above all others, represented 
 the academic system at its best. In his 
 26 
 
eloquent Eloges on the most eminent scien- 
 tific men of the day, he paints a picture of 
 scientific investigation and progress with 
 the hand of a practised artist. The wide 
 field of science, and the rich results flowing 
 from the labors of investigators skilled in 
 many departments of knowledge, has never 
 been more admirably depicted than in the 
 discourses of this distinguished perpetual 
 secretary. 28 
 
 GERMAN ACADEMIES 
 
 In Germany, the division of the empire 
 into many kingdoms, preventing the cen- 
 tralization which has been so important a 
 factor in France and England, and the pre- 
 vailing influence of the universities as re- 
 search laboratories, where every teacher is 
 not only a scholar but a productive inves- 
 tigator, have stood in the way of the devel- 
 opment of a single dominant national insti- 
 
 28 For the data used in this account of the 
 Paris Academy I am largely indebted to the 
 work of Maury, Simon, Merz and Hippeau, al- 
 ready cited, and especially to the article by Dar- 
 boux in "L'Institut de France," Vol. 2 (Paris, 
 1907). See also the useful series of articles by 
 Dr. E. F. Williams on the Paris, Berlin and 
 Vienna Academies in the Popular Science Monthly. 
 27 
 
tution like the Paris Academy of Sciences. 
 During the eighteenth century the great 
 men of science, including Leibnitz, Euler, 
 Haller, Tobias Mayer, Lambert, Olbers and 
 Alexander von Humboldt, were widely 
 scattered, and in most cases had little to do 
 with the universities, although these were 
 already distinguished for classical scholar- 
 ship. But by the publication of his "Dis- 
 quisitiones Arithmeticae, ' ' and the inven- 
 tion of his improved method of calculating 
 planetary orbits, Gauss, of the University 
 of Gottingen, placed himself on a level 
 with the great French mathematicians and 
 inaugurated a new era in German science. 
 By the use of this method, von Zach and 
 Olbers were enabled to recover the first of 
 the minor planets, Ceres, which had been 
 lost on its approach to the sun. Gauss also 
 introduced exact science into the university 
 curriculum, but it was through the work of 
 Jacobi that the great school of German 
 mathematicians was set on foot a quarter 
 of a century later. The contemporary 
 establishment of chemical laboratories by 
 the universities, and the widespread influ- 
 ence of Liebig, Mitscherlich and Wohler in 
 chemistry, and of Schleiden and Schwann 
 28 
 
in botany and zoology, determined for all 
 time the place of the German university in 
 science. Schleiden's cell theory of plant 
 structure and growth was the source of a 
 long series of discoveries, which established 
 the supremacy of Germany in physiology. 29 
 
 In spite of the unfavorable conditions 
 already mentioned, four great academies 
 have nevertheless arisen in Germany, those 
 of Berlin, Munich, Leipzig and Gottingen. 
 Among these, partly because of the leader- 
 ship of Prussia in the German empire and 
 partly from other causes, the Berlin Acad- 
 emy stands foremost. Founded in 1700 as 
 the Societas Regia Scientiarum, through 
 the influence of Leibnitz and in accordance 
 with his plans, it has contributed in the 
 highest degree to the advancement of Ger- 
 man scholarship. Its present designation 
 as "Akademie der Wissenschaften" indi- 
 cates the broad scope of its activities. The 
 fifty regular members are divided into two 
 classes, each of which consists of two sec- 
 tions, presided over by a permanent secre- 
 tary. The first class comprises the sections 
 of physics and mathematics, the second 
 
 29 See Merz 's ' ' History of European Thought, ' ' 
 Vol. 1, Chap. 2. 
 
 29 
 
those of philosophy and history. The secre- 
 taries preside in turn at the meetings of the 
 separate classes, and at the general meet- 
 ings, which are held monthly. Each mem- 
 ber receives an annual stipend of 900 
 marks, while the secretaries are paid larger 
 salaries. There are also two positions 
 carrying salaries of 12,000 marks each, 
 filled by the astronomer and the chemist of 
 the Academy, and a dozen similar pensions 
 which may be distributed at discretion. 
 
 In the early days of its history, the 
 Berlin Academy devoted most of its 
 resources to the establishment and main- 
 tenance of research laboratories and mu- 
 seums. Its headquarters were originally 
 in the Berlin Observatory, which was con- 
 ducted under the direction of the Academy, 
 and it also acquired anatomical and zoolog- 
 ical collections, a mineralogical museum, and 
 a botanical garden. Furthermore, the chem- 
 ist of the Academy conducted his researches 
 in a chemical laboratory provided for the 
 purpose. 30 In 1809, when the University of 
 Berlin was established to compensate for 
 the loss of Halle by the treaty of Tilsit, 
 
 so See Harnack 's great ' ' Geschichte der Ber- 
 liner Akademie der Wissenschaf ten. ' ; 
 30 
 
these functions of the Academy were trans- 
 ferred to the University and have since re- 
 mained under its direction. In an inter- 
 esting and important manuscript by "Wil- 
 helm von Humboldt, entitled "Ueber die 
 innere und aussere Organization der wissen- 
 schaftlichen hoheren Anstalten in Berlin/' 
 his ideas on the relationship between the 
 Academy and the newly organized Univer- 
 sity are fully set forth. Schleiermacher had 
 defined the university as a group of stu- 
 dents, the academy as a group of investi- 
 gators: the former concerned with the 
 diffusion of knowledge, and the stimulation 
 of scientific research, the latter with the 
 development of scientific problems them- 
 selves. Humboldt believed the main dis- 
 tinction between the two bodies to lie in 
 their form and their relationships rather 
 than in their work. The university always 
 remains in close relationship with practical 
 life and the necessities of the state, since it 
 is engaged in the practical task of educating 
 the youth of the nation, while the academy 
 is concerned solely with knowledge. 
 
 When only the function of teaching and dis- 
 seminating knowledge is assigned to the univer- 
 31 
 
sity and its promotion to the academy, injustice 
 is manifestly done the former.31 
 
 Whereas the university teachers are 
 under common bonds only in the matter of 
 discipline, and are quite independent of 
 one another in other respects, the academy 
 is a society each member of which must 
 submit his work to the judgment of all. 
 Hence, he insists, the idea of an academy 
 as the highest and ultimate freehold of 
 knowledge, and as a corporation which is 
 more independent than any other of the 
 state, must be maintained. 
 
 In Humboldt's view, a close interchange 
 of activities between academy and univer- 
 sity should be provided for. Each aca- 
 demican must have the right to lecture at 
 the university without going through the 
 ordinary preliminaries, and without in- 
 volving any direct connection with it. 
 Many scholars should be both university 
 professors and academicians, but both in- 
 stitutions should have other members who 
 belong to it alone. The academy must be 
 free to choose its own members, subject 
 only to the approval of the government, 
 
 siPaulsen, "The German Universities/' trans, 
 by Thilly and Elwang, p. 53. 
 32 
 
while professors in the university should 
 be appointed exclusively by the state. 32 
 
 In spite of the transfer of some of its 
 principal departments to the University of 
 Berlin, the Berlin Academy has by no 
 means relinquished its important object of 
 carrying on large research projects. As al- 
 ready stated, it still has an endowed pro- 
 fessorship of chemistry, recently held by 
 van ? t Hoff, and now by Fischer, and a pro- 
 fessorship of astronomy, held by Auwers. 
 Both of these investigators pursue their re- 
 searches under the auspices of the Acad- 
 emy. The great work upon which Professor 
 Auwers is engaged is characteristic of 
 many of the larger undertakings of the 
 German academies, to which they devote 
 nearly half of their available funds. This 
 is the "Geschichte des Fixsternhimmels, ' ' 
 an immense catalogue of star positions based 
 upon the observations of many astrono- 
 mers. Similar undertakings by the Berlin 
 Academy in other fields are the "Corpus 
 inscriptorum grascarum" and the "Corpus 
 inscriptorum latinarum. ' ' The prepara- 
 tion of a great edition of Aristotle's works, 
 
 32Lenz, " GescMchte der Universitat Berlin/' 
 Bd. I., pp. 186-188. 
 
 33 
 
begun by the Berlin Academy in 1821 and 
 finished in 1909, is cited by Diels as a most 
 striking illustration of the advantage of 
 academic continuity, with which no individ- 
 ual can hope to compete. 33 For such an 
 undertaking, which we have come to regard 
 as characteristically German, an organ- 
 ized body like an academy of sciences pos- 
 sesses, not merely the advantage of con- 
 tinuity, but that which results from the 
 combined experience and the wide range 
 of vision brought to bear through the co- 
 operation of many eminent authorities. An 
 academy may also command far more ex- 
 tensive material than would fall within 
 the reach of the individual worker. This 
 phase of academic activity, practised 
 in different forms in the Museum of Alex- 
 andria and, in the preparation of national 
 dictionaries, by the Academic Francaise 
 and the Accademia della Crusca, is also il- 
 lustrated in England by the Royal Society's 
 "Catalogue of Scientific Papers." Our 
 own National Academy has yet to take any 
 steps in this direction. 
 
 33 Diels, ' ' Die organisation der Wissenschaf t, ' ' 
 in "Die Allegemeinen Grundlagen der Kultur der 
 Gegenwart," 2d ed., p. 667. 
 34 
 
The importance attached to this form 
 of academic work in Berlin is clearly 
 illustrated in the plans of the new acad- 
 emy building, for a set of which I am 
 indebted to the kindness of Professor Diels. 
 This building, which is being constructed 
 in connection with the new Eoyal Library, 
 is probably more perfectly adapted for aca- 
 demic purposes than any other building 
 now in usej^ as it was especially designed 
 for the work to be carried on in it. 84 
 The plans show that one room each is 
 to be devoted to the Corpus medicorum 
 Grcecorum, the Acta Borussia, and the 
 Plant Kingdom, three rooms to the Corpus 
 inscriptorum Latinarum, four to the Orien- 
 tal Commission, four to the Egyptian Dic- 
 tionary, eleven to the Inscriptiones Grcecce, 
 eleven to the German Commission, two to 
 the edition of Leibnitz's collected works, 
 seven to the History of the Fixed Stars. 
 In addition to all of these rooms for spe- 
 cial research, there are the great "Fest 
 Saal," separate meeting rooms for the two 
 classes of the Academy, a general meeting 
 
 34 Most of the European academies are housed 
 in palaces or similar buildings formerly used for 
 other purposes. 
 
 35 
 
room for both classes together, a large ante- 
 room, a demonstration room, seven editorial 
 rooms, four secretaries' offices, offices for 
 the registrar, the recorder and the chan- 
 cellor, a reading-room and large library 
 and stack room, a correspondence room, an 
 instrument room, a photographic labora- 
 tory, and various other offices, kitchens, 
 servants' rooms, etc. 
 
 It is a significant fact that Merz, after 
 devoting an eloquent chapter to the evolu- 
 tion of science in France under the stimu- 
 lus of the Paris Academy, barely mentions 
 the German academies when discussing the 
 progress of science in that country. The 
 reason, as we have already seen, lies in the 
 predominating influence of the universities 
 in the development of German scientific 
 life and thought. With every teacher an 
 investigator, every university a laboratory 
 of research, and with the powerful aid of 
 the state encouraging in every possible way 
 the prosecution of investigation no less 
 than the instruction of students, it is easy 
 to see how the universities obtained their 
 ascendancy in the field of science, or rather 
 in the broad field of Wissenschaft, for in 
 
 36 
 
Germany the same spirit of research has 
 permeated every department of knowledge. 
 The wide distribution of the universities 
 and their considerable number, together 
 with the free interchange of professors and 
 students, have worked against centraliza- 
 tion, and have served to create a cosmopoli- 
 tan spirit in striking contrast with that 
 which obtains in France. One can hardly 
 fail to believe that no single influence could 
 be more effective than the universities for 
 the development of the latent capacity of a 
 nation for scientific research. But while 
 the German academies have doubtless suf- 
 fered by contrast with the universities, a 
 survey of the intellectual progress of Ger- 
 many should by no means overlook the in- 
 valuable services the academies have rend- 
 ered. 
 
 It would seem, however, that these serv- 
 ices might have been even greater if a larger 
 number of the scientific men of the na- 
 tion could have taken an active part in the 
 work of the academies. As at present con- 
 stituted, the membership of these bodies is 
 extremely limited, and each member must 
 reside within a very short distance of the 
 37 
 
seat of the academy, so that he may be able 
 to attend the meetings regularly. These 
 limitations, though not without compensa- 
 ting advantages, are in striking contrast 
 with the wider membership and freer inter- 
 change which seem to have been essential 
 elements in the extraordinary development 
 of the university system. 
 
 THE ROYAL SOCIETY 
 
 When we pass to England, and examine 
 the history of intellectual progress, we 
 find a fundamentally different condition 
 of affairs. This reflects the natural char- 
 acteristics of the English people, just as the 
 university system of Germany and the aca- 
 demic activities of France illustrate the 
 essential qualities of these nations. Merz's 
 picture of the growth of scientific research 
 in England is in some respects a somber 
 one. In his view the Royal Society appears 
 to have played no part in advancing the 
 intellectual life of the nation and the Royal 
 Institution, as well as Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge, fare little better at his hands. 
 
 Now no one will attempt to deny that 
 the characteristic quality of British science 
 has always rested in the individual, and 
 
 38 
 
that organized efforts there have played a 
 less conspicuous part than in France or in 
 Germany. During a large part of their 
 history, Oxford and Cambridge have done 
 little for research, though the past half 
 century has seen a remarkable change 
 in this respect, particularly in the case of 
 the Cavendish laboratory, whose succession 
 of brilliant leaders can hardly be matched 
 in the history of any other university lab- 
 oratory. Men whose names are famous in 
 science have sprung up in the most unex- 
 pected places, without ancestry, training 
 or encouragement to account for the domi- 
 nant influence they have exerted on the 
 scientific thought of the world. A notable 
 illustration of this kind is afforded by 
 Faraday, whose obscure origin, extreme 
 poverty, and lack of the assistance of 
 schools, were most fortunately offset by his 
 transcendent genius and by the influence 
 of Davy, whose lectures at the Koyal Insti- 
 tution soon transformed the bookbinder's 
 apprentice into Davy's able successor. 
 Darwin, though of distinguished ancestry, 
 was another English "amateur" whose 
 work was done apart from the universities. 
 
 39 
 
A host of others might be mentioned, whose 
 extraordinarily original contributions to 
 scientific thought have found few equals in 
 other lands. For the most part, they have 
 worked alone and sometimes unaided, and 
 their great results have been achieved in 
 spite of conditions which may appear un- 
 favorable and discouraging. But in my 
 opinion the Royal Society and the Royal 
 Institution, not to speak of other important 
 agencies, such as the societies devoted to 
 special branches of science, have exercised 
 in England a profoundly favorable influ- 
 ence which can not be ignored. 
 
 In failing to take note of this in his 
 classic work, Merz seems to exhibit some 
 traces of a pessimistic quality which is 
 sometimes encountered in English life. 
 It is mainly to short-sightedness of the 
 government and to individual conserv- 
 atism that I should be inclined to charge 
 that lack of support of scientific men 
 of which Merz so feelingly complains, 
 rather than to the Royal Society and 
 other organized bodies for the promo- 
 tion of science. As a matter of fact, 
 it is easy to show that these institutions 
 40 
 
have exerted a powerful stimulus, without 
 which the progress of science in England 
 undoubtedly would have been delayed. 
 
 In the first place, the Royal Society has 
 extended the distinction and privileges of 
 its fellowship to a much larger number of 
 investigators than have been similarly hon- 
 ored by the continental academies. 35 Every 
 investigator in science will understand and 
 appreciate the benefit which such recogni- 
 tion entails. Most of all the obscure indi- 
 vidual worker, unnoticed and unsupported 
 by the universities, but wholly devoted to 
 the pursuit of science, must benefit by 
 such moral support. On the continent I 
 have known investigators of this type, not 
 connected with a university, and receiving 
 no aid or encouragement from neighboring 
 university men, who could not be recog- 
 nized by election to the academies because 
 of their limited membership or their fixed 
 traditions. In England many such men 
 have been received into the Royal Society, 
 which has been glad to publish their 
 papers as Fellows and to aid them in other 
 ways. 
 
 35 Fifteen new members are elected annually, 
 making a total membership of 477 (Jan. 1, 1913). 
 41 
 
A notable illustration is afforded by the 
 case of Newton, elected a Fellow of the 
 Eoyal Society on January 11, 1671, and 
 subsequently its president for the long 
 period of twenty-four years. A month 
 following his election, Newton communi- 
 cated to the Society his discovery of the 
 composite nature of white light, which, 
 when published in the Philosophical Trans- 
 actions, was the first of his productions to 
 appear in print. In expressing his thanks 
 to the Society, Newton remarked: 36 
 
 It was an esteem of the Royal Society for most 
 candid and able judges in philosophical matters, 
 that encouraged me to present them with that dis- 
 course of light and colors,, which since they have 
 so favorably accepted of, I do earnestly desire you 
 to return them my most cordial thanks. I before 
 thought it a great favor to be made a member of 
 that honorable body, but I am now more sensible 
 of the advantage: for believe me, Sir, I not only 
 esteem it a duty to concur with them in the promo- 
 tion of real knowledge, but a great privilege, 
 that, instead of exposing discourses to a preju- 
 diced and censorious multitude (by which means 
 
 36 Weld, "History of the Eoyal Society, " Vol. 
 I., p. 237. Brewster's "Life of Newton" gives 
 an interesting account of Newton 's relations with 
 the Eoyal Society and his plan for its improve- 
 ment (Vol. I., p. 102). 
 
 42 
 
many truths have been baffled and lost), I may, 
 with freedom, apply myself to so judicious and 
 impartial an assembly. 
 
 Leuwenhoeck, "the father of microscop- 
 ical discoveries, "who communicated no less 
 than 375 papers and letters to the Society 
 during a period of fifty years, bequeathed 
 a collection of microscopes "as a mark of 
 my gratitude, and acknowledgment of the 
 great honor which I have received from the 
 Eoyal Society." 37 
 
 When the Royal Observatory was estab- 
 lished at Greenwich, the government failed 
 for a period of nearly fifteen years to fur- 
 nish it with a single instrument. In this 
 extremity Flamsteed appealed to the Royal 
 Society, with the following result recorded 
 in the minutes : 
 
 It was ordered that the astronomical instru- 
 ments belonging to the Society be lent to the 
 Observatory at Greenwich, and that Mr. Hooke's 
 new quadrant be forthwith finished at the charges 
 of the Society. 38 
 
 Examples of this nature might be 
 multiplied indefinitely, but a single case 
 will suffice, since no more striking instance 
 
 ST Weld, ibid., p. 245. 
 38 Weld, ibid., p. 255. 
 43 
 
of the splendid results directly due to the 
 encouragement and aid of the Eoyal So- 
 ciety could be asked than that illustrated 
 in the life and work of Sir William Hug- 
 gins, one of the founders of astrophysics, 
 and a typical example of the English 
 "amateur" investigator. 39 Sir William, to 
 whose addresses as president of the Royal 
 Society we shall have occasion to refer 
 later, was not a university man. With his 
 accomplished wife as his only assistant, 
 he lived and did all his work at Upper 
 Tulse Hill, well removed from the bustle of 
 Piccadilly on the Surrey side of the 
 Thames. It is more than probable that 
 without the stimulus and aid of the Royal 
 Society much of his great work could not 
 have been done. For it was on returning 
 home from a Royal Society meeting in com- 
 pany with his friend Miller that he first 
 conceived the idea of observing the spectra 
 of stars, and it was with telescopes and 
 other instruments loaned to him by the So- 
 ciety that his classic observations were 
 
 39 It is hardly necessary to say that the term 
 "amateur" is used here to denote one who works 
 in science for the pure love of the subject, and 
 not in the sense of dilettante. 
 44 
 
made. In spite of fogs and clouds of Lon- 
 don smoke, he continued his work up to the 
 very end of his long life, dividing his al- 
 legiance to science only between his astro- 
 physical investigations and the develop- 
 ment of the Royal Society, of which he was 
 for forty years a leading Fellow. 
 
 Thus, in spite of that early poverty which 
 prevented the Royal Society from publish- 
 ing the "Principia" of Newton, it has lent 
 its powerful aid and support to many a 
 British investigator, who 'without it would 
 have been absolutely isolated. Its large 
 collection of instruments, the accumula- 
 tion of more than two centuries, is freely 
 placed at the disposal of those who need 
 them. Its Philosophical Transactions and 
 Proceedings have furnished the most de- 
 sirable means of publication for an enor- 
 mous mass of scientific literature. Its 
 meetings bring together every Thursday at 
 Burlington House the leading scientific 
 men of the kingdom, and furnish an oppor- 
 tunity for stimulating interchanges of view 
 which have played a great part in scien- 
 tific progress. Its various gold medals, im- 
 partially bestowed at home and abroad, in 
 
 45 
 
recognition of advances in science, have 
 been effectively supplemented by financial 
 assistance to investigators from the Govern- 
 ment Grant Fund of 4,000 per annum, 
 which is administered by the Society. To 
 its influence is largely due the high stand- 
 ard of efficiency maintained by the govern- 
 ment in its appointment of astronomers 
 royal and other directors of the scientific 
 research of the nation. When the govern- 
 ment decided to establish a National Phys- 
 ical Laboratory it turned at once to the 
 Royal Society, to which it delegated the 
 planning and control of this great institu- 
 tion. Its Catalogue of Scientific Papers, 
 continued as the International Catalogue 
 of Scientific Literature, has contributed 
 in a most important way to the accessibil- 
 ity and usefulness of the literature of sci- 
 ence, and is indispensable to every investi- 
 gator. It has supplied both money and in- 
 struments to scientific expeditions sent to 
 all parts of the globe, and provided for the 
 suitable reduction and discussion of the 
 observations obtained. It has aided the 
 government of India in the work of the 
 Indian Meteorological Department and 
 46 
 
participated with the meteorological office 
 in the direction of the work of the Kew 
 and its sister observatories. The reports of 
 its Sleeping Sickness Commission have 
 advanced in an important degree our 
 knowledge of tropical diseases. In fact, 
 one could point to an almost unlimited 
 number of illustrations of the beneficent 
 activities of the Royal -Society as the lead- 
 ing representative of British research, and 
 as one of the most powerful factors in 
 broad projects of cooperation, such as those 
 of the International Association of Acad- 
 emies. 
 
 Unlike the academies of St. Petersburg, 
 Berlin, Vienna and Stockholm, which 
 maintain large research laboratories or sup- 
 port research professorships, the Royal 
 Society has no laboratories of its own. 
 Closely allied with it, however, is the Royal 
 Institution, formerly known as "the work- 
 shop of the Royal Society." No labora- 
 tory in existence can match its extraordi- 
 nary record, accomplished at an almost in- 
 credibly small cost. 40 When one recalls 
 Young's great work in laying the founda- 
 
 40 Dewar, address as president of the British 
 Association, Belfast, 1902, p. 11. 
 47 
 
tion of the wave-theory of light, not to 
 speak of his success in discovering the 
 first clue to the translation of Egyptian 
 hieroglyphics; Davy's long series of dis- 
 coveries in chemistry, and his public lec- 
 tures and demonstrations; Faraday's great 
 achievements in physical and chemical 
 research, and the dignity and luster he 
 imparted to the popular presentation of 
 scientific results to a general audience; 
 TyndalPs success in the same lecture-hall, 
 and his services in popularizing science in 
 the United States; and the long series of 
 important investigations, especially in the 
 fruitful field of low temperature phenom- 
 ena, which we owe to Dewar, who has now 
 occupied the chair of chemistry even 
 longer than Faraday: these form a record 
 remarkable in the annals of science, with 
 returns so rich as to be worthy of the ex- 
 penditure of almost any sum. But even 
 this long list does not represent the total 
 product of the laboratory, where such emi- 
 nent leaders as Lord Eayleigh and Sir 
 Joseph Thomson have also conducted in- 
 vestigations of the first importance. So 
 far as my own observations have gone, no 
 
 48 
 
other laboratory holds a more tangible at- 
 mosphere of research or stimulates more 
 powerfully the imagination of the visitor. I 
 shall have occasion later to refer to the 
 equally remarkable success of the Royal In- 
 stitution in diffusing and popularizing 
 knowledge through its courses of experi- 
 mental lectures. 
 
 Academies of the first class are so nu- 
 merous that only a few of the oldest or- 
 ganizations, whose work bears directly 
 upon the problems of our own National 
 Academy, can be mentioned in this paper. 
 I hope to have opportunity at some future 
 time to describe the work of such influen- 
 tial bodies as the Vienna Academy, which 
 has founded a Radium Institute and taken 
 steps which should result in the establish- 
 ment of a Solar Observatory; the Stock- 
 holm Academy, entrusted with the respon- 
 sibility of awarding the Nobel Prizes in 
 physics and chemistry; the Amsterdam 
 Academy, focus of the great research work 
 of Holland; and many other academies of 
 the highest rank representing the various 
 nations of Europe. For the present I 
 must limit attention to a group of institu- 
 tions which suffice to typify the wide 
 49 
 
range of academic activities. However, a 
 word must be added regarding the St. 
 Petersburg Academy, established by Cath- 
 erine I. on the plans of Peter the Great in 
 1725, because of its special plan of organi- 
 zation. The president, director and fifteen 
 members are paid annual stipends ranging 
 from one thousand to three thousand dol- 
 lars, and provided with dwelling houses. 
 The great academy building, with its li- 
 brary of over 36,000 books and manuscripts, 
 contains large laboratories in which in- 
 vestigations are constantly in progress. 
 The extensive publications include re- 
 searches in every field of knowledge and 
 exhaustive memoirs on the topography, 
 geography and history of Russia and the 
 manners, customs and languages of its 
 various peoples. 
 
 THE PURPOSE OF ACADEMIES 
 
 From this survey of the work of a few 
 of the leading academies and allied institu- 
 tions, we see that original investigations 
 have played a large part in their activities, 
 from the days of the great Museum at 
 Alexandria to the present time. In certain 
 instances, illustrated in the history of the 
 
 50 
 
University of Berlin, some of the work of 
 investigation has been transferred from 
 the academies to the universities, but 
 without interrupting the larger activities 
 of the academies in the same field. Again, 
 in cases like that of the Royal Society, the 
 development of a closely allied laboratory 
 of research, such as the Royal Institution, 
 has partially supplied the place which 
 a laboratory under the exclusive control of 
 the Society might have held. The essential 
 thing to note is the advantage which re- 
 sults from the organic relationship of an 
 academy with a laboratory for the produc- 
 tion of new knowledge. An academy will 
 reach its greatest influence, and serve its 
 most useful purpose in stimulating the 
 work of its members, when it is recognized 
 as an institution primarily "for the in- 
 crease " rather than "for the diffusion of 
 knowledge among men." 
 
 In the field of publication, the national 
 academies of former times were predomi- 
 nant factors, so much so that we owe to 
 their printed pages the great volume of the 
 original contributions of the earlier days 
 of science. With the rapid extension of 
 51 
 
the facilities for investigation, and the ex- 
 tensive ramifications of science into special 
 fields, the societies and journals devoted 
 to particular lines of research naturally 
 arose and multiplied. The prestige of such 
 publications as the Proceedings and Trans- 
 actions of the Royal Society fortunately 
 enables them to hold their own, in spite of 
 the competition of so many journals de- 
 voted to special subjects. And the oppor- 
 tunity afforded by academies for the pub- 
 lication of extended memoirs beyond the 
 range of ordinary periodicals, is univer- 
 sally appreciated. As regards shorter com- 
 munications, the peculiar claims of the 
 special journals, which have been proved 
 by time to serve the purposes for which 
 they were designed, would naturally re- 
 ceive consideration in elaborating any new 
 plan of academic publication to meet ex- 
 isting needs. This subject will be more 
 fully considered in a later paper. 
 
 In the management and distribution of 
 trust funds for research, the loan of instru- 
 ments, the award of prizes, and especially 
 in the advice of governments and individ- 
 uals as to the best means of initiating and 
 
 52 
 
conducting scientific enterprises, national 
 academies occupy a position which private 
 foundations can hardly hope to rival. 
 The value of advice received from a body 
 of the highest reputation and prestige is 
 greatly enhanced, because of the increased 
 probability that it will be heeded and 
 carried into effect. For a similar reason, 
 recognition of individual achievement 
 through the award of prizes or election to 
 membership acquires its greatest weight 
 when received from such a body. 
 
 After reviewing all of the activities 
 which we see so diversely exemplified by 
 the national academies of different coun- 
 tries, the conviction is forced upon one 
 that the first and best object of these bod- 
 ies must always be to uphold the dignity 
 and importance of scientific research, and 
 to diffuse throughout the nation a true ap- 
 preciation of the intellectual and practical 
 benefits which will inevitably result from 
 its support and encouragement. But to ac- 
 complish great results in this field, an 
 academy must enjoy the active cooperation 
 of the leaders of the state. To appreciate 
 this, we have only to remember the many 
 striking illustrations afforded in the his- 
 tory of civilization. What was done by 
 
 53 
 
Alexander the Great and the Ptolemies 
 for Egypt, by the house of Medici for 
 Italy, by Richelieu, Colbert and Napoleon 
 for France, can be done for other nations 
 by living statesmen to-day. In the midst 
 of his campaigns Napoleon never forgot 
 the paramount claims of science and the 
 fine arts. Writing to the astronomer 
 Oriani from Milan, which he had entered 
 in triumph, Napoleon said: 
 
 The sciences which do honor to the human mind 
 and the arts which embellish life and perpetuate 
 great achievements for posterity, should be espe- 
 cially honored under free governments. 
 
 ... I invite the scholars to meet and to give 
 me their opinions as to the means that should be 
 taken, and the needs to be fulfilled, in order to 
 bring new life and activity into the sciences and 
 the fine arts. Those who wish to go to France 
 will be received with distinction by the govern- 
 ment. The French people sets a higher value on 
 the acquisition of a skilled mathematician, a cele- 
 brated painter or a distinguished man of any 
 profession, than upon the possession of the larg- 
 est and richest city. 4 * 
 
 This article can not be better closed 
 than by a quotation from Laplace, the 
 most distinguished member of the Paris 
 Academy in its brilliant days under the 
 first empire. 
 
 4i Main dr on, "L'Acadmie des Sciences," 205. 
 54 
 
Nature is so varied in her manifestations and 
 phenomena, and the difficulty of elucidating their 
 causes is so great, that many must unite their 
 knowledge and efforts in order to comprehend 
 her and force her to reveal her laws. This union 
 becomes indispensable when the progress of the 
 sciences, multiplying their points of contact, and 
 no longer permitting a single individual to under- 
 stand them all, throws upon a group of investiga- 
 tors the task of furnishing the mutual aid which 
 they demand. Thus the physicist appeals to the 
 mathematician in his efforts to arrive at the gen- 
 eral causes of observed phenomena, and the 
 mathematician in his turn consults the physicist, 
 in order to render his investigations useful by 
 practical applications, and in the hope of opening 
 up new possibilities in mathematics. But the 
 chief advantage of academies is the philosophic 
 spirit which must develop within them, thence dif- 
 fusing itself throughout the nation and permeating 
 every interest. The isolated scholar may yield 
 with impunity to the tendencies of the systema- 
 tist, since he hears only from afar the criticism 
 that he arouses. But in an academy the impact 
 of such tendencies ends in their destruction, and 
 the desire for mutual conviction necessarily es- 
 tablishes the rule of admitting only the results of 
 observation and calculation. Furthermore, ex- 
 perience has shown that since the origin of acad- 
 emies the true spirit of philosophy has prevailed. 
 By setting the example of submitting everything 
 to the test of severe logic, they have overthrown 
 the preconceived notions which too long domi- 
 nated science, and were shared by the ablest 
 55 
 
minds of previous centuries. Their useful influ- 
 ence on public opinion has dissipated errors 
 greeted in our own time with an enthusiasm 
 which would have perpetuated them in earlier 
 days. Equally removed from the credulity which 
 denies nothing and the conservatism which would 
 reject everything that departs from accepted 
 ideas, they have at all times wisely awaited the 
 result of observation and experiment on difficult 
 questions and unusual phenomena, promoting 
 them by prizes and by their own researches. 
 Measuring their approval no less by the greatness 
 and difficulty of a discovery than by its immediate 
 utility, and convinced, by many examples, that 
 what appears to be least fruitful may ultimately 
 yield important consequences, they have encour- 
 aged the pursuit of truth in all fields, excluding 
 only those which the limitations of the human 
 understanding render forever inaccessible. 
 Finally, we owe to them those great theories, ele- 
 vated by their generality above the comprehen- 
 sion of the layman, which through numerous ap- 
 plications to natural phenomena and the arts, 
 have become inexhaustible sources of happiness 
 and enlightenment. Wise governments, convinced 
 of the usefulness of scientific societies, and re- 
 garding them as one of the principal causes of 
 the glory and prosperity of empires, have estab- 
 lished such bodies in their very midst, in order 
 to profit by their counsel, which has often 
 brought lasting benefits. 42 
 
 42 < ' Exposition du Systeme du Monde, ' ' Oeuvres, 
 Vol. VI., p. 418. 
 
 56 
 
II. THE FIRST HALF CENTURY OF 
 
 THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF 
 
 SCIENCES 
 
 IN the days preceding the American Revo- 
 lution, the Royal Society was to this coun- 
 try what it still is to the existing British 
 Colonies: the central and authoritative 
 representative of scientific research. 1 
 Americans eminent for their contributions 
 to science were elected Fellows, and their 
 papers appeared in the Philosophical Tran- 
 sactions. The list of colonial Fellows in- 
 cludes Cotton Mather, Bowdoin, Dudley, 
 and the three Winthrops in New England ; 
 Franklin, Rittenhouse and Morgan in 
 Pennsylvania; Banister, Clayton, Mitchell 
 
 1 See an excellent article by G. Browne Goode, 
 from which the data used in the introduction of the 
 present paper are taken : ' l The Origin of the Na- 
 tional Scientific and Educational Institutions of the 
 United States/' Annual Eeport of the American 
 Historical Association for 1889. 
 57 
 
and Bird, in Virginia, and Garden and 
 Williamson in the Carolinas. But so distant 
 a body could not meet all local needs. Thus 
 Franklin, active in every field, undertook 
 the organization of the American Philo- 
 sophical Society in 1743, some years before 
 its time, as its early demise proved. In 1766 
 the American Society held at Philadelphia 
 for Promoting Useful Knowledge was 
 established and Franklin, then in Europe, 
 was elected its first president. In the mean- 
 time the earlier society was revived, and 
 the amalgamation of the two in 1769 gave 
 rise to a scientific body which has always 
 exercised a powerful and beneficent influ- 
 ence on the progress of science in the 
 United States. The prominence in the af- 
 fairs of state of its leading members is illus- 
 trated in the frequent interruptions to the 
 proceedings of the society between 1773 
 and 1779, when these men, who included 
 Washington, Franklin, Jefferson and 
 Adams, were occupied with the labors of 
 organizing the new republic. The Ameri- 
 can Philosophical Society, modelled after 
 the Royal Society, but embracing the whole 
 field of knowledge, soon assumed great 
 
 58 
 
importance at its seat in Philadelphia, then 
 the center of American scientific and liter- 
 ary life. 
 
 John Adams, when representing the 
 United States in France, learned of the ap- 
 preciation in which the Philosophical So- 
 ciety was held in academic circles. On his 
 return to Boston in 1779 he suggested the 
 establishment of the American Academy of 
 Arts and Sciences, which was duly incorpo- 
 rated by act of the Massachusetts State 
 Legislature in 1780. At this time the in- 
 fluence of France was naturally more potent 
 than that of England, and the Academies 
 of Paris were chosen as models by the char- 
 ter members of the new organization. 
 
 The year 1778 marks the inception of an 
 ambitious plan, proposed by the Chevalier 
 Quesnay de Beaurepaire. His scheme for 
 the Academy of Arts and Sciences of the 
 United States had been endorsed by the 
 King of France, the Royal Academies of 
 Science and of the Fine Arts, and by La- 
 voisier, Condorcet and many eminent 
 Frenchmen. The sum of sixty thousand 
 francs was subscribed by wealthy Virgin- 
 ians, and a building was erected in Eich- 
 
 59 
 
mond in 1786. One (French) professor 
 was appointed to make natural history col- 
 lections and extensive plans for branch 
 establishments in Baltimore, Philadelphia 
 and New York were contemplated. But the 
 French Revolution put an end to this in- 
 tellectual exotic. 
 
 In the present paper, devoted primarily 
 to the history of the National Academy, we 
 must pass over many interesting develop- 
 ments in the early scientific life of the 
 nation. Reference must be made, how- 
 ever, to the incorporation of the American 
 Association for the Advancement of Science 
 in 1848, and to the intense vitality which 
 has enabled this body, in cooperation with 
 many special societies of later origin, to 
 bring the results of scientific research 
 within the reach of an ever-widening public. 
 
 Alexander Dallas Bache, superinten- 
 dent of the United States Coast Survey 
 from 1843 to 1867, and one of the leading 
 spirits of his time, was among the first to 
 express publicly the demand for a national 
 organization of American research officially 
 recognized as such by Congress. 2 In his 
 
 2 For most of the material in the following pages 
 the writer is indebted to a history of the " First 
 60 
 
presidential address to the American As- 
 sociation for the Advancement of Science 
 in 1851 he emphasized the need of "an in- 
 stitution of science, supplementary to ex- 
 isting ones, to guide public action in refer- 
 ence to scientific matters." 
 
 Suppose an institute of which the members be- 
 long in turn to each of our widely scattered 
 states, working at their places of residence and 
 reporting their results; meeting only at particular 
 times, and for special purposes; engaged in re- 
 searches self-directed, or desired by the body, 
 called for by congress or by the executive, who 
 furnish the means for the inquiries. . . . The 
 public treasury would be saved many times the 
 support of such a council, by the sound advice 
 which it would give in regard to various projects 
 which are constantly forced upon their notice, and 
 in regard to which they are compelled to decide 
 without the knowledge which alone can ensure a 
 wise conclusion. 
 
 . . . Such a body would supply a place not oc- 
 cupied by existing institutions, and which our own 
 
 Half Century of the National Academy of Sci- 
 ences/' prepared and edited by Frederick W. 
 True, under the direction of Dr. Arnold Hague, 
 then Home Secretary, in connection with the re- 
 cent celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the 
 founding of the Academy. 
 
 61 
 
is, from its temporary and voluntary character, 
 not able to supply.3 
 
 As president of the American Associa- 
 tion, and as a prominent member of the 
 American Philosophical Society and the 
 American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 
 Bache entertained no misconception regard- 
 ing the admirable aims and the no less admir- 
 able successes of these older societies. Each 
 performed then, as it does now, a useful 
 function of broad scope, which the proposed 
 organization was not to rival but to supple- 
 ment. The American Philosophical Society 
 continues to exert a wide and useful influ- 
 ence, drawing to its annual meetings in 
 Philadelphia a large body of able men 
 representing every field of knowledge. 
 Its strong vitality and its traditions 
 of a scholarly past are shared 
 by the American Academy, now rapidly 
 increasing in membership and advantage- 
 ously established in the permanent home 
 provided for it in Boston by Alexander 
 Agassiz. The American Association, like 
 the British Association for the Advance- 
 
 3 Op. cit., pp. 7, 8. 
 
 62 
 
ment of Science, holds its annual meetings 
 in widely scattered cities, thus bringing 
 under its influence a great number of peo- 
 ple, whose attention might not be attracted 
 from a distance. Clearly there was still 
 room for an academy chartered by congress 
 and closely related to the national govern- 
 ment, to which it might render some such 
 services as the principal countries of Eu- 
 rope receive from their great academies. 
 
 Bache 's hopes were to be realized twelve 
 years later. On February 11, 1863, Gideon 
 Welles, secretary of the navy, appointed 
 Admiral Davis, Professor Henry and Pro- 
 fessor Bache a "Permanent Commission" 
 "to which shall be referred questions of 
 science and art upon which the (navy) de- 
 partment may require information." 4 En- 
 couraged by this governmental recognition, 
 Bache, Peirce, Davis, Gould and Agassiz in- 
 duced Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, to 
 introduce in congress a bill to incorporate 
 the National Academy of Sciences. This 
 passed the Senate and House on March 3, 
 1863, and was signed by the president on 
 the same day. 
 
 4 Op. tit., p. i. 
 
 63 
 
The act of incorporation named fifty men 
 of science as charter members, and limited 
 the membership of the Academy to this 
 number. A second act of congress, passed 
 in 1870, removed this limitation. At pres- 
 ent the amended constitution provides that 
 ten new members may be elected annually. 
 The actual number of names now on the 
 roll is one hundred and thirty-two. In 
 addition to these there are forty-nine for- 
 eign associates and one honorary member. 
 
 The list of incorporators contains many 
 distinguished names: Agassiz, Alexander, 
 Bache, Barnard, Dana, Davis, Gilliss, 
 Gould, Wolcott Gibbs, Asa Gray, Guyot, 
 James Hall, Henry, Hilgard, Le Conte, 
 Leidy, Lesley, Newberry, Newton, Peirce, 
 Rogers, Rutherfurd, Silliman, Torrey, 
 Whitney, Wyman among others equally 
 well known. Chosen from the country at 
 large, and fairly representative of the sci- 
 ence of the day, the membership was 
 worthy of a truly national body. 
 
 The organization of the National Acad- 
 emy was "the first recognition by our gov- 
 ernment of the importance of abstract sci- 
 ence as an essential element of mental and 
 
 64 
 
material progress/' 5 One of the objects 
 in the minds of its founders was to confer 
 distinction on men of science who had ac- 
 complished important original research, 
 and thus to encourage and stimulate them 
 to further effort. Another prime object 
 was to aid the government in the solution 
 of problems of a scientific nature. In 1863, 
 the year of the Academy's incorporation, 
 the civil war was in progress, and the gov- 
 ernment stood in need of just such advice 
 as a body of able scientific men could sup- 
 ply. It will be seen later that the assist- 
 ance of the Academy was often sought and 
 rendered, not alone in this period, but also 
 in subsequent years. 
 
 The idea that a democratic government 
 could not consistently confer distinction 
 upon its citizens, though held by some crit- 
 ics of the day, was not shared by Joseph 
 Henry, whose words may again be quoted 
 from the report cited above: 
 
 It is not enough for our government to offer en- 
 couragement to the direct promotion of the useful 
 arts through the more or less fortunate efforts of 
 
 6 From the report for 1867 of Joseph Henry, 
 president of the National Academy, op. cit., p. 
 14. 
 
 65 
 
inventors; it is absolutely necessary, if we would 
 advance or even preserve our reputation for true 
 intelligence, that encouragement and facilities 
 should be afforded for devotion to original re- 
 search in the various branches of human knowledge. 
 In the other countries scientific discovery is stimu- 
 lated by pensions, by titles of honor and by various 
 social and official distinctions. The French aca- 
 demicians receive an annual salary and are deco- 
 rated with the insignia of the Legion of Honor. 
 Similar marks of distinction are conferred on the 
 members of the Academy of Berlin and that of 
 St. Petersburg. These modes of stimulation or 
 encouragement may be considered inconsistent with 
 our social ideas and perhaps with our forms of 
 government. There are honors, nevertheless, which 
 in an intelligent democracy have been and may be 
 justly awarded to those who enlarge the field of 
 human thought and human power. Heretofore, but 
 two principal means of distinction have been rec- 
 ognized in this country, viz.: the acquisition of 
 wealth and the possession of political power. The 
 war seems to have offered a third, in bestowing 
 position and renown for successful military 
 achievement. The establishment of this Academy 
 may be perhaps regarded as having opened a fourth 
 avenue for the aspirations of a laudable ambition, 
 which interferes neither with our national preju- 
 dices nor our political principles, and which only 
 requires the fostering care of government to be- 
 come of essential benefit and importance not only 
 66 
 
to this, but all the civilized countries of the 
 world. 6 
 
 The special problems raised by the civil 
 war emphasized the value of the services 
 which the Academy might render the gov- 
 ernment, at a period when most of the sci- 
 entific bureaus of later years were not yet 
 organized. But the war had only an inci- 
 dental bearing on the designation of the 
 Academy as the scientific adviser of the na- 
 tion. The desire of President Lincoln and 
 his Secretary of State to receive advice 
 from the Academy on more general ques- 
 tions is shown by the following letter from 
 Secretary Seward to President Bache : 7 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 
 WASHINGTON, January 8, 1864. 
 Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the re- 
 ceipt of your note of the 7th instant, tendering 
 to this department the aid of the Academy of 
 Sciences in any investigation that it may be 
 thought proper to institute with a view to the 
 great reform of producing an uniformity of 
 weights and measures among commercial nations. 
 Be pleased to express to the Academy my sincere 
 thanks for this enlightened and patriotic pro- 
 ceeding, and assure them that, with the authority 
 
 6 Op. cit., p. 14. 
 * Op. cit., p. 16. 
 
 67 
 
of the President, I shall be happy to avail myself 
 of the assistance thus tendered to me, and to that 
 end I shall at all times be happy to receive the 
 suggestions of the Academy, or of any committee 
 that may be named by it, in conformity with the 
 spirit of the note you have addressed to me. 
 I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 WILLIAM II. SEWARD 
 
 We shall have occasion later to consider 
 how the Academy has assisted the govern- 
 ment in the solution of problems of the 
 most diverse character. 
 
 The first meeting of the National Acad- 
 emy, attended by more than three fifths of 
 the incorporators, was held at the Univer- 
 sity of the City of New York on April 22, 
 1863. Senator Wilson, who had introduced 
 in the senate the bill of incorporation, ad- 
 dressed the Academy at the opening of the 
 first session. After alluding to the fact 
 that the idea of forming such an institution 
 had long existed, he dwelt on the signifi- 
 cance of unanimous action by congress at a 
 time when the country was suffering under 
 the burden of the great civil war. With its 
 widely distributed membership, he felt that 
 the Academy would contribute in the future 
 68 
 
toward the unity and indivisibility of the 
 nation. 
 
 With Professor Henry in the chair, and 
 other leaders of American science taking 
 part in the deliberations, the work of the 
 Academy was begun under the most favor- 
 able auspices. The constitution and by- 
 laws were prepared by a strong committee, 
 including such men as Agassiz, Benjamin 
 Gould, Peirce and Silliman, with Bache as 
 chairman. After three days of discussion 
 they were adopted by the Academy, and 
 finally ratified at the first Washington 
 meeting, held in one of the committee rooms 
 of the senate on January 4-6, 1864. 
 
 In the space at our disposal, we must 
 content ourselves with a brief glance at the 
 principal acts of the Academy during the 
 fifty years of its existence, referring the 
 reader to the work so often cited for further 
 details. In accordance with the terms of 
 the constitution, the members were divided 
 into two classes, (a) mathematics and phys- 
 ics, and (6) natural history, each class hav- 
 ing a chairman and secretary. The names 
 of the sections, and the number of members 
 in each, are given in the following table : 
 
Class of Mathematics and Physics 
 
 Number 
 
 of 
 Members 
 
 Sect. 1. Mathematics 6 
 
 Sect. 2. Physics 6 
 
 Sect. 3. Astronomy, Geography and Geod- 
 esy 9 
 
 Sect. 4. Mechanics 6 
 
 Sect. 5. Chemistry 3 30 
 
 Class of Natural History 
 
 Number 
 
 of 
 Member! 
 
 Sect. 1. Mineralogy and Geology 6 
 
 Sect. 2. Zoology 5 
 
 Sect. 3. Botany 1 
 
 Sect. 4. Anatomy and Physiology 2 
 
 Sect. 5. Ethnology 14 
 
 Total " " 44 
 
 It is interesting to contrast this organi- 
 zation with, that existing at the present 
 time : 
 
 Sect. 1. Mathematics and Astronomy. .. .23 
 
 Sect. 2. Physics and Engineering 25 
 
 Sect. 3. Chemistry 23 
 
 71 
 
 Deduct names counted twice. 5 66 
 70 
 
Sect. 4. Geology and Paleontology 24 
 
 Sect. 5. Botany 9 
 
 Sect. 6. Zoology and Animal Morphology. 18 
 
 Sect. 7. Physiology and Pathology 15 
 
 Sect. 8. Anthropology and Psychology... 9 
 
 75 
 
 Deduct names counted twice 9 66 
 Total ~" 132 
 
 At the outset, two thirds of the members 
 belonged to the class of mathematics and 
 physics, and only one third to the class of 
 natural history. At present, while the two 
 classes no longer exist as such, it is easy to 
 group the members in the same way. De- 
 ducting the names counted twice, we find 
 that 66 would now fall in the first class, and 
 exactly the same number in the second. 
 Thus the discrepancy formerly existing 
 between the two classes has been adjusted 
 in the process of time. 8 
 
 It is important to note that the division 
 of members into sections is solely for the 
 purpose of facilitating nominations for new 
 
 8 DeCandolle notes a similar preference for the 
 mathematical and physical sciences on the part of 
 the Berlin Academy during the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, which was subsequently adjusted by revision 
 of the statutes. ("Histoire des Sciences et des 
 Savants/' 2 ed., p. 261.) 
 71 
 
elections, as now provided by the constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 In view of the preponderance of physi- 
 cists, it is not surprising that three fourths 
 of the scientific papers read at the first 
 Washington meeting were connected with 
 the physical sciences. These papers were 
 referred to the committee on publication, 
 with instructions to publish, but the lack of 
 funds for this purpose stood in the way. 
 When the first volume of the Memoirs 
 finally appeared in 1866, it contained but 
 two of these papers. It was then planned 
 to print the minor papers in the Proceed- 
 ings of the academy, but this was never 
 done. The first part of the first volume of 
 the Proceedings was published in 1877. 
 This contained the constitution and by- 
 laws, reports on the principal business ac- 
 tions of the Academy, and much miscel- 
 laneous matter relating to resolutions 
 passed, titles of papers presented, reports 
 of committees, etc. Publication of the Pro- 
 ceedings was discontinued in 1895, after 
 three parts had appeared. 9 In 1881, 649 
 papers had been read at the scientific ses- 
 sions. President Eogers, feeling that the 
 
 9 Op. tit., p. 44. 
 
 72 
 
Academy would have received much more 
 recognition from the scientific world if 
 these had been printed, strongly and re- 
 peatedly urged that the papers be collected 
 annually and transmitted to congress with 
 the report. 10 Unfortunately this was never 
 done, and the reports still give only an ab- 
 stract of the proceedings, in which the 
 papers appear by title. The importance 
 of reviving and enlarging the Proceedings 
 will be discussed in another article. 
 
 The Academy has published eleven vol- 
 umes of Memoirs, containing 68 quarto 
 papers, and seven volumes of Biographical 
 Memoirs of deceased members, in addition 
 to annual reports and reports of com- 
 mittees. 
 
 In view of the existence of a detailed 
 history of the Academy, it is quite unnec- 
 essary in the present paper to dwell at 
 length upon the events of the first fifty 
 years. A brief outline of the more impor- 
 tant work of the Academy is nevertheless 
 essential to clearness, especially in connec- 
 tion with the suggestions for the future 
 which are to be presented later. We may, 
 therefore, consider briefly: (1) the work 
 
 10 op. cit. y p. 51. 
 
 73 
 
of the members; (2) the Academy's work 
 for the national government; (3) medals 
 and trust funds, and (4) cooperation in re- 
 search. 
 
 THE WORK OF THE MEMBERS 
 
 In his report for 1867 as president of 
 the Academy, Joseph Henry spoke as fol- 
 lows of the conditions of membership: 
 
 It was implied in the organization of such a 
 body that it should be exclusively composed of men 
 distinguished for original research, and that to be 
 chosen one of its members would be considered a 
 high honor, and consequently a stimulus to scien- 
 tific labor, and that no one would be elected into 
 it who had not earned the distinction by actual 
 discoveries enlarging the field of human knowledge. 
 
 . . . since the original organization, the prin- 
 ciple before mentioned has been strictly observed, 
 and no one has been admitted except after a full 
 discussion of his claims and a satisfactory answer 
 to the question, "What has he done to advance 
 science in the line of research which he has espe- 
 cially prosecuted ?" 
 
 And again, in his valedictory address to 
 the Academy (1878), Henry returned to 
 this subject. 
 
 For this purpose great care must be exercised in 
 the selection of its members. It must not be for- 
 gotten for a moment that the basis of selection is 
 actual scientific labor in the way of original re- 
 74 
 
search; that is, in making positive additions to 
 the sum of human knowledge, connected with un- 
 impeachable moral character. 
 
 It is not social position, popularity, extended 
 authorship or success as an instructor in science, 
 which entitles to membership, but actual new dis- 
 coveries, nor are these sufficient if the reputation 
 of the candidate is in the slightest degree tainted 
 with injustice or want of truth. 
 
 These principles have been observed to 
 the present day, sometimes in the face of 
 great temptation to elect men eminent for 
 achievements other than those of original 
 research. Thus the Academy has counted 
 among its members the large majority of 
 the leaders of American science. While 
 it is of course impossible to describe their 
 individual contributions in these pages, 11 
 some remarks on the progress of American 
 research since the foundation of the Acad- 
 emy will be given in a later paper. 
 
 THE WORK OF THE ACADEMY FOB THE 
 NATION 
 
 In the first annual report of the presi- 
 dent of the Academy, presented to congress 
 in 1864, Professor Bache remarked: 
 
 11 Biographies of the incorporates may be found 
 in the "History of the National Academy/' so 
 often cited. 
 
 75 
 
The want of an institution by which the scien- 
 tific strength of the country may be brought, from 
 time to time, to the aid of the government in guid- 
 ing action by the knowledge of scientific principles 
 and experiments, has long been felt by the patri- 
 otic scientific men of the United States. No gov- 
 ernment of Europe has been willing to dispense 
 with a body, under some name, capable of render- 
 ing such aid to the government, and in turn of il- 
 lustrating the country by scientific discovery and 
 by literary culture. 
 
 In a previous paper the distinctive posi- 
 tion held by European academies as or- 
 ganizations of the government, and the 
 services they render to the state, have been 
 briefly described. 12 Here, as elsewhere in 
 these papers, we must not overlook the 
 special conditions which distinguish the 
 National Academy from similar bodies 
 abroad. The Royal Society and the Paris 
 Academy of Sciences, dating from the 
 earliest beginnings of science in England 
 and France, have been the media through 
 which the great advances of more than two 
 centuries have reached the world. Discov- 
 ery after discovery, first presented at their 
 meetings and published in their proceed- 
 ings, has been rightly associated in the 
 
 12 SCIENCE, November 14, 1913. 
 76 
 
 
 
public mind with these great societies, 
 which have fostered science and encour- 
 aged the labors of investigators. Thus 
 they have acquired a prestige and a power 
 in the state which could arise in no other 
 way. It is not enough for a nation to 
 charter an organization and to authorize it 
 to act as the adviser of the government in 
 scientific affairs. Appreciation of the 
 fundamental importance of science as the 
 source of all industrial progress, and con- 
 fidence in the body appointed to advise the 
 nation, are obvious prerequisites to that 
 cooperation between statesmen and men of 
 science which is essential to complete suc- 
 cess. 
 
 In spite of the disadvantage of a widely 
 scattered membership, whose (discoveries 
 and contributions to science have always 
 reached the world through other channels, 
 and with no home of its own to focus at- 
 tention on its activities, the National Acad- 
 emy has often been called into the service 
 of the country. It will be sufficient to give 
 here a list of the subjects on which the 
 Academy has been consulted by the govern- 
 ment, referring the reader to the "History 
 77 
 
of the National Academy" (pp. 201 to 
 331) for all details. 
 
 COMMITTEES APPOINTED BY THE ACADEMY ON 
 BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT 
 
 1. Committees appointed in accordance with Acts 
 
 of Congress. 
 
 1871. On the Transit of Venus. 
 
 1872. On Preparing Instructions for the 
 
 Polaris Expedition. 
 
 1878. On a Plan for Surveying and Mapping 
 
 the Territories of the United States. 
 
 1879. On a National Board of Health. 
 
 1894. To Prescribe and Publish Specifications 
 for the Practical Application of the 
 Definitions of the Ampere and Volt. 
 
 1908. On the Methods and Expenses of Con- 
 ducting Scientific Work Under the 
 Government. 
 
 2. Committees appointed at the request of Joint 
 
 Commissions and Committees of Congress. 
 
 1884. On the Signal Service of the Army, the 
 Geological Survey, the Coast and 
 Geodetic Survey, and the Hydro- 
 graphic Office of the Navy Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 1902. On the Establishment of a National 
 Forest Eeserve in the Southern Ap- 
 palachians. 
 
 3. Committees appointed at the request of the 
 
 President of the United States. 
 1870. On the Protection of Coal Mines from 
 Explosion by Means of Electricity. 
 78 
 
J902. On Scientific Explorations in the Philip- 
 pines. 
 4. Committees appointed at the request of the 
 
 Treasury Department. 
 
 1863. On the National Currency (Confidential). 
 1863. On Weights, Measures and Coinage. 
 
 1863. On Saxton's Alcoholometer. 
 
 1864. On Materials for the Manufacture of 
 
 Cent Coins. 
 
 1866. On the Prevention of Counterfeiting. 
 
 1866. On Spirit Meters. 
 
 1866. On Proving and Gauging Distilled Spir- 
 its and Preventing Fraud. 
 
 1866. On Metric Standards for the States. 
 
 1870. On the Effect of Chemicals on Internal 
 Eevenue Stamps. 
 
 1873. On an International Bureau of Weights 
 and Measures. 
 
 1875. On Water -proofing the Fractional Cur- 
 rency. 
 
 1875. On Means of distinguishing Calf's Hair 
 
 from Woolen Goods (Confidential). 
 
 1876. On Artificial Coloring of Sugars to Sim- 
 
 ulate a Lower Grade According to the 
 Standard on which Duties are Levied 
 (Confidential). 
 
 1876. On the Use of Polarized Light to Deter- 
 
 mine the Values of Sugars. 
 
 1877. On Demerara Sugars. 
 
 1878. On Building Stone to be used for the 
 
 Custom House at Chicago (no re- 
 port). 
 
 79 
 
1882. On the Separation of Methyl Alcohol or 
 Wood Spirits from Ethyl Alcohol. 
 
 1882. On Glucose. 
 
 1882. On Triangulation Connecting the At- 
 lantic and Pacific Coasts (no report). 
 
 1884. On Philosophical and Scientific Appa- 
 
 ratus. 
 
 1885. On the Tariff Classification of Wools. 
 1886 
 
 and 
 
 1887. On the Morphine Content of Opium. 
 
 1887. On Quartz Plates used in Saccharimeters 
 for Sugar Determinations. 
 
 1890. To Formulate a Plan for a Systematic 
 Search for the North Magnetic Pole. 
 5. Committees appointed at the request of the Navy 
 Department. 
 
 1863. On Protecting the Bottoms of Iron Ves- 
 sels. 
 
 1863. On Magnetic Deviation in Iron Ships. 
 
 1863. On Wind and Current Charts and Sail- 
 
 ing Directions. 
 
 1864. On the Explosion on the United States 
 
 Steamer Chenango. 
 1864. On Experiments on the Expansion of 
 
 Steam. 
 1877. On Proposed Changes in the American 
 
 Ephemeris. 
 
 1881. On the Transit of Venus. 
 1885. On the Astronomical Day, the Solar 
 
 Eclipse of 1886, and the Erection of 
 
 a New Naval Observatory. 
 
 80 
 
6. Committees appointed at the request of the War 
 
 Department. 
 
 1864. On the Question of Tests for the Purity 
 of Whiskey. 
 
 1866. On the Preservation of Paint on Army 
 
 Knapsacks. 
 
 1867. On Galvanic Action from Association of 
 
 Zinc and Iron. 
 
 1873. On the Exploration of the Yellowstone. 
 1881. On Questions 'of Meteorological Science 
 
 and its Application. 
 
 7. Committees appointed at the request of the De- 
 
 partment of State. 
 
 1866. On the Improvement of Greytown Har- 
 bor, Nicaragua. 
 
 1903. On the Restoration of the Declaration of 
 Independence. 
 
 8. Committees appointed at the request of the De- 
 
 partment of Agriculture. 
 1870. On Silk Culture in the United States. 
 1881. On Sorghum Sugar. 
 
 9. Committees appointed at the request of the De- 
 
 partment of the Interior. 
 
 1880. On the Restoration of the Declaration 
 of Independence. 
 
 1896. On the Inauguration of a Rational For- 
 est Policy for the Forested Lands 
 of the United States. 
 
 It will be noticed that many of the ques- 
 tions referred to the Academy are of such 
 a nature that, at the present day, they 
 could be satisfactorily answered by one or 
 
 81 
 
another of the scientific departments of the 
 government. This probably accounts for 
 the fact that the requests for the Academy 's 
 assistance have become less numerous as 
 the national laboratories and scientific 
 bureaus have multiplied and improved. 
 But after full allowance has been made for 
 such wholly desirable developments, it re- 
 mains true that questions of broad scope, 
 requiring the cooperation of authorities in 
 several fields of knowledge for their solu- 
 tion, must arise from time to time. In 
 such cases the Academy can afford assist- 
 ance obtainable in no other way, and an 
 enlightened government will advantage- 
 ously seek its counsel. 
 
 The overthrow of the spoils system in 
 national politics will afford the Academy 
 another opportunity to serve the nation. 
 In France, when a professorship in the na- 
 tional university, or the directorship of a 
 national observatory or laboratory falls 
 vacant, the Academy of Sciences is re- 
 quested to present its first and second 
 choice of a successor. The Minister of Pub- 
 lic Instruction then appoints one of the 
 nominees to the position. In the United 
 82 
 
States the need of such counsel is no less 
 urgent than in France. 
 
 MEDALS AND TRUST FUNDS 
 
 Election to the National Academy has 
 always been appreciated as a high honor 
 by American men of science. Fortunately, 
 however, the recognition and assistance the 
 Academy has been able to afford to investi- 
 gators has not been confined to the gift of 
 this mark of distinction. From time to 
 time trust funds have been established, the 
 incomes of which are devoted to the award 
 of medals or to grants for research. The 
 will of Alexander Dallas Bache, first presi- 
 dent of the Academy, directed that the 
 residue of his estate, after the death of his 
 wife, should be paid over to the National 
 Academy of Sciences for the ' ' prosecution 
 of researches in Physical and Natural Sci- 
 ence by assisting experimentalists and ob- 
 servers." Bache 's excellent example has 
 often been followed, with the results shown 
 in the following table. 
 
 The importance of the part played by 
 these funds in advancing science may be 
 illustrated by reference to some of the re- 
 sults obtained. 
 
 83 
 
General 
 Researc 
 Prize ev 
 ele 
 
 M 
 
 iifl 1 !! 
 
 'Sc-2 g &g >*v I | 
 C o^ 2 l- s ^3 a S 
 OH A C 
 
 ooo ^ oocoo 
 
 O O !>.* O o O l> O 
 
 O CO O O O 1~^ O 
 
 O CO "^ O O CO O 
 
 cTco"cT cT co^cTc 
 
 o 
 
 o" 
 
 13 
 ' 
 
 8.8.8 - 
 
 * o o o 
 
 o o o 
 
 o *o o o 
 
 CO 
 
 00 
 cd 
 
 rH t- O 
 
 as oo aj 
 
 CO l> C<1 rH lO 
 
 Oi O5 rH rH OO 
 
 OO OO C5 O> OO 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 :O 
 
 : o 
 
 oa^a 
 
 fi -.9 
 
 a 
 
 a> 
 
 W 
 
 ^ 
 
 g 
 
 .2 
 
 O 
 
 s 
 
 60 
 
 a 
 
 PQ 
 
 84 
 
The Agassiz Fund has proved to be of 
 great value in meeting the general expenses 
 of the Academy, for which there was for- 
 merly no provision except the dues of the 
 members. 
 
 The Bache Fund made twelve appropri- 
 ations to Hilgard for his magnetic survey 
 of the United States, four to Langley for 
 his important studies of the physical con- 
 stitution of the sun, six to Wolcott Gibbs 
 for his researches on complex inorganic 
 acids and his studies of the action of chem- 
 ical compounds upon the animal system, 
 one each to Newcomb and Michelson for 
 their classic determinations of the veloc- 
 ity of light, three others to Michelson for 
 his equally fundamental optical researches, 
 six to Rowland for his great work in map- 
 ping and identifying the lines of the solar 
 spectrum, three to Pickering for his pio- 
 neer researches in stellar photography, two 
 to Gould for his measurements of the Cor- 
 doba photographs of the southern heavens, 
 six to Boss for his studies of solar and 
 stellar motions and his precise measures of 
 standard stars, and two to Osborn for the 
 work of the Academy Committee on Corre- 
 lation. These cases include only a fraction 
 85 
 
of the total number of grants from the 
 fund. 
 
 The Barnard Gold Medal for Meritorious 
 Services to Science, awarded every five 
 years by Columbia University to the nomi- 
 nee of the National Academy, has been 
 given to Kayleigh, Rontgen, Becquerel and 
 Kutherford. 
 
 The first award of th Comstock Prize of 
 fifteen hundred dollars was made last 
 April to Professor Eobert Millikan, of the 
 University of Chicago, for his researches 
 on the charge of the electron and related 
 investigations. 
 
 The Henry Draper Gold Medal for astro- 
 physical research has been awarded to 
 Langley, Pickering, Rowland, Vogel, 
 Keeler, Huggins, Hale, Campbell, Abbot 
 and Deslandres. Several grants to assist 
 investigation have also been made from the 
 surplus income. 
 
 The capital of the Wolcott Gibbs Fund 
 for chemical research is being increased by 
 additions of accumulated income, and no 
 grants are being made at present. The in- 
 come of the Marsh Fund is also being 
 added to the capital. 
 
 A large number of investigations have 
 86 
 
been assisted by the Gould Fund, includ- 
 ing those of Doolittle, Parkhurst, Yendell, 
 Newcomb, Leavenworth, Comstock and 
 others. At present the income is used 
 mainly for the support of the Astronom- 
 ical Journal. 
 
 The Alexander Agassiz Gold Medal, es- 
 tablished by Sir John Murray for oceano- 
 graphic research, was awarded for the first 
 time last April to Dr. Johan Hjort, of the 
 Norwegian Fish Commission, for his val- 
 uable contributions to knowledge relating 
 to deep-sea life. 
 
 The Lawrence Smith Gold Medal for the 
 investigation of meteoric bodies has been 
 awarded but once, to H. A. Newton, of 
 Yale, for his researches on the orbits of 
 meteors. Appropriations from the fund 
 have supplied Yale University with appa- 
 ratus for the photography of meteors, and 
 provided for the publication of a catalogue 
 of meteorites, for their chemical analysis 
 and for the study of their luminous trains. 
 
 The Watson Fund has aided the impor- 
 tant work of Chandler on the variation of 
 latitude, and that of Comstock on the con- 
 stant of aberration, in addition to many 
 other important grants. Since 1901 the 
 87 
 
income has been very effectively used by 
 Leuschner in the computation of the per- 
 turbations of the asteroids discovered by 
 Watson. The Watson Gold Medal, with 
 one hundred dollars in gold, has been 
 awarded to Gould, Schonfeld, Auwers, 
 Chandler, Gill and Kapteyn for their as- 
 tronomical investigations. 
 
 In view of its national charter, the high 
 plane of its membership, and its special 
 advantages as the representative of the 
 United States in the International Associa- 
 tion of Academies, the National Academy 
 is most favorably qualified for the custody 
 and efficient use of trust funds. Apprecia- 
 tion of this fact, amply indicated by the 
 above list of gifts and bequests, should 
 grow with the reputation of the Academy. 
 It is safe to predict that the privilege of 
 securing the Academy's aid in the control 
 and disbursement of large sums for the 
 benefit of science will be widely sought in 
 the future. In this connection attention 
 should be called to the present lack of 
 medals and funds especially devoted to 
 the recognition and aid of researches in 
 mathematics, engineering, geology and va- 
 88 
 
rious departments of biology and anthro- 
 pology. 
 
 COOPERATION IN RESEARCH 
 
 As an agent for the furtherance of co- 
 operative research, the National Academy 
 occupies a unique position among Ameri- 
 can societies. In these days of far-reach- 
 ing investigations, involving the common 
 action of men of science distributed 
 throughout the world, the great majority 
 of cooperative projects are international 
 in character. Here the peculiar advantage 
 of the Academy appears. The Interna- 
 tional Association of Academies is made 
 up of the national academies of sixteen 
 countries. Each academy is pledged to 
 support only such cooperative undertak- 
 ings as are endorsed by the association. 
 Thus the constituent members of this body, 
 through their delegates at its triennial 
 meetings, are most favorably placed for 
 the initiation and furtherance of such in- 
 ternational movements. 
 
 As an illustration of the work already 
 undertaken by the National Academy in 
 this field, mention may be made of the 
 International Union for Cooperation in 
 Solar Eesearch. In 1904, the Academy, 
 89 
 
through its Committee on Solar Research, 
 invited various academies, physical and 
 astronomical societies, and other organiza- 
 tions interested in the subject, to send dele- 
 gates to a conference, with a view to the 
 initiation of international cooperation in 
 this field. Meetings have since been held 
 at Oxford in 1905, Paris in 1907, Mount 
 Wilson in 1910 and Bonn in 1913. The 
 constituent societies, each of which is rep- 
 resented in the Union by a standing com- 
 mittee, are as follows: 
 
 The Royal Society of London, the Acad- 
 emies of Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, 
 Paris, St. Petersburg, Stockholm and 
 Vienna, the Swiss Society of Natural Sci- 
 ences, the Astronomical Societies of Lon- 
 don, America, France and Canada, the 
 Physical Societies of Berlin, Italy, Spain, 
 France and America, the Society of Italian 
 Spectroscopists, the Solar Physics Com- 
 mittee, the Solar Sub-committee of the In- 
 ternational Meteorological Committee and 
 the National Academy of Sciences. 
 
 The standards of wave-length which are 
 being established by the Union, as the re- 
 sult of extensive cooperative studies, will 
 be used universally by spectroscopists. In- 
 ternational committees, appointed by the 
 90 
 
Solar Union, are studying the solar rota- 
 tion, the spectra of sun-spots and the in- 
 tensity of the solar radiation, on a com- 
 mon plan. Spectroheliographs are also in 
 use, for the almost continuous photography 
 of the sun, at the observatories of Kodai- 
 kanal, India; Catania, Sicily; Potsdam, 
 Germany; Meudon, France; Tortosa, 
 Spain; Cambridge, England; Williams 
 Bay, Wisconsin; Tacubaya, Mexico; and 
 Mount Wilson, California. 
 
 A new solar observatory, which is about 
 to be established in New Zealand through 
 the generosity of Mr. Thomas Cawthron, 
 will fill the gap in longitude between Cali- 
 fornia and India, and thus aid in keeping 
 the rapidly changing phenomena of the 
 solar atmosphere constantly under obser- 
 vation. At the Mount Wilson meeting of 
 the Union, it was decided to enlarge its 
 scope so as to include the whole range of 
 astrophysics, and a representative com- 
 mittee was appointed to report on the 
 classification of stellar spectra. It is now 
 evident that the Solar Union is destined to 
 play an increasingly important part in the 
 field of international research. 
 
 The Solar Union is one of the organiza- 
 tions endorsed by the International As- 
 
 91 
 
sociation of Academies, to which it makes 
 regular reports. Another of the interna- 
 tional investigations conducted under the 
 auspices of the association is that of the 
 Brain Commission, the American Com- 
 mittee of which is also closely related to 
 the National Academy. 
 
 The Committee on International Paleon- 
 tologic Correlation, appointed by the Acad- 
 emy in 1908, has recently completed its 
 work. Aided by the Bache Fund, the com- 
 mittee has pushed forward the important 
 work of correlating the geologic forma- 
 tions of Europe and America on the basis 
 of their paleontologic contents. The re- 
 sults have been published in a series of 
 papers, by members of the committee, most 
 of which treat of the mammals of the ter- 
 tiary epoch and the formations which con- 
 tain them in North America. Marsh and 
 Cope dealt with the formation of the 
 American Eocene as units, even when their 
 thickness ranged from 1,000 to 2,000 feet 
 These formational units have now been 
 split up into sub-units, or life zones, 
 usually distinguished by geologic discon- 
 tinuity. At the same time there has been 
 a marked increase in the precision of re- 
 cording the succession of species in certain 
 
 92 
 
formations which contain several levels of 
 life zones, thus permitting exact compari- 
 sons with other life zones to be instituted. 
 The importance of such work is obvious in 
 connection with the trend and rate of de- 
 velopment in different parts of the world, 
 the possibility of geographic intercourse at 
 certain epochs, and the cycles of physio- 
 graphic and climatic change. 
 
 It is thus evident that the Academy is in 
 a most favorable position to extend its oper- 
 ations in the field of international research, 
 where the advantages of its national and 
 representative character are felt to the full, 
 and the disadvantages of its scattered mem- 
 bership are of minor importance. 
 
 From this brief survey it appears that 
 the National Academy of Sciences, in spite 
 of many obstacles, has played an impor- 
 tant part in the development of American 
 science. The time is now favorable for an 
 extension of its work into new fields, which 
 must be occupied if the special opportuni- 
 ties and obligations implied by the Acad- 
 emy's national charter are to be fully 
 realized. In a later article some of the 
 possibilities of future progress will be con- 
 sidered. 
 
 93 
 
III. THE FUTURE OF THE NA- 
 TIONAL ACADEMY OF 
 SCIENCES 1 
 
 IN previous papers of this series 2 we 
 have traced the development of European 
 academies and observed the powerful in- 
 fluence they have exercised on the advance- 
 ment of research; we have watched the 
 beginnings of scientific investigation in the 
 
 1 This paper was presented at the Baltimore 
 meeting of the National Academy in November, 
 1913. By action of the council, a manuscript 
 copy was subsequently sent by the home secretary 
 to each member of the academy for criticism and 
 comment. In preparing the paper for publica- 
 tion, the author has had the advantage of seeing 
 these replies. Except for a few minor verbal 
 changes, the text is printed in its original form, 
 with the addition of new paragraphs in square 
 brackets. 
 
 21. "The Work of European Academies/' 
 SCIENCE, 38, 681, 1913. II. "The First Half 
 Century of the National Academy of Sciences," 
 SCIENCE, 39, 189, 1914. 
 
 94 
 
United States, and their public recognition 
 by act of Congress establishing the National 
 Academy of Sciences ; and we have followed 
 the history of the Academy during the half 
 century which has elapsed since its origin. 
 In view of the great part which academies 
 have played in the past, and the fact that 
 the rapid development of original research 
 in this country has carried us out of the 
 pioneer period, the National Academy now 
 faces an exceptional opportunity to impress 
 its influence upon the future scientific 
 work of the United States. But if it enjoys 
 an opportunity, it also faces a duty, im- 
 posed upon it by its national charter and 
 by its position as the sole representative of 
 America in the International Association 
 of Academies. The history of the Acad- 
 emy shows that it has taken its obligations 
 seriously, by complying with requests from 
 the executive and legislative departments 
 of the government for advice on scientific 
 matters, by the use of trust funds for the 
 advancement of research, by the award of 
 prizes and grants for investigation, by the 
 initiation and support of international co- 
 operation in research, and by such other 
 95 
 
means as its limited endowment has per- 
 mitted. But while the rapid growth of the 
 scientific bureaus of the government has 
 reduced the number of questions which 
 would otherwise be submitted to the Acad- 
 emy, the enormous increase in the wealth 
 of the country, and the expansion of its 
 trade relations have raised new problems 
 and advanced new opportunities. These 
 developments, which have resulted in the 
 multiplication of universities, observatories 
 and laboratories, and the foundation of 
 great endowments for research, place the 
 Academy in a new position, and impose the 
 question whether it can not now accomplish 
 much more than was formerly possible. It 
 is the purpose of this paper to open the 
 discussion of this question, in the hope that 
 its further consideration by other members 
 may lead to an extension of the work and 
 usefulness of the Academy. 
 
 Fortunately we may take advantage of 
 the rich store of experience accumulated 
 by the European academies during their 
 long histories. In seeking to adapt this to 
 our own needs, we must of course recognize 
 the special conditions existing in the United 
 States. The great area over which our 
 
 96 
 
members are distributed and the lack of any 
 such centralization as we see in London or 
 in Paris, will always stand in the way of 
 weekly meetings like those of the Royal 
 Society and the Paris Academy. But if 
 we can not hope to see our leading inves- 
 tigators personally demonstrate each step 
 in their progress before academic audi- 
 ences, as Faraday and Pasteur and many 
 another have done abroad, we can never- 
 theless provide for lectures and papers 
 illustrated by experiments in connection 
 with the semi-annual meetings of the Acad- 
 emy, and possibly for others of a public 
 character, extending throughout the year, 
 after the manner of the Royal Institution 
 of London. {The disadvantage of our mem- 
 bers in being unable to read accounts of 
 their latest advances before weekly meet- 
 ings of their colleagues can also be largely 
 offset by the publication of Proceedings, 
 in which the first results of all new work 
 may be adequately presented. Thus, 
 though we lack some of the advantages of 
 centralization, these may be largely over- 
 come, while retaining the very great ad- 
 vantage of a widely distributed membership 
 97 
 
representing the scientific interests of every 
 section of the country. 
 
 FUNCTIONS OF A NATIONAL ACADEMY 
 
 The criticism has sometimes been directed 
 against academies covering the whole range 
 of knowledge that their place has been 
 sufficiently filled by the special societies 
 devoted to particular branches of science. 
 For more than a century the Royal Society 
 and the Paris Academy served all the pur- 
 poses of science in Great Britain and 
 France, but toward the end of the eight- 
 eenth century special societies began to 
 develop in England. The establishment of 
 the Linnean Society in 1788 did not appear 
 to give special concern to the members of 
 the Royal Society. But when the Geolog- 
 ical Society was instituted in 1807, Sir 
 Joseph Banks, then President of the Royal 
 Society, united with Sir Humphry Davy 
 and others in a strenuous attempt to amal- 
 gamate it with the parent body. The Royal 
 Astronomical Society was established in 
 1820, partly as the result of the accumula- 
 tion of valuable observations too extensive 
 for the Royal Society to publish. Sir 
 Joseph, though he had himself aided in the 
 
 98 
 
establishment of the Linnean Society, was 
 greatly perturbed at this further develop- 
 ment. A short time later he died in the 
 belief that the special societies had struck 
 a severe blow at the respectability and use- 
 fulness of the Royal Society, by robbing it 
 of many of its members and laying claim to 
 some of its most important departments. 3 
 But his fears were wholly unwarranted, 
 and the special societies continued to grow 
 and multiply, to the advantage of science 
 and of the Royal Society itself. Their ex- 
 tensive publications have not detracted from 
 the volume or the quality of the Philosoph- 
 ical Transactions and the Proceedings, and 
 each of these societies, by contributing to 
 the development of some special field, has 
 helped to build up that great organization 
 of British science of which the Royal Soci- 
 ety is the acknowledged and venerated head. 
 These details will not be out of place if 
 they help to emphasize a principle which 
 should always be respected in the work of 
 the National Academy. The societies and 
 journals which have been established to 
 
 3 Barrow, ' ' Sketches of the Koyal Society, ' ' 
 pp. 10, 256; Weld, "History of the Eoyal So- 
 ciety, " pp. 242, 246. 
 
 99 
 
meet the needs of scientific progress have 
 come to stay. It is neither necessary nor 
 in any way desirable to usurp their func- 
 tions, which are the result of a natural 
 process of evolution. There is ample room, 
 however, for academies devoted to the 
 whole range of science. The rapid advance 
 of research in a thousand ramifying fields 
 has left much intermediate territory un- 
 explored. The approach to these undevel- 
 oped regions may be made from more than 
 one direction, and through the aid of more 
 than one method. Thus nothing can be 
 more stimulating to the progress of re- 
 search than an acquaintance with the in- 
 vestigations and processes which are con- 
 stantly being developed in fields other than 
 one's own. Mathematics has received its 
 principal impulses from astronomy and 
 physics. Physical chemistry is indebted, 
 on the one hand, to Pfeffer the botanist for 
 the study of vegetable cells, and on the 
 other to the mathematical and physical in- 
 vestigations of Willard Gibbs, Van der 
 Waals and Arrhenius. Astrophysics came 
 into existence through the use in astronomy 
 of the spectroscope and other physical in- 
 struments. Every department of science 
 100 
 
sheds a luster which should illuminate, not 
 only its particular territories, but others, 
 near and far, occupied by other workers. 
 The importance of recognizing and utiliz- 
 ing this fact must therefore increase as time 
 goes on. 
 
 [It has been truly said that an academy 
 can hope to accomplish large results only 
 as it succeeds in meeting the conditions of 
 the present rather than those of the past. 
 What are existing conditions in science? 
 Surely none is more striking than the con- 
 traction of the field of the average inves- 
 tigator. Specialization is inevitable in the 
 maze of modern progress, and the narrow- 
 ing effect of constant devotion to a single 
 subject must become still more apparent 
 as science ramifies further. A general 
 academy, by insisting on the importance of 
 large relationships, by demonstrating the 
 unity of knowledge, by recognizing the fact 
 that fundamental methods of research, 
 wherever developed, are likely to be appli- 
 cable in more than one department, can do 
 much to broaden and to stimulate its mem- 
 bers. The correlation of research should 
 be counted as one of its prime objects, and 
 101 
 
its energies should be largely directed to 
 this important end.] 
 
 We are thus led to the conclusion that 
 the functions of a National Academy should 
 be of the broadest character, and that the 
 advantage of sharing in the results of all 
 its departments should belong to every 
 member. Thus the policy of our National 
 Academy of avoiding division into separate 
 sections, 4 and of bringing papers on the 
 most diverse subjects before the entire body, 
 is fundamentally sound and should be 
 maintained. Later in this paper the ques- 
 tion will be considered whether the range 
 of the Academy's activities should be ex- 
 tended so as to give increased recognition 
 to departments of knowledge other than the 
 physical and natural sciences. 
 
 Under the conditions now existing in the 
 United States, there is reason to believe 
 that the functions of the National Academy 
 might well be multiplied so as to meet a 
 wide variety of needs. It should stand, 
 first of all, as a leading source and sup- 
 porter of original research and as the na- 
 tional representative of the great body of 
 American investigators in science. To the 
 
 * Except for voting purposes. 
 102 
 
government it should make itself necessary 
 by the high standard of its work, the broad 
 range of its endeavors, and the sane and 
 scientific spirit underlying all of its actions. 
 To its members it should offer stimulus and 
 encouragement in their investigations ; due 
 recognition of their advances; financial 
 assistance and the use of instruments at 
 critical periods in their work; the advan- 
 tage of listening to papers ranging over the 
 whole field of science, bearing suggestions 
 of principles or methods likely to develop 
 new ideas ; contact with the greatest leaders 
 of research from all countries and oppor- 
 tunities to listen to descriptions of their 
 work ; access to books and manuscripts not 
 easily obtainable from other sources; and 
 participation in international cooperative 
 projects in eveiy field of investigation. In 
 the public mind it should rank as the na- 
 tional exponent of science, and as the 
 agency best qualified to bring forward and 
 illustrate the latest advances of its own 
 members and of the scientific world at 
 large. To representatives of manufactures 
 and industries, the Academy should serve 
 to promote the appreciation and widespread 
 use of the scientific principles and methods 
 103 
 
which have built up the great industrial 
 prosperity of Germany. With other soci- 
 eties devoted to various branches of science, 
 it should cooperate in harmony with the 
 best interests of American research. To- 
 ward local bodies for the encouragement 
 of investigation and the diffusion of knowl- 
 edge, it should act as an inspiring example 
 and a reliable source of support. And in 
 the broad field of international cooperation, 
 it should unite with the leading academies 
 of the world in the endeavor to perfect the 
 organization of research and in the use of 
 all agencies contributing to its advance- 
 ment. 
 
 NEEDS OF THE ACADEMY 
 
 Many of these objects have been accom- 
 plished by the National Academy in the 
 past, but others remain for the future. The 
 greatest aid in accomplishing its full work 
 would be met by the provision of a suitable 
 academy building, and an endowment suffi- 
 cient to publish Proceedings, conduct re- 
 search, provide public lectures, maintain 
 exhibits illustrating current investigations, 
 and to meet such additional needs as are 
 implied by the Academy's national charter 
 104 
 
and its obligations to the scientific world 
 and the general public. Through the cour- 
 tesy of the Smithsonian Institution, ex- 
 tended in the year of the academy 's organi- 
 zation, the annual meetings are held in the 
 National Museum, in rooms ordinarily em- 
 ployed for other purposes. Thus the Acad- 
 emy does not even possess a permanent 
 office, or a room for its library, which will 
 be needed in the future for its work of re- 
 search. It has therefore been compelled 
 from the outset to decline many offers of 
 books, and thus a large and valuable collec- 
 tion, comprising publications offered by 
 many of the great academies, laboratories 
 and observatories of the world, has been 
 lost. 5 
 
 It is difficult to overestimate the value of 
 a suitable building in commanding public 
 appreciation and support for any institu- 
 tion. Visible evidence of the Academy's 
 existence is a matter of no small impor- 
 tance, when it is remembered that the 
 average American citizen, though well- 
 acquainted with the name of the Paris 
 
 5 The Academy has accepted some gifts of 
 books, which are packed away (unbound) in the 
 storerooms of the Smithsonian Institution. 
 105 
 
Academy through press reports of dis- 
 coveries announced there, has never heard 
 of our own national organization. But 
 a building used as a storehouse and occu- 
 pied but once a year is not enough. The 
 Academy must be known as a living and 
 active body, which recognizes and fulfills 
 its many duties to science and the public. 
 If its headquarters were constantly em- 
 ployed for such purposes as are enumerated 
 later, the Academy would soon be looked 
 upon as the natural source of information 
 regarding the latest developments of sci- 
 ence, and more generally recognized as the 
 national representative of American re- 
 search. 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF PUBLISHING PROCEEDINGS 
 
 As explained in a previous paper, the 
 name of the National Academy has never 
 been associated with the work of its mem- 
 bers, since the papers read at its meetings 
 have not been published by the Academy. 
 Thus it has not been sufficiently identified 
 with the progress of American research, 
 and the chief source of the reputation of 
 the Paris Academy and the Royal Society 
 has been lacking. But though the Academy 
 106 
 
would become more widely known by the 
 publication of Proceedings, it would be 
 foolish to take such a step merely to accom- 
 plish this purpose. The establishment of 
 a new journal, in these days when the litera- 
 ture of science has become exceedingly com- 
 plex, should never be undertaken without ' 
 serious consideration of its probable use- 
 fulness. If it fulfills no good and lasting 
 purpose, its life will be deservedly short. 
 Hence we may not imitate the example of 
 societies which established their publica- 
 tions before the special journals had taken 
 the field. We must recognize, on the one 
 hand, that the various journals devoted to 
 particular branches of science meet a 
 clearly defined need and should not be 
 rivaled, even to the apparent advantage of 
 the Academy. On the other hand, we must 
 also remember that the members of the 
 Academy have adopted a regular plan of 
 publication, the interruption of which 
 might interfere with the accessibility of 
 their papers. Thus, if Proceedings are to 
 be established, they should be so planned 
 as to serve a useful scientific end and be 
 distinctly advantageous, not merely to the 
 Academy itself, but to all of its members. 
 107 
 
I am strongly of the opinion that no 
 step which can be taken at the present time 
 would be so beneficial to the National Acad- 
 emy as the publication of Proceedings con- 
 taining the first announcements of impor- 
 tant advances and the chief results of 
 American research. I believe, further- 
 more, that this can be done in such a 
 way as to benefit the members and con- 
 tribute to the advancement of science. In 
 many departments of the Academy's work 
 papers published in the special American 
 journals of limited foreign circulation do 
 not reach a sufficiently large group of 
 European readers. I am told that this is 
 particularly true in biology, where Amer- 
 ican investigators are producing a great 
 body of results of the first importance. 
 Thus the Proceedings of the Academy, if 
 properly distributed, might be made to 
 serve the very useful purpose of bringing 
 the work of a large number of investigators 
 to the attention of scholars abroad. But 
 in order to preserve all interests, and to 
 interfere in the least degree with present 
 plans of publication, the Proceedings 
 should not be designed to occupy such a 
 place as the special journals adequately fill. 
 108 
 
[The chief advantage of the Proceedings 
 would not be the same in all departments of 
 science. In mathematics, where the exist- 
 ing journals are greatly overcrowded, 
 prompt publication of the condensed re- 
 sults of new research would be heartily wel- 
 comed. The same thing is true in botany 
 and in many other subjects. In fact, im- 
 proved means of prompt publication would 
 be generally appreciated by Academy mem- 
 bers. In biology, as already remarked, the 
 great number of special journals prevents 
 many of them from reaching European 
 laboratories, where American research is 
 frequently overlooked as a consequence. 
 In astronomy and astrophysics, which have 
 fewer journals, the circulation of the chief 
 American journals is large, and their con- 
 tents reach all astronomers abroad. But 
 the practise of publishing separate series 
 of circulars or bulletins, which has been 
 adopted by many American observatories, 
 confines the circulation of their papers to 
 the limited number of astronomers and ob- 
 servatories on their mailing lists. If brief 
 accounts of the broader aspects of these in- 
 vestigations were printed by the Academy, 
 they would be useful to astronomers making 
 
 109 
 
a general survey of progress in their own 
 field. But they would be even more service- 
 able to the mathematician, physicist, 
 meteorologist, chemist, geologist or other 
 investigator who may find information of 
 direct or suggestive value in the results of 
 astronomical research. Conversely, even 
 those astronomers who keep in touch with 
 progress in mathematics or physics can not 
 also examine the numerous journals of 
 chemistry, geology and other subjects which 
 contain results applicable in their own 
 work. It will thus be seen that the Acad- 
 emy could perform an important service in 
 its special province of correlating knowl- 
 edge by publishing papers covering the 
 whole range of science. 
 
 The value of the Proceedings in strength- 
 ening the position of American science at 
 home and abroad should not be overlooked. 
 The rapid progress of American research 
 in a single field may be known to the Euro- 
 pean specialist, but he may not realize that 
 similar advances in other departments have 
 raised American science to a new level. 
 Recognition of this fact is desirable, not 
 for the gratification of national pride, but 
 because the international influence of 
 
 110 
 
America in science will grow with its pres- 
 tige. The combination of effort which the 
 Proceedings would represent, and the dem- 
 onstration they would afford of American 
 activity in research, are factors of real 
 significance in securing that recognition 
 and standing, both at home and abroad, 
 which is needed to accelerate future prog- 
 ress.] 
 
 To accomplish the desired result, it would 
 seem that the Proceedings should be inter- 
 mediate in character between the Comptes 
 Eendus of the Paris Academy and the Pro- 
 ceedings of the Royal Society. Papers read 
 before the Paris Academy on Monday are 
 printed and issued in the Comptes Eendus 
 on the following Saturday a record for 
 speed which we should not expect to rival. 
 Such accelerated publication, while it 
 doubtless possesses certain advantages, 
 renders impossible that more leisurely 
 editorial examination which most journals 
 demand. The Proceedings of the Royal 
 Society, on the other hand, appear at irreg- 
 ular intervals, and frequently contain long 
 and detailed papers, which with us might 
 better find a place in the special journals. 
 In the case of the National Academy it is 
 ill 
 
doubtful whether publication at shorter 
 intervals than one month is necessary, but 
 the possible advantages of fortnightly pub- 
 lication should be carefully considered. 
 
 It goes without saying that papers for the 
 Proceedings, while comparatively brief (per- 
 haps averaging from three to five pages), 
 should not be hasty announcements based 
 on inadequate data. On the contrary, the 
 dignity of the National Academy and the 
 best interests of its members demand that 
 only carefully matured conclusions, re- 
 sulting from prolonged observational or 
 theoretical research, should appear under 
 the Academy's imprint. Measures and 
 other exact data needed to establish these 
 conclusions would be a necessary part of 
 such papers, though long numerical tables, 
 profuse illustrations, and detailed accounts 
 of minor topics should be reserved for pub- 
 lication in the special journals, to which 
 members would continue to contribute as 
 before. The Academy Proceedings would 
 thus serve for the first announcement of 
 discoveries and of the more important con- 
 tributions to research, illustrated by line 
 cuts 'and occasional halftones in the text, 
 when essential to clearness, but free from 
 
unnecessary detail and extensive numerical 
 data. Non-members, as well as members, 
 should be invited to contribute, with the 
 understanding that their papers are to be 
 presented by a member of the Academy, as 
 in the case of the Paris Academy and the 
 Eoyal Society. 6 
 
 The constitution of the National Acad- 
 emy already provides for the issue of Pro- 
 ceedings, as well as Memoirs and Annual 
 Reports. In fact, as explained in a previ- 
 ous paper, three numbers of Proceedings 
 were published, though they did not contain 
 papers presented to the Academy. There is 
 
 6 The Proceedings should be so planned as to 
 interfere in the least possible degree with the 
 Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 
 which is a publication similar in character to the 
 one here proposed. As the Journal is devoted 
 mainly to work done in Washington, or presented 
 before the various Washington societies (other 
 than the National Academy), no important over- 
 lapping of the two publications need be antici- 
 pated, especially as members of this Academy 
 have rarely contributed to the Journal. 
 
 7 [The Academy voted, at its meeting of No- 
 vember, 1913, to begin the publication of Pro- 
 ceedings as soon as arrangements could be per- 
 fected. The first number will appear in January, 
 1915.] 
 
 113 
 
therefore no need of any radical departure 
 requiring amendment of the constitution. 
 In other words, if sufficient funds are 
 available, this very important step toward 
 the development of the Academy can be 
 taken by simple affirmative vote. 7 
 
 The annual volumes of the Proceedings, 
 bringing together for the first time the best 
 product of American research, would place 
 the Academy in a clearer light before the 
 academic world. Annual Reports and 
 infrequent volumes of Memoirs receive 
 scant attention, except from a few special- 
 ists, in the libraries of our contemporary 
 societies. But the Proceedings, published 
 at regular intervals, and containing a stand- 
 ing notice of the Academy's publications, 
 would aid in making them better known. 
 The quarto Memoirs, eleven volumes of 
 which have already appeared, afford an ex- 
 cellent place for extended publication, 
 when the necessity for lengthy tables, nu- 
 merous plates, or long discussions of data 
 places the manuscript beyond the reach of 
 the special journals. The publication of 
 the Proceedings might serve to disclose 
 much material worthy of use in the Me- 
 moirs, and the editorial board should be 
 114 
 
constantly on the watch for opportunities 
 to extend the Memoirs and to render them 
 more serviceable to science. 
 
 SCIENCE AND THE PUBLIC 
 
 The circulation of the Proceedings would 
 necessarily be limited to scholars and schol- 
 arly institutions they could not be ex- 
 pected to reach the general public. Here 
 a difficulty remains to be overcome, since 
 the results of original investigations should 
 certainly be made more generally known 
 and more clearly understood than they are 
 at the present time. The average man of 
 science, after sad experience with the daily 
 press, is usually forced to the conclusion 
 that newspaper publication is synonymous 
 with rank sensationalism. Eepeatedly told, 
 and not without justice, that his cloistered 
 wisdom should reach a wider world, he 
 sometimes yields to the persistent demands 
 of a reporter. The outcome is too well 
 known to require telling. Even in the case 
 of a really intelligent and conscientious re- 
 porter, who does not distort or exaggerate, 
 the "headline man" may be depended 
 upon to provide a grotesque disguise. A 
 few experiences of this sort suffice for most 
 115 
 
investigators. They are soon forced to shut 
 out the reporter, and are well pleased when 
 they succeed. Yet they recognize that the 
 exclusion of the public from all contact 
 with their work is neither fair nor desirable. 
 Some way should be found of bridging the 
 gap. 
 
 A plan followed in England by the Royal 
 Society, of circulating brief abstracts on 
 the day when a paper is read, which are 
 afterwards published in Nature (sometimes 
 in condensed form) , is one which we might 
 advantageously imitate. When a paper is 
 accepted by the editorial board for pub- 
 lication in the Proceedings, a brief ab- 
 stract, preferably prepared by the author, 
 should be sent to SCIENCE (and perhaps 
 also to Nature). At the same time this 
 abstract, or a briefer one in less technical 
 language, might be communicated to the 
 Associated Press. It goes without saying 
 that papers for the Proceedings would 
 differ widely in their availability for pop- 
 ular treatment. Probably only a compara- 
 tively small proportion of them would con- 
 tain results suitable for use by the Asso- 
 ciated Press, but all would doubtless be 
 published in abstract by SCIENCE. 
 
 116 
 
Through the Associated Press, and also 
 through certain conservative newspapers 
 and magazines, the Academy could thus 
 bring before the public the actual results 
 of scientific research, as distinguished from 
 the false and distorted conceptions of sci- 
 ence which most of our newspapers now 
 disseminate. 
 
 LECTURES ON RESEARCH 
 
 The plan of publication outlined above 
 is but one of several methods by which the 
 Academy may enlarge its usefulness. Pub- 
 lic lectures should also be instituted, pri- 
 marily for the benefit of the Academy mem- 
 bers, but also with the expectation of 
 reaching a larger circle. Here the Academy 
 would do well to study and imitate the 
 Eoyal Institution of London, where original 
 research and the diffusion of knowledge 
 are combined in a very effective manner. 
 In brilliant addresses, illustrated by lan- 
 tern slides and experiments, a long line of 
 illustrious speakers, best typified by Fara- 
 day, have charmed and enlightened the 
 most distinguished audiences. Many of 
 these speakers, including Davy, Faraday, 
 Tyndall, Dewar, Rayleigh and Thomson, 
 117 
 
have been drawn from the staff of the 
 Royal Institution. But their English con- 
 temporaries, as well as scientific men from 
 all parts of Europe and the United States, 
 have also been invited to describe their 
 latest advances. The speaker at a "Friday 
 Evening Discourse ' ' is faced by the leaders 
 of English thought and action in many 
 fields. Privileged to select from the large 
 collection of historic instruments accumu- 
 lated during a century, and even to illus- 
 trate his points with the apparatus of Fara- 
 day himself, he feels an inspiration that 
 no other platform affords. In such an 
 atmosphere he learns to appreciate the dig- 
 nity of popular science at its best, and to 
 perceive how the busiest and most success- 
 ful of present-day physicists can find time 
 to deliver elaborate courses of Christmas 
 lectures to a juvenile audience. These lec- 
 tures, instituted by Faraday, are now in 
 their eighty-seventh season. Under such 
 topics as "The Chemistry of Flame" they 
 have afforded him and his followers an op- 
 portunity to show how simply and beauti- 
 fully the principles of science can be made 
 to appeal even to young children. 8 The 
 8 The last course of Christmas Juvenile Lec- 
 118 
 
art of the popular lecture should be devel- 
 oped in the United States by the National 
 Academy. Under its auspices, and with 
 the example of the Royal Institution be- 
 hind him, the lecturer need not fear for 
 his dignity. The Academy would soon find 
 its reward in the increasing appreciation 
 of its work and purposes, the spread of 
 scientific knowledge, and ultimately in 
 larger endowments for research. 
 
 As a first step in this direction, the chil- 
 dren of the late William Ellery Hale have 
 established a course of lectures in memory 
 of their father. Their object in doing so 
 is twofold. In the first place, if is hoped 
 that the lectures may add to the attractive- 
 ness of the Academy meetings, both to the 
 members and the public. Again, it is be- 
 lieved that by a suitable choice of lecturers 
 and topics, the inter-relationship of the 
 various fields of research represented in 
 the Academy, and the light thrown by the 
 methods of investigation or of interpreta- 
 tion employed in one field upon those of 
 another, may be illustrated in an effective 
 
 tures, on " Alchemy, " Atoms," " Light," 
 "Clouds," "Meteorites" and "Frozen Worlds," 
 was given by Sir James Dewar. 
 119 
 
way. Moreover, the lectures will afford an 
 opportunity of testing whether the Academy 
 may not further assist in increasing public 
 appreciation of the cultural and the indus- 
 trial value of science. 
 
 SCIENCE IN EDUCATION 
 
 In the Academy of Plato and the Alex- 
 andrian Museum the functions of an acad- 
 emy and a university were united, and the 
 work of instruction went hand in hand with 
 the development of new knowledge. The 
 growth of the modern university has now 
 removed from national academies their 
 former work of teaching a body of students, 
 but their opportunity to exert a favorable 
 influence on the educational methods of 
 the nation remains. The Institute of 
 France, as planned by Talleyrand and Con- 
 dorcet, 9 was to control public instruction 
 and offer courses to advanced students. 
 This was not carried out, but an instance 
 of the same sort is afforded by the Acad- 
 emy of Munich, which has charge of the 
 public instruction of Bavaria. 
 
 9 See Hippeau, ' ' L 'instruction publique en 
 France pendant la revolution," Vol. 1, pp. 115, 
 228. 
 
 120 
 
There is no apparent reason why our own 
 National Academy should have a formal 
 connection with educational institutions. 
 But in harmony with its purpose to advance 
 knowledge in the United States, it should 
 contribute toward the development of the 
 science of education and take advantage of 
 the possibility of increasing public appre- 
 ciation of the educational value of science. 
 
 In a presidential address which excited 
 great public interest in England, Sir Wil- 
 liam Huggins emphasized before the Royal 
 Society the importance of science in educa- 
 tion. 10 We need not dwell upon his argu- 
 ments regarding the value of scientific 
 training in developing the power of accu- 
 rate observation and the habit of correct 
 and cautious reasoning. But a more 
 neglected phase of science in education 
 its power of awakening and expanding the 
 imaginative faculty may be referred to in 
 his own words: 
 
 Surely the master-creations of poetry, music, 
 sculpture and painting, alike in mystery and 
 grandeur, can not surpass the natural epics and 
 scenes of the heavens above and of the earth be- 
 neath, in their power of firing the imagination, 
 
 10 Huggins, "The Royal Society," p. 109. 
 121 
 
which indeed has taken its most daring and en- 
 during flights under the earlier and simpler con- 
 ditions of human life, when men lived in closer 
 contact with Nature, and in greater quiet, free 
 from the deadening rush of modern society. Of 
 supreme value is the exercise of the imagination, 
 that lofty faculty of creating and weaving 
 imagery in the mind, and of giving subjective 
 reality to its own creations, which is the source of 
 the initial impulses to human progress and de- 
 velopment, to all inspiration in the arts, and to 
 discovery in science. 
 
 Of all the teachings of science, the prin- 
 ciple of evolution makes by far the strong- 
 est appeal to the imagination. Isolated 
 phenomena, however remarkable, acquire 
 a new meaning when seen in its light. 
 Minute details of structure in animals or 
 plants, slight differences of the relative 
 intensity of lines in the spectra of stars, 
 may become of intense interest even to the 
 elementary student if explained as steps 
 in a great process of development. But 
 after all that has been said and written 
 since the time of Darwin, we fail to take 
 full advantage of our opportunity. Prop- 
 erly presented, a picture of evolution in its 
 broadest aspects would serve better than any 
 other agency to stimulate the imagination, 
 
 122 
 
to awaken interest in science, and to demon- 
 strate that its cultural value is in no wise 
 inferior to that of the humanities. To the 
 average student, even physics and chemis- 
 try are distinct branches of science, each 
 occupied with its own problems. Astron- 
 omy, he knows, concerns itself with the 
 heavenly bodies, botany with plants, zool- 
 ogy with animals. But if he studies these 
 subjects at all, he almost invariably fails 
 to realize their relationship, because no 
 binding principle, like that of evolution, is 
 brought prominently to his attention or, at 
 the best, is restricted in its application to 
 some single organic or inorganic field. 
 
 When Humboldt wrote "Cosmos" and 
 Huxley lectured on "A Piece of Chalk" 
 and other subjects, they showed what might 
 be accomplished in picturing the problems 
 of science in a broad way. The National 
 Academy is better qualified than any other 
 body in America to demonstrate what can 
 be done in the same direction with the rich 
 store of knowledge acquired since their time. 
 A course of lectures on evolution, beginning 
 with an account of the constitution of mat- 
 ter, the transformation of the elements, 
 and the electron theory ; picturing the heav- 
 123 
 
enly bodies and the structure of the uni- 
 verse, the evolution of stars and planets, 
 and the origin of the earth; outlining the 
 various stages of the earth's history, the 
 formation and changes of its surface fea- 
 tures, the beginning and development of 
 plant and animal life; explaining modern 
 biological problems, the study of variation 
 and mutation, and the various theories of 
 organic evolution ; summarizing our knowl- 
 edge of earliest man, his first differentiation 
 from anthropoid ancestors, and the crude 
 origins of civilization ; and connecting with 
 our own day by an account of early Orien- 
 tal peoples, the rise of the Egyptian dy- 
 nasties, and their influence on modern 
 progress: such a course, free from techni- 
 calities and unnecessary details, richly 
 illustrated by lantern slides and experi- 
 ments, and woven together into a clear 
 and homogeneous whole, would serve to 
 give the average student a far broader view 
 of evolution than he now obtains, and leave 
 no doubt in the hearer's mind as to the cul- 
 tural and imaginative value of science. 
 
 The William Ellery Hale lectures will 
 open with a series on evolution, so designed 
 as to be of interest to members of the Acad- 
 124 
 
emy, and at the same time to be intelligible 
 and attractive to the public. At each 
 meeting two lectures will be given by a 
 distinguished European or American inves- 
 tigator, chosen because of his competence to 
 deal with some branch of the subject. The 
 first course of lectures, to be given by Sir 
 Ernest Rutherford at the annual meeting 
 in April, 1914, will deal with the consti- 
 tution of matter and the evolution of the 
 elements. 11 At the conclusion of this series, 
 which will extend through several years, 
 it is hoped that the lectures may be brought 
 together, in a homogeneous and perhaps 
 somewhat simplified form, into a small 
 volume suitable for use in schools. 
 
 The course above outlined will serve to 
 test the question whether the Academy may 
 advantageously -enter more extensively into 
 the lecture field. So far as the members of 
 the Academy are concerned, it seems prob- 
 able that lectures by able American and 
 European investigators would add to the 
 interest of the meetings. But the value of 
 
 n [The second course was given at the autumn 
 meeting by Dr. William Wallace Campbell on 
 " Stellar Evolution and the Formation of the 
 Earth. "] 
 
 125 
 
the lectures to the general public can only 
 be determined by experiment. If a suitable 
 building can be obtained, and the success 
 of these lectures is sufficient to warrant it, 
 the foremost investigators, American and 
 foreign, might be invited from time to time 
 throughout the year to describe and illus- 
 trate their advances in the lecture-hall of 
 the Academy. This plan is already followed 
 by various American institutions, but the 
 Academy, because of its national character, 
 would be better able to attract the best men 
 and to give their lectures more than local 
 significance. Ample facilities for experi- 
 mental illustration would also go far to- 
 ward enhancing the value of the lectures. 
 In short, the example of the Royal Insti- 
 tution should be followed as closely as 
 possible. 12 
 
 INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH 
 
 The value of science to the American 
 manufacturer, though no new theme, is 
 capable of wide development at the hands 
 of the National Academy. In a presidential 
 
 12 [It has been suggested by several members 
 that these lectures might be repeated in two or 
 three large cities, in cooperation with local scien- 
 tific institutions.] 
 
 126 
 
address delivered before the Eoyal Society 
 in 1902, Sir William Huggins dwelt on the 
 "Supreme Importance of Science to the 
 Industries of the Country, which can be 
 secured only through making Science an 
 Essential Part of all Education." He saw 
 the fruits of English discoveries passing 
 into the hands of Germany, whose univer- 
 sities have so long fostered and spread 
 abroad the spirit of research, and won- 
 dered at the apathy of the average British 
 manufacturer toward scientific methods. 
 Huggins, speaking in plain language, 
 pointed to the chief source of weakness 
 "the too close adherence of our older uni- 
 versities, and through them of our public 
 schools, and all other schools in the country 
 downward, to the traditional methods of 
 teaching of medieval times." 13 
 
 In this country, where the classics do 
 not dominate the university system, the 
 task of arousing an adequate appreciation 
 of the enormous benefits which sci- 
 ence can render is a far easier one. We 
 must have, first of all, a widespread inter- 
 est in science and some comprehension of 
 its problems and methods. A general 
 
 is " The Royal Society/' p. 29. 
 127 
 
course on evolution, given to all college 
 students, should be of great service as an 
 entering wedge. More students might thus 
 be led to take science courses, while those 
 who specialize in the humanities could gain 
 a better conception of what science means. 
 The rapid development of research in our 
 universities and technical schools promises 
 to influence the faculties of our colleges, 
 where a man's success as a teacher will be 
 materially enhanced if he is also a producer 
 of new knowledge. Thus the future is 
 promising in the educational field. 
 
 On the side of our manufacturers, who 
 are eager to adopt the most efficient meth- 
 ods, the outlook is equally favorable, as 
 President Little of the American Chemical 
 Society showed so effectively in his address on 
 "Industrial Eesearch in America." 14 Many 
 great firms are establishing large research 
 laboratories, where problems of all kinds 
 are under investigation. The development 
 within the past few years of Taylor's effi- 
 ciency system is another indication that the 
 advantages of scientific methods are being 
 grasped and applied in the arts. But the 
 opportunities in this direction are almost 
 
 14 SCIENCE, 38, pp. 643-656, 1913. 
 128 
 
endless, and the National Academy would 
 do well to devise ways and means of con- 
 vincing not only the large manufacturers, 
 but the small manufacturers as well, of the 
 industrial importance of scientific research. 
 Lectures on recent advances in engineer- 
 ing, by European and American leaders, 
 should have a powerful influence if care- 
 fully planned and effectively illustrated. 
 Parsons on the steam turbine, 15 Marconi on 
 wireless telegraphy, 15 Goethals on the Pan- 
 ama Canal, would attract large audiences 
 and appeal in published form to a wide 
 public. 
 
 But while the advantages resulting from 
 ingenuity and invention and the best prac- 
 tise of engineering should certainly be 
 brought out in the course of lectures I now 
 have in mind, the improvement of manu- 
 factured products by research methods, and 
 the potential industrial value of pure sci- 
 ence are the points which should be empha- 
 sized. We have a long way to go before 
 any single manufacturing firm employs 
 seven hundred qualified chemists, as the 
 combined chemical factories of Elberfeld, 
 Ludwigshafen and Treptow do. The su- 
 
 is Lectures before the Royal Institution, 1911. 
 129 
 
premacy in this field of Germany, which 
 produced chemicals valued at $3,750,000,000 
 in 1907, is directly due to the carefully 
 directed research of an army of chemists, 
 who learned the methods of investigation 
 in the universities and technical schools. 16 
 The Berlin Academy of Sciences has also 
 contributed in an important way to this re- 
 sult, through van't HofFs investigations of 
 the Stassfurth salt deposits. The recent 
 rapid development of our own chemical 
 industries leads us to hope that similar 
 advances may soon be achieved in the 
 United States. In electrical engineering, 
 at least, we are already making comparable 
 progress. 
 
 But the average man of business is much 
 better able to appreciate the value of re- 
 search directly applied to the improvement 
 of manufactures than to comprehend the 
 more fundamental importance of pure sci- 
 ence. We must show how the investiga- 
 tions of Faraday, pursued for the pure love 
 of truth and apparently of no commercial 
 
 16 In 1910 the Nobel prize for chemistry went 
 to Germany for the sixth time, thus giving to a 
 single country sixty per cent, of all the Nobel 
 prizes for chemistry awarded up to that date. 
 130 
 
value, nevertheless laid the foundations of 
 electrical engineering. If we can dissemi- 
 nate such knowledge, which is capable of 
 the easiest demonstration and the most 
 striking illustration, we can multiply the 
 friends of pure science and secure new and 
 larger endowments for physics, chemistry 
 and other fundamental subjects. 
 
 [While there can be no doubt of the im- 
 portance of emphasizing the value of in- 
 dustrial research, the necessity of vigilance 
 in the interests of pure science is shown by 
 the opposite tendency of several recent 
 writers, who measure science solely in 
 terms of its applicability in the arts. 
 
 The stimulus of commercial rivalry is 
 doubtless a factor in the rapid progress of 
 our great industrial laboratories, but I 
 doubt if their directors would maintain 
 that all chemical research should be of the 
 industrial kind. Immediate commercial 
 value as a criterion of success will not 
 often point the way to the discovery of 
 fundamental laws, though these are by far 
 the richest source of ultimate achievement, 
 practical as well as theoretical. Modern 
 electrical engineers do not forget the inves- 
 tigations of Faraday and Hertz in pure sci- 
 131 
 
ence, nor do leading industrial chemists 
 overlook the researches of Gibbs, van't Hoff, 
 and others, which brought them no practical 
 returns, but rendered many modern indus- 
 tries possible. Exclusive attention to in- 
 dustrial research means nothing more or 
 less than the growth of the superstructure 
 at the expense of the foundations. In- 
 dustrial laboratories are able to offer large 
 salaries and other tempting promises of 
 material advantages, and thus to draw the 
 most promising men from the universities. 
 But while these laboratories should be 
 strongly encouraged, and multiplied to the 
 point where every small manufacturer will 
 realize the value of research methods, this 
 should not be done at the serious expense of 
 pure science. Germany's success on the 
 industrial side is primarily due to her still 
 greater achievements in the university 
 laboratories. The National Academy, by 
 helping to maintain the two phases of 
 American research in stable equilibrium, 
 can perform a service which the truest ad- 
 vocates of applied science will recognize as 
 essential to sound progress.] 
 
 132 
 
USES OF AN ACADEMY BUILDING 
 
 In addition to experimental and illus- 
 trated lectures, the Academy might advan- 
 tageously maintain exhibits freely open to 
 the public, showing the current researches 
 of its members, the most recent European 
 advances in science, and new applications 
 of scientific methods in the industries. It 
 goes without saying that ample space and 
 the best of facilities would be required for 
 this purpose. If carefully worked out, this 
 plan should provide an additional means 
 of keeping the public informed of the 
 progress of research and its bearing on the 
 industries of the country. While emphasis 
 should always be laid in such exhibits on 
 pure science, which it is the Academy's 
 prime object to advance, some of the most 
 striking illustrations of the applications of 
 science should also be introduced. 
 
 It is obvious that the Academy can not 
 undertake such activities unless it can ob- 
 tain a large building of its own. The ad- 
 vantages of having such a building for 
 other purposes have already been touched 
 upon. The attractiveness of the annual 
 meetings would be greatly enhanced if 
 133 
 
they were held in such surroundings as 
 an Academy building could supply. 
 There is a very real difference between the 
 atmosphere of bare halls, casually occupied, 
 and attractively furnished rooms, perma- 
 nently belonging to the Academy, and 
 charged with the stimulating traditions ac- 
 cumulated during the process of- time. 
 The walls should be hung with portraits 
 of past presidents and other eminent men 
 of science, which could easily be obtained 
 if there were a place for them. More- 
 over, the example of the Eoyal Society in 
 preserving Newton's telescope and of the 
 Royal Institution in exhibiting the original 
 instruments of Davy, Faraday and other 
 great investigators, should be followed as 
 soon as possible by the National Academy. 
 Doubtless it is still feasible to secure in- 
 struments used by Joseph Henry, the two 
 Agassizs, and others who have played a 
 similar part in the history of the Academy. 
 A permanent committee, charged with the 
 collection of portraits, manuscripts, and 
 instruments, and exercising care and dis- 
 crimination in its selections, would gradu- 
 ally bring together many objects which 
 
 134 
 
would become more and more valuable with 
 the passage of time. 18 
 
 HISTORICAL EXHIBITS 
 
 [Few writers on civilization in America 
 appreciate how largely the United States 
 has contributed to the development of cer- 
 tain fields of research. The mathematical 
 memoirs of Gibbs were of fundamental 
 importance, while in such fields as celestial 
 mechanics, practical astronomy, astrophys- 
 ics, experimental physics, geology and pale- 
 ontology, and in many of the newer phases 
 of biology and experimental medicine, Na- 
 tional Academy members have led the way 
 in a long series of advances. An exhibit of 
 original instruments, manuscripts, and 
 photographs, arranged so as to show the 
 successive contributions of American in- 
 vestigators in various departments of re- 
 search, would prove an inspiration to many 
 a young and enthusiastic aspirant to the 
 pleasures of original discovery. I shall 
 
 is [A committee of this kind, which was ap- 
 pointed in November, 1913, has already received 
 from Mrs. Henry Draper valuable instruments and 
 original negatives illustrating the pioneer re- 
 searches in astrophysics of the late Henry Draper.] 
 135 
 
never forget my own delight in first seeing 
 some of Henry Draper's original negatives 
 of stellar spectra. (Many of these are now 
 in the possession of the Academy, ready 
 for use in an exhibit of continuous progress 
 in astronomical spectroscopy covering the 
 whole history of the Academy: Ruther- 
 furd's first successful diffraction gratings 
 and large-scale photographs of the solar 
 spectrum; Draper 's spectra of stars and 
 planets, the first to show the lines; Young's 
 pioneer observations of the spectra of sun- 
 spots and the chromosphere; Langley's 
 bolometric investigations in the invisible 
 region of the infra-red, and his measures of 
 the solar constant of radiation; Pickering's 
 extensive discoveries and classification of 
 stellar spectra photographed with the objec- 
 tive prism; Rowland's invention of the con- 
 cave grating, and his fundamental studies 
 of solar and laboratory spectra; Michel- 
 son's ingenious and varied contributions to 
 the instruments of spectroscopy, compris- 
 ing the interferometer, echelon and large 
 grating, and his researches with them; 
 Keeler's studies of celestial spectra, in- 
 augurating the era of accurate radial 
 velocity measurements; Campbell's per- 
 
 136 
 
fection of the stellar spectrograph and the 
 far-reaching results of his years of observa- 
 tion. Each of these American investiga- 
 tors marked a distinct epoch in astrophys- 
 ical research, and their labors form a con- 
 tinuous chain covering the entire life of 
 their subject. It is still possible to obtain 
 many of their original instruments and 
 earliest photographs, and to exhibit them in 
 an attractive manner. Who would not like 
 to see an actual spectrum formed by Bow- 
 land's earliest grating? A touch of a 
 button operating an arc light mounted be- 
 fore the spectroscope slit, is all that would 
 be necessary. And if this can be done in 
 one field of research, there is no reason why 
 similar stimulus can not be given in others, 
 though of course in varying degree. If 
 many subjects can show any such series of 
 advances as we have seen in astronomical 
 spectroscopy, the pessimism shown by some 
 writers regarding American research must 
 surely give way to optimism. And no 
 method of bringing the true state of affairs 
 to easy comprehension, both to men of 
 science and to the public, could equal that 
 of the proposed exhibit. It goes without 
 saying that the ingenious and attractive 
 
 137 
 
devices of modern museums should be em- 
 ployed, instead of the dry and forbidding 
 exhibition methods of former times.] 
 
 The committee on historical apparatus 
 might also have charge of instruments be- 
 longing to the various trust funds and no 
 longer in use by the persons to whom the 
 original grants for their purchase were 
 made. In the course of time such a col- 
 lection would naturally grow to consider- 
 able proportions, and the Academy would 
 be enabled to assist its members by the loan 
 of these instruments, as the Royal Society 
 has done so effectively. The objection 
 which is sometimes made to the purchase 
 of standard instruments by the recipients 
 of grants would thus be removed, as such 
 instruments might prove of great service in 
 a collection for general use. 
 
 TENTATIVE DESIGN OF AN ACADEMY BUILDING 
 
 [The design of an Academy building 
 here reproduced 19 is intended merely as a 
 
 19 [From preliminary sketches by the firm of 
 Shepley, Eutan and Coolidge. Some of the desig- 
 nations of rooms here employed should be modi- 
 fied. The name "conversazione room" for the 
 large public hall comes from the annual conver- 
 saziones of the Eoyal Society, where many instru- 
 138 
 
basis for discussion. The large public hall 
 into which the main entrance leads is for 
 the proposed exhibit of current research, 
 illustrating the latest advances in pure and 
 applied science, both American and for- 
 eign. The public would undoubtedly ap- 
 preciate an opportunity to see under 
 microscopes the most recently discovered 
 bacilli, and to examine specimens illustrat- 
 ing the experimental variation of plants or 
 animals, photographs showing new as- 
 tronomical discoveries, experimental dem- 
 onstrations of physical phenomena like the 
 recently found Stark effect (the influence of 
 an electric field on radiation), the structure 
 of crystals, X-ray spectra and their bearing 
 
 ments and experimental exhibits are shown. The 
 photographic room (not needed on this floor) 
 should be used for council meetings, setting free 
 the room allotted in the plan to the council for 
 a memters' ante-room, adjoining the meeting 
 room. The meeting, lecture and exhibition halls 
 are shown in Fig. 2 as extending up through the 
 second floor, but the laboratories and other parts 
 of the building would be divided into several 
 stories of ordinary height. The laboratories may 
 of course be devoted to any desired field of re- 
 search, and the designations are merely intended 
 to suggest that one of these be in the physical and 
 the other in the biological sciences.] 
 139 
 
140 
 
on the constitution of the atom, etc. As 
 the home of such an exhibit, and the place 
 of publication of the Proceedings, announc- 
 ing the current advances of American re- 
 search, the Academy would soon be recog- 
 nized in its true character as the natural 
 center and promoter of the scientific work 
 of the United States. 
 
 In the adjoining room to the right the 
 exhibit of historical research would con- 
 nect the present with the past, and give a 
 clear picture of American progress in the 
 field of science. The possibilities of this 
 exhibit have already been mentioned, 
 but it may be remarked here that one 
 of its prime purposes should be to stimulate 
 further investigation and to aid in the 
 Academy's work of correlating science by 
 indicating converging lines of research. 
 Both of these objects are of course perfectly 
 compatible with the initial idea of com- 
 memorating the labors of Academy 
 members. 
 
 The lecture hall at the rear of the build- 
 ing completes the group of rooms open to 
 the public. This should embody some of 
 the features which make the lecture hall of 
 the Royal Institution so attractive. The 
 
 142 
 
provision of ample facilities for experi- 
 mental demonstrations (including a well- 
 equipped preparation room) which no 
 large lecture hall in Washington contains 
 at present, would add greatly to the means 
 of interesting both men of science and the 
 public. 
 
 To the left of the central hall is the 
 Academy meeting room, which might ad- 
 vantageously combine various features 
 found in European academies. One of the 
 most attractive meeting rooms abroad is that 
 of the Paris Academy of Sciences. The 
 provision of a comfortable ante-room, 20 
 equipped like a club and providing abun- 
 dant opportunity for conversation among 
 members, would be a valuable addition. 
 Instead of admitting visitors to the meet- 
 ing-room they could be better accommo- 
 dated in a second floor gallery, above the 
 ante-room, similar to the visitors' gallery 
 of the Amsterdam Academy. Finally, a 
 modified seating arrangement (probably 
 retaining the tables for officers and mem- 
 bers) would permit the inclusion of a 
 screen and experiment table at one end of 
 the room. 
 
 20 In the space here marked "Council Koom." 
 143 
 
iThe main floor would also contain a 
 council room, 21 and various offices, cloak 
 rooms, serving rooms, apparatus rooms, 
 etc., needed for use in connection with 
 meetings, lectures, exhibits, public recep- 
 tions and other functions. The offices of 
 the secretaries, editorial rooms, library and 
 reading rooms, private research rooms and 
 other rooms not for public purposes would 
 be on the floors above. The example of the 
 Berlin Academy, 22 which provides numer- 
 ous offices (45 in all) in its new building 
 for the compilation of data required for 
 a general catalogue of stars, bodies of 
 Greek and Latin inscriptions, a great 
 Egyptian dictionary, and other similar 
 undertakings, might well be imitated here. 
 For instance, it would have been of great 
 advantage to the Academy if it had been 
 able to furnish Professor Newcomb with 
 offices for the computers employed in his 
 extensive astronomical researches, during 
 the active period which followed his retire- 
 ment from the Nautical Almanac office. 
 
 21 In the space here marked * ' Photograph 
 Koom." 
 
 22 See "The Work of European Academies," 
 SCIENCE, November 14, 1913, p. 692. 
 
 144 
 
Small study rooms for members staying in 
 Washington, engaged in writing or research 
 involving the use of the Academy library, 
 would also be useful. 
 
 The two wings shown to the right and 
 left of the main building are intended for 
 research laboratories. "While the great 
 majority of members seem to favor the in- 
 clusion of such laboratories in the Acad- 
 emy 's scheme of development, there are a 
 few who do not, and it is desirable to point 
 out why they appear desirable. The 
 Academy stands, first and foremost, for 
 research, which it seeks to advance in every 
 effective way. It may thus follow the 
 example of various academies abroad, such 
 as St. Petersburg, which carries on impor- 
 tant researches in physics and other sub- 
 jects; Stockholm, which has long provided 
 in its own laboratories for the spectroscopic 
 investigations of Hasselberg; and Berlin, 
 which has produced the extensive investi- 
 gations already enumerated. Nothing 
 could do more to advance the Academy's 
 influence on the progress of science than 
 the production of important results from 
 its own laboratories. But there is another 
 145 
 
and even stronger argument in favor of 
 their establishment. 
 
 It has been well said by one who has 
 studied the problems of the Academy, that 
 the success of its future work must depend 
 upon the discovery of men who are willing 
 and able to devote the necessary time and 
 energy to it. Two Academy members, in 
 commenting on suggestions for a building, 
 remark that not laboratories, but men are 
 needed. Those who are familiar with the 
 history of the Academy are aware of the 
 great amount of unselfish effort which it 
 owes to its officers and members. But the 
 fact remains that a man's first allegiance is 
 to the university or other institution which 
 counts him on its staff. As long as he re- 
 tains such connections he can devote only 
 his spare time to the work of the Academy, 
 which, nevertheless, demands his best 
 efforts. 
 
 The provision of research laboratories, 
 with funds for their maintenance, would 
 enable the Academy to command the entire 
 time and effort of some of the ablest men 
 in the country. The growing work, which 
 already throws heavier burdens than the 
 members realize on the willing shoulders of 
 146 
 
the Home Secretary, may later demand 
 (as in the Eoyal Society) the services of 
 two men, one representing the mathematical 
 and physical, the other the biological sci- 
 ences. The only way to secure the un- 
 divided service of such men is to offer them 
 adequate salaries, a suitable staff of assis- 
 tants, and ample laboratory facilities. 
 Thus, while carrying on their researches in 
 the name of the Academy, they would be 
 able to direct the extensive work which the 
 exhibits of current and historical research, 
 the publication of the Proceedings and 
 other contemplated activities must involve. 
 Their position would be much like that of 
 Faraday at the Eoyal Institution, with 
 added duties defined by the broader range 
 of the Academy's field. 
 
 An important object of the proposed re- 
 search laboratories, therefore, is to attract 
 and hold the men whose unrestricted time 
 and energy the Academy urgently needs. 
 Volunteer service will continue and multi- 
 ply, but it can never hope to accomplish all 
 that the future will require. 
 
 No details of laboratory design need be 
 discussed here. The use of the unit sys- 
 tem of rooms, exemplified in the Harvard 
 147 
 
Medical School, would eliminate many diffi- 
 culties, and facilitate alterations to meet 
 changing needs. A common plant of re- 
 frigerating machinery, compression pumps, 
 constant-temperature rooms and other re- 
 quirements of both laboratories, could be 
 placed on the ground floor of the main 
 building, which would also contain rooms 
 for storing reserve Academy publications 
 and for other miscellaneous purposes. 
 
 Enough has been said to indicate some of 
 the possible uses of an Academy building, 
 and the corresponding necessities of the 
 design. The present plan, which is merely 
 tentative, may serve to bring out criticisms 
 and suggestions from members, who will 
 undoubtedly think of many advantageous 
 modifications. A classic treatment is indi- 
 cated, but this is mainly because of the 
 prevailing conditions in Washington, and 
 the probability that a government site 
 could not be obtained for a building of 
 collegiate Gothic design, for example. 
 
 It would be advantageous for the Acad- 
 emy to appoint a strong committee, repre- 
 senting all branches of science, to design 
 a suitable building. Much time and 
 thought are necessary to secure a satis- 
 
 148 
 
factory plan, which will provide for present 
 needs, and be readily adaptable to future 
 developments. As for funds, some time 
 may be required to find the sum needed, 
 but the opportunity is such an exceptional 
 one that a willing donor is sure to appear 
 in the future. The only way to obtain 
 gifts for building or endowment is to have 
 a scheme so promising, and plans so at- 
 tractive as to convince a prospective in- 
 vestor that his funds will be effectively 
 used. Notable cases might be cited where 
 large gifts followed the presentation of ef- 
 fective building designs, which appealed 
 not only to the eye, but equally to the judg- 
 ment of the donor.] 
 
 TRUST FUNDS 
 
 The trust funds of the Academy, as 
 shown in a previous article, have a total of 
 over eighty thousand dollars, the income 
 of which is exclusively devoted to research. 
 In addition, there are other funds totaling 
 over thirty-six thousand dollars, primarily 
 intended for the endowment of medals and 
 prizes, which enjoy a considerable surplus 
 income also available for original investiga- 
 tion. By these means the Academy has 
 
 149 
 
been able to assist many of the most im- 
 portant researches of American science. A 
 closer connection between the various com- 
 mittees, and the adoption of a concerted 
 plan of action, would perhaps increase still 
 further the usefulness of the funds. As a 
 committee charged with the study of the 
 use of trust funds has admirably expressed 
 it: 
 
 The Academy should take the initiative in the 
 organization and conduct of research. It should 
 not wait for applications or for suggestions to 
 come in wholly from the outside. Such sugges- 
 tions should be urged, but the Academy should 
 not relegate itself to the function of a mere dis- 
 bursing organization; it should seek rather to de- 
 termine what projects are worthy of investiga- 
 tion and how the funds may be most judiciously 
 administered. 
 
 Such a policy would seem to imply a 
 careful examination on the part of each 
 committee of the existing conditions and 
 needs of research in its own field, and an 
 endeavor, through cooperation with the 
 other committees, to secure a well-balanced 
 and thoroughly effective use of all Academy 
 funds available for investigation. As 
 already suggested, the gradual accumula- 
 tion of instruments, returned on the com- 
 150 
 
pletion of the work for which they were 
 purchased, should ultimately result in a 
 marked gain in the efficiency of the funds 
 and in the Academy's ability to assist in- 
 vestigators. 
 
 [As a body which is rapidly becoming 
 truly representative of the investigators of 
 America, the National Academy is well 
 qualified to act in an advisory capacity to 
 other institutions having funds available 
 for use in research. It frequently happens 
 that trustees of funds thus applicable re- 
 quire such expert advice as, the Academy 
 can give. A parallel case is that of the 
 Eoyal Society, which selects annually the 
 recipients of the Government Grant Fund 
 of 4,000. 
 
 MEDALS AND PRIZES 
 
 In bestowing the Academy's gold medals 
 for investigations in physics, astronomy, 
 astrophysics, oceanography and the study 
 of meteoric bodies, an attempt should be 
 made, not only to recognize and reward 
 successful investigators, but to do this in 
 accordance with the best interests of future 
 research. A few of the numerous medals 
 awarded by academies, such as the Copley 
 
 151 
 
Medal of the Royal Society, may be ad- 
 vantageously reserved as a fitting recogni- 
 tion of many years of eminent service to 
 science. But, as Diels 23 has justly re- 
 marked, the majority of medals and prizes 
 will prove of greater value if given to com- 
 paratively young men, who still need sup- 
 port and encouragement. By acquaintance 
 with the circumstances under which such 
 men are working, an award may be made 
 at a moment so favorable as to increase its 
 value many fold. Thus recognition by the 
 Academy may supply the precise argument 
 needed to convince university authorities 
 or others in control of research funds of 
 the importance of providing the means 
 necessary to continue and extend the work 
 of the medallist. The same may be said 
 of grants from trust funds. Cases are 
 known in which a comparatively small 
 grant has favorably influenced a board of 
 trustees in deciding to devote large sums 
 to research. 
 
 This leads to a consideration of the ques- 
 tion of membership in the National Acad- 
 emy. In his valuable discussion of the 
 
 23 "Die Kultur der Gegenwart," Teil L, Ab- 
 teilung I., zweite Auflage, p. 666. 
 152 
 
organization of science, to which reference 
 has already been made, Professor Diels 
 lays great emphasis upon the importance 
 of aiding and encouraging the younger men 
 of science through the award of grants for 
 investigation. That this feeling is general 
 throughout the German academies is shown 
 by the fact that approximately one half of 
 their resources are used for this purpose. 
 Diels also finds cause for congratulation in 
 the fact that the papers of these non-acade- 
 micians, published in the proceedings, 
 often prove to be the most brilliant of Ger- 
 many's contributions to science, and at the 
 same time greatly aid in enlivening the 
 work of the Academies. 24 
 
 Nothing could point more clearly to the 
 best field of usefulness of our own Na- 
 tional Academy. As the future of re- 
 search depends directly upon the younger 
 men, the Academy may properly devote a 
 large share of its efforts to their support 
 and advancement. But moral encourage- 
 ment is no less important than financial 
 aid. The latter may well be given from 
 the trust funds of the Academy, but the 
 
 24 Diels, ibid., p. 665. 
 
 153 
 
former should not be neglected. The 
 Academy does grant medals, but these are 
 available in only a few fields of research. 25 
 Fortunately it also possesses a still more 
 powerful resource in its opportunity to be- 
 stow all the advantages and privileges of 
 actual membership. 
 
 MEMBERSHIP 
 
 )The great European academies differ 
 among themselves in many particulars, 
 most of all as regards membership. At 
 one extreme we find the St. Petersburg 
 Academy, with a president, a director and 
 fifteen members, who are paid good salaries 
 and provided with dwelling houses and 
 laboratory facilities. At the other ex- 
 treme stands the Royal Society, with 477 
 members, who receive no salaries or other 
 tangible benefits. The other leading 
 academies, such as Berlin, Paris, Rome and 
 Vienna, lie between these limits. 26 
 
 25 An attempt should be made to secure medals 
 (or preferably money prizes available for the 
 purchase of books or instruments) for mathe- 
 matics, engineering, chemistry, geology, and the 
 various branches of biology. 
 
 26 See "The Work of European Academies/' 
 SCIENCE, 38, 686 et seq., 1913. 
 
 154 
 
The large membership of the Royal So- 
 ciety probably reflects, in some degree, the 
 strongly democratic tendencies of England. 
 But the working body of scientific investi- 
 gators is sufficiently large to prevent the 
 distinction of election to this venerable so- 
 ciety from being impaired. In fact, on ac- 
 count of the great pains taken by the 
 Council to inquire into the qualifications of 
 the fifteen Fellows elected annually, the 
 significance of the coveted title of F.E.S. 
 is perhaps even greater to-day than at any 
 earlier period in the history of the Society. 
 
 It can hardly be doubted that investiga- 
 tors of real ability are quite as numerous 
 in the United States as in England. The 
 available statistics indeed indicate that a 
 much greater number of men are engaged 
 here in research. The conditions are thus 
 very different from those existing in 1863, 
 when the National Academy was founded, 
 with 50 members as its limiting number. 
 Since 1906, when the maximum number of 
 members elected annually was increased 
 from five to ten, there has been a very per- 
 ceptible change in the spirit of the Acad- 
 emy. By taking in a larger proportion of 
 the younger men actively engaged in re- 
 
 155 
 
search, the Academy has increased its con- 
 tact with living issues, and made itself more 
 truly representative of American science. 
 For the present, the election of ten new 
 members annually may suffice, but I believe 
 that the time will soon come when the limit 
 should be raised from ten to fifteen. 
 
 It can not be gainsaid that a large num- 
 ber of able American investigators, who in 
 England would certainly be elected to 
 membership in the Royal Society, are still 
 outside of our National Academy. The 
 reason for this lies partly in the limit im- 
 posed on membership, and partly in the 
 method of nomination, which seems to me 
 susceptible of improvement. One difficulty, 
 which will certainly increase in the future, 
 has come about through the development of 
 new fields of research. A man classed as a 
 mathematician or an astronomer, both of 
 which subjects are well represented in the 
 Academy, is sure to receive consideration 
 when nominations are being made. But if 
 his subject be a comparatively new one, not 
 represented among the nominating sections 
 included in the existing classification of the 
 Academy, his claims to recognition will be 
 much less likely to command due attention. 
 156 
 
The constitution provides that the Council 
 may nominate new members, but this 
 privilege is exercised only in rare cases, and 
 in any event there are certain disadvan- 
 tages in this procedure, ll trust that some 
 means can be found of improving the 
 system of nominations so as to overcome 
 this difficulty, which now deprives the 
 Academy of valuable members. 27 
 
 As for the qualifications of membership, 
 it can hardly be doubted that the original 
 plan of basing selections solely on the ori- 
 ginal contributions to science of the candi- 
 dates should always be maintained. While 
 it is true that eminent administrators and 
 others who exercise large influence in the 
 intellectual world might prove to be of 
 great service as members of the Academy, 
 a wide departure from this fundamental 
 principle would soon detract from the 
 standing of the Academy as the national 
 representative of original research. Thus 
 while eminent services to the public should 
 by no means be excluded from the field of 
 the Academy's interests, and may well be 
 recognized by the award of special medals 
 founded for this purpose, actual member- 
 
 27 [A committee is now at work on this subject.] 
 157 
 
ship should be confined to original investi- 
 gators. 
 
 SCOPE OF THE ACADEMY 
 
 Here we may inquire as to the true 
 scope of the Academy's work. In what de- 
 gree should it confine its choice of members 
 to the physical and natural sciences, and 
 in what measure may it recognize success- 
 ful research in such fields as philosophy, 
 archeology, political economy, and history ? 
 The answer to this question will depend in 
 part upon one's opinion of the chief object 
 of the Academy. There are those who feel 
 that the most important function of the 
 National Academy is to confer distinction 
 by election to membership. If this were 
 its prime object, the participation of the 
 members in the work of the Academy would 
 be a minor matter, and any one of sufficient 
 reputation as an investigator might be 
 chosen. But if we agree, as I think the 
 large majority will, that the Academy 
 should be looked upon as a working body, 
 and that its privilege of conferring dis- 
 tinction by election to membership is only 
 one of many important functions, it seems 
 to me that a means of defining our choice 
 
 158 
 
of investigators in the humanities may 
 easily be found. 
 
 A single philologist, or a single political 
 economist, may find but little of interest to 
 himself in the proceedings of a body made 
 up almost exclusively of representatives of 
 the physical and natural sciences. If so, 
 he may not attend the meetings, and his 
 membership would then serve merely as a 
 mark of distinction. Deferring for a mo- 
 ment the discussion of the broad question 
 whether the Academy should ever be re- 
 organized in two or more large classes, 
 after the manner of the Berlin Academy, it 
 seems to me that we should augment the 
 value of election by furnishing real reason 
 to every member for participation in the 
 work of the Academy. For example, in its 
 committee on anthropology and psychology 
 the National Academy now has three mem- 
 bers engaged in the study of archeological 
 problems. Although their work relates 
 primarily to American ethnology, it differs 
 in no essential respect from that of the 
 classical archeologist or the student of 
 Egyptology or Assyriology. Would it not 
 be advisable, therefore, when the Academy 
 chooses its next member from outside the 
 
 159 
 
domain of the physical and natural sci- 
 ences, to elect an archeologist from one of 
 these fields ? If this were done he might be 
 expected to take a more active interest in 
 the work of the Academy, which would 
 benefit by his contributions to its proceed- 
 ings. 28 
 
 The advantages which might result from 
 a wider extension of the scope of the Na- 
 tional Academy raise the question whether 
 an organization resembling that of the 
 Berlin Academy will ever become desirable. 
 This problem was long and seriously dis- 
 cussed by the Royal Society, and the nega- 
 tive decision of its deliberations led to the 
 establishment of the British Academy. In 
 spite of this decision, some of its leading 
 Fellows still believe that the Royal Society 
 should have made room for a larger body 
 of philosophers, historians and philologists 
 than it now contains. Both the Royal So- 
 ciety and the National Academy have 
 wisely refused to limit their membership 
 
 28 William Dwight Whitney and William James 
 resigned from the Academy, probably because 
 they were the sole representatives of their sub- 
 jects.. 
 
 160 
 
to the physical and natural sciences. Such 
 historians as Bryce and Morley and such 
 Egyptologists as Petrie are now counted 
 among the Fellows of the Royal Society, 
 and "Weld states that 116 archeological 
 papers were published in the Philosophical 
 Transactions before 1848. 29 But the large 
 proportion of Fellows concerned with the 
 physical and natural sciences, and the 
 failure of the Society to recognize the 
 philosophical-historical group in its or- 
 ganization, has prevented the Royal Society 
 from taking part in the Section of Letters 
 of the International Association of Acade- 
 mies, where the British Academy now rep- 
 resents England. 
 
 The National Academy, as a member of 
 the Section of Science of the International 
 Association, is in a position to secure ade- 
 quate representation in foreign affairs of 
 American interests in the natural sciences. 
 The United States are also entitled to rep- 
 resentation in the Section of Letters, but 
 the present organization of the National 
 Academy and the absence of a national 
 
 29 "History of the Boyal Society," Vol. 2, p. 
 565. 
 
 161 
 
body similar to the British Academy, 30 still 
 leaves a vacancy there. 
 
 In my opinion it would not be advisable, 
 under present conditions, to reorganize the 
 National Academy on the model of the 
 Berlin Academy. But I am heartily in 
 sympathy with the idea of widening its 
 scope and its field of interests, in some such 
 way as that indicated above. This plan 
 would permit the Academy to honor able 
 investigators outside of the physical and 
 natural sciences, and at the same time 
 gradually to build up small groups of these 
 members who would aid the Academy in 
 the development of its work. Ultimately 
 the Academy might extend this phase of 
 its activities sufficiently to secure repre- 
 sentation in the Section of Letters of the 
 International Association of Academies. 
 
 LOCAL ACADEMIES 
 
 A subject to which I have devoted spe- 
 cial attention in the study of the problems 
 of the National Academy, is its relation- 
 ship to the various local academies which 
 are widely distributed over the United 
 
 so The National Institute of Arts and Letters 
 occupies a different field. 
 162 
 
States. These societies are of the greatest 
 importance in the further development of 
 American research, and the cultivation of 
 an intelligent interest in the problems of 
 science. Some of them have grown to such 
 large proportions and established such ex- 
 cellent organizations that they need no 
 assistance or encouragement from the Na- 
 tional Academy. But after these excep- 
 tional societies have been excluded, there 
 remain a great number of others, which the 
 National Academy ought to be in a position 
 to assist in various ways. 
 
 In an early period of its history, the 
 Paris Academy of Sciences established close 
 official relations with certain provincial 
 academies in various parts of France. In 
 fact, the Society of Mentpellier is described 
 in its royal letters patent as "an extension 
 and a part " of the Paris Academy of Sci- 
 ences. 31 But a general plan of federation 
 between the provincial academies and the 
 Institute of France, such as that described 
 by Bouillier in the work just cited, has 
 never been carried into effect, and the old 
 official relations have been discontinued. 
 
 31 Bouillier, * ' L 'Institut et les Academies de 
 Province," p. 70. 
 
 163 
 
After careful consideration of Bouillier's 
 plan, I doubt whether it could be advan- 
 tageously applied in the United States 
 under existing conditions. 
 
 This conclusion, however, does not mean 
 that the National Academy can not be of 
 service to local organizations. I believe, 
 on the contrary, that it might find many 
 ways and means of aiding them. The 
 prime object is to secure a high standard of 
 accomplishment among the minor academies 
 remote from the chief centers of research, 
 and to give the encouragement which the 
 production of good work under unfavor- 
 able conditions so richly deserves. It 
 should be possible to discover methods of 
 realizing these ends, and thus to contribute 
 to the strength and standing of the local 
 academies and the progress of American 
 research. 
 
 [It will be noticed that comparatively 
 little attention has been given in this paper 
 to the relationship of the Academy to the 
 national government. This is due to no 
 underestimate of the importance of the 
 connection, but rather to the strong desire 
 that this chief implication of the Acad- 
 emy's charter should ultimately be realized 
 
 164 
 
in the fullest sense. Valuable suggestions 
 for cooperation with various departments 
 of the government have been made by 
 Academy members, and every effort should 
 be exerted to carry them into effect. But 
 recent experience indicates that the most 
 promising way to accomplish this lies in 
 first developing the standing and prestige 
 of the Academy. When it becomes more 
 widely and favorably known for its con- 
 tributions to scientific progress, and is 
 universally recognized as the national and 
 authoritative representative of American 
 science, the Academy's influence with Con- 
 gress and with the various officers of the 
 government will be far more potent than at 
 present. I therefore believe that no effort 
 should be made to press a demand for 
 greater governmental recognition until the 
 publication of the Proceedings and other 
 new activities have had time to produce 
 their anticipated effect.] 
 
 In summarizing the suggestions offered 
 in this paper, we see that many of the new 
 activities proposed for the National Acad- 
 emy can not be undertaken without a suit- 
 able building. If this can be obtained, 
 
 165 
 
and adequately endowed, the Academy will 
 be able greatly to extend its influence and 
 usefulness both at home and abroad, 
 through original researches, increased serv- 
 ice to members, public lectures and ex- 
 hibits, and greater cooperation in inter- 
 national projects. Under present condi- 
 tions, the International Association of 
 Academies could hardly be invited to meet 
 in Washington. But if established in a 
 home of its own, the Academy might ulti- 
 mately succeed the Royal Society and the 
 Academies of Paris, Rome, St. Petersburg 
 and Berlin as the leading Academy of the 
 Association for a period of three years. In 
 this position it could contribute in a more 
 effective way to the furtherance of inter- 
 national science, and to the study of the 
 great problems of cooperative research, 
 which offer large possibilities of extension 
 and development. 32 
 
 The one way to secure a building and en- 
 dowment is to prove by continual increase 
 of efficiency that the Academy can use them 
 to advantage. The establishment of Pro- 
 ceedings, the institution of lecture courses, 
 
 32 1 hope to discuss the international relations 
 of the Academy in a future article. 
 166 
 
the encouragement of broader methods of 
 science teaching, and closer identification 
 with the general interests of science as 
 represented in all movements for the pro- 
 motion of research and the diffusion of sci- 
 entific knowledge, are opportunities open 
 to immediate realization, and deserving of 
 the most careful consideration by the 
 Academy. 
 MOUNT WILSON 
 
 SOLAR OBSERVATORY 
 
 167 
 
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