5;C[AZ 
 
 M*7 i 5 1920 
 N..Y&L. THE 
 
 Scientific Alliance 
 
 OF 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 COMPRISING THE MEMBERS OF 
 
 The New York Academy of Sciences, 
 The Torrey Botanical Club, 
 
 The New York Microscopical Society, 
 The Linmean Society of New York, 
 The New York Mineralogical Club, 
 
 The New York Mathematical Society, 
 The New York Section of the 
 
 American Chemical Society. 
 
 ADDRESSES 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE 
 
 first joint meeting, 
 
 HELD AT THE 
 
 AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
 Tuesday Evening, November 15th, 1892. 
 

 / 
 
 
 : -. 
 
 
THE 
 
 Scientific Alliance 
 
 OF 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 COMPRISING THE MEMBERS OF 
 
 The New York Academy of Sciences, 
 The Torrey Botanical Club, 
 
 The New York Microscopical Society, 
 The Linn^an Society of New York, 
 The New York Mineralogical Club, 
 
 The New York Mathematical Society, 
 The New York Section of the 
 
 American Chemical Society. 
 
 addresses 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE 
 
 first joint meeting, 
 
 HELD AT THE 
 
 AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
 Tuesday Evening, November 15th, 1892. 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 i893 - m of m 
 
 APR 22 IS26 
 
 UK OF H 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Council of the Scientific Alliance, i 892-1893, ... 3 
 
 Note, 4 
 
 Address by Hon. Seth Low, President of Columbia Col- 
 lege, on "The Advantage to New York City of the 
 
 Alliance of the Scientific Societies," 5 
 
 Address by Mr. Charles F. Cox, on " The Advantage of 
 
 Alliance to the Scientific Societies," 9 
 
 Address by Hon. Addison Brown, on "The Need of En- 
 dowment for Scientific Research and Publication," . . 18 
 Address by Prof. H. Carrington Bolton, on "A Plea for 
 
 a Library of Science in New York City," 42 
 
 Appendix, 50 
 
 Address by Prof. N. L. Britton, on "The Kind of Build- 
 ing Required by the Scientific Alliance," 60 
 
S6 (=> 
 
 COUNCIL OF THE SCIENTIFIC ALLIANCE OF NEW YORK. 
 
 1892—1893. 
 
 From the New York Academy of Sciences. 
 O. P. HUBBARD, President. 
 N. L. BRITTON. 
 CHAS. F. COX. 
 
 From the Torrey Botanical Club. 
 
 ADDISON BROWN, President. 
 THOMAS MORONG. 
 HENRY H. RUSBY. 
 
 From the New York Microscopical Society, 
 
 J. D. HYATT, President. 
 P. H. DUDLEY. 
 J. L. ZABRISKIE. 
 
 From the L,innsean Society of New York. 
 
 J. A. ALLEN, President. 
 L. S. FOSTER. 
 ARTHUR H. HOWELL. 
 
 From the New York Mathematical Society. 
 
 EMORY McCLINTOCK, President. 
 THOMAS S. FISKE. 
 J. H. VAN AMRINGE. 
 
 From the New York Mineralogical Club. 
 
 GEO. F. KUNZ. 
 
 D. S. MARTIN. 
 
 W. D. SCHOONMAKER. 
 
 From the New York Section of the American Chemical Society. 
 
 A. H. SABIN, Chairman. 
 A. A. BRENEMAN. 
 ELWYN WALLER. 
 Officers of the Council, 1892-1893, 
 President: CHAS. F. COX, 
 
 Grand Central Depot. 
 Secretary and Treasurer: N. L. BRITTON, 
 
 Columbia College. 
 3 
 
 547HP 
 
NOTE. 
 
 The first Joint Meeting of the Societies forming the Scien- 
 tific Alliance of New York had for its object the public pre- 
 sentation of the needs of science in this city, and the plans and 
 purposes of the Council of the Alliance. This Council is com- 
 posed of the President and two other members of each of the 
 organizations and has advisory powers only. 
 
 The membership of the societies is over 650, and includes 
 nearly every name of persons especially interested in Pure 
 Science in New York. 
 
 The following addresses present an outline of what the 
 Council is endeavoring to accomplish, and its members will 
 welcome any suggestions or correspondence on the matter. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. SETH LOW, 
 
 President of Columbia College, 
 on THE 
 
 ADVANTAGES TO NEW YORK CITY OF THE ALLI- 
 ANCE OF THE SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: It will be noticed that I am to 
 speak of the advantages to New York, to the city itself, that 
 may reasonably be expected to spring from the affiliation and 
 cooperation of the societies, in other words, I assume, from the 
 Scientific Alliance. New York is a great commercial city and 
 a great financial centre. New York has in it also, at the pres- 
 ent time, many scientific men of the first order. Here has 
 been done, in the past, the work of Draper and of Morse, the 
 work of Rutherfurd and of Newberry and not a little of the work 
 of Edison. Yet New York is not a great scientific centre, in the 
 same sense that it is a great financial centre. The desire of the 
 Scientific Alliance is to make the city a great scientific centre, 
 in the sense that the city shall become a positive power in the 
 world of scientific thought and action. I need not pause, at 
 this moment, to dwell upon the advantages to this city if that 
 expectation shall be realized. Let me rather point out the way 
 in which, I think, this result may be reached. 
 
 New York is a great commercial and financial city. New 
 York has its Produce Exchange, its Maritime Exchange, its 
 Stock Exchange, and many other exchanges; and New York 
 has its Chamber of Commerce. The exchanges are organiza- 
 tions to facilitate business; the Chamber of Commerce is the 
 great representative body of all the business and financial in- 
 terests of the city. No business is transacted on the floor of 
 the Chamber, and for this very reason it can serve as the com- 
 mon meeting ground of every business. When the Commerce 
 of New York is appealed to on its philanthropic or its patri- 
 otic side, the Chamber is its natural organ. The Chamber col- 
 
 5 
 
lects and prints statistics of a general character, as distin- 
 guished from the daily bulletins of the exchanges. In a word, 
 it is the representative of the business community as distin- 
 guished from any particular trade or industry. In asking your 
 attention to this condition of things, I do not pretend for a 
 moment that New York is made a great commercial city by 
 its exchanges and its Chamber of Commerce. These rather 
 exist because New York is a great commercial centre. Yet it 
 is certainly true that the exchanges and Chamber do power- 
 fully contribute, by the sense of common interest that they 
 foster and by the facilities they afford, to the maintenance of 
 New York's commercial supremacy. What is significant from 
 the point of view of this discussion is, that if the strong com- 
 mercial life of the city requires these agencies, so will every in- 
 terest require them, or something like them, as it becomes 
 strong enough to feel that it can make itself felt and has the 
 desire to do so. It is not unapt to say that the museums, with 
 their staff of investigators, and the colleges and universities of 
 the city correspond roughly to the exchanges, but science in 
 New York is only now beholding the vision of its Chamber 
 of Commerce. This movement towards a Scientific Alliance 
 is at once suggestive of a growing sense of power and of new 
 aspirations on the part of scientific men in the city. If I may 
 venture as a layman, to draw an illustration from the field of 
 electricity, I would point out to you that however much elec- 
 tricity may be present in the atmosphere, it gives no sign of 
 its presence until favoring conditions make it manifest. 
 Similarly there may be, and there doubtless is, a vast amount 
 of scientific knowledge and interest in this great community, 
 but it must have facilities for expression before it can make itself 
 known and felt, still more before it can drive the motors of 
 scientific activity along the paths of investigation, and the large 
 service of mankind. Naturally, the city is not wholly devoid 
 of such means of expression. The museums, the universities, 
 the colleges of the city, as I have said, do something to fan the 
 flame, and between them bring into the city probably the 
 largest body of men whose attention turns naturally to such 
 things. Neither is it just to leave out of the account the con- 
 
7 
 
 stant encouragement which business men in New York are ex- 
 tending to those who are endeavoring to apply practically the 
 results reached in the domain of pure science. But beyond 
 the walls of all such institutions, and outside the ranks of in- 
 ventors, all through the city are men whose tastes and interests 
 incline them to scientific pursuits. All these sorts of men 
 have organized themselves into various scientific societies, each 
 after its kind, to listen to and discuss scientific papers. These 
 bodies have revealed at once the strength and the weakness of 
 New York in these directions. They have made clear beyond 
 a doubt the vast resources of the city, both in men and 
 means. But they have also revealed the fact that these re- 
 sources are as yet insufficiently organized. They have also 
 made clear that such a movement in New York is beset with 
 at least one difficulty peculiar to the place. The New York 
 audience is itself so large that many men have been content 
 with reaching that audience alone. They have not always 
 realized that the man who wishes to benefit mankind by his 
 service to science must be contended for, like the poet, by 
 many cities. Not even imperial New York should satisfy the 
 ambition of our scientific men ; they must seek and deserve a 
 world-wide hearing. Newton read his "Principia" to the 
 Royal Society of London before it was published, and sought 
 their judgment upon it. So it should be here. Many a 
 scientific bubble will be pricked by such a test, but that which 
 is true will be established. Men should seek to say not 
 simply what will gratify the society and never be heard of be- 
 yond its walls, but that which, being said to the society, will 
 command attention wherever it is known. All this means that 
 there must be, in the scientific life of the city, such earnestness 
 as will lead to thorough and patient work on which alone 
 scientific renown is based. The immediateness and magnitude 
 of local recognition in the city of New York, I sometimes 
 think, has operated to discourage depth and thoroughness. 
 Men are tempted to speak too soon and too often. The man 
 who has no local audience is perforce silent until he has some- 
 thing to say which will command a hearing at large. 
 
 On the other hand, the multitude of such scientific so- 
 
cieties as I have been discussing, dissipates the august audience 
 that New York might afford to its devotees of science, and 
 breaks it up into comparatively unimportant groups. The 
 scientific spirit, in a word, lacks intensity of expression. Our 
 neighboring city of Brooklyn, through the strength that has 
 come to it by the association of its lovers of science of every 
 name in branches of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and 
 Sciences, has opened and maintained a successful seaside lab- 
 oratory of Biology at Glen Cove. Our resources in men and 
 means are vastly larger, but they have not so early been turned 
 to account. Scientific expeditions go out from smaller cities 
 with a frequency not equalled here, although it is pleasant to 
 make note of the activity of the American Museum of Natural 
 History, in this regard. 
 
 The Scientific Alliance of New York has the capacity, I 
 think, to give to New York the agency which the city has long 
 needed to develop to the utmost its scientific activities in the 
 direction of pure science. First of all, the Alliance conforms 
 to that fundamental truth of modern scientific thought, the 
 unity of nature. We recognize that all sciences, so called, are 
 only branches of one all-embracing science. They belong to- 
 gether and not apart, because they are mutually interdependent. 
 But this Alliance needs, for the full accomplishment of its de- 
 signs, a common home in which the different societies shall 
 have their headquarters, use their libraries in common, and 
 make available for all the periodicals and meetings of each. 
 Such a building should contain accommodations for a truly 
 great scientific library, and a lecture hall that might be turned 
 to account for the instruction and enlightenment of the public. 
 It would naturally become the place where scientific men " most 
 do congregate." With an agency of this kind at its command, 
 adequately supported, it would be but a short time before the 
 Scientific Alliance of New York would awaken in the city a 
 veritable enthusiasm for the encouragement of scientific re- 
 search. It should offer the means of publishing meritorious 
 papers, and it should fit out and maintain scientific expeditions 
 to all parts of the globe. In this way it would do much to 
 make Xew York a benefactor of the nations, one of the cities 
 
9 
 
 the world would not willingly let die. It is a significant com- 
 mentary, I think, on the situation of the moment, that a gentle- 
 man living on Long Island who wished to contribute some- 
 thing to the advancement of science should have recently given 
 $100,000 to the Royal Institution of London. The same getle- 
 man, wishing to give something to charity, was able to find 
 satisfactory agencies in New York. How long shall it be be- 
 fore men who are like-minded shall find in New York some 
 worthy peer of the Royal Institution of London dedicated to 
 the advancement of scientific inquiry and research? 
 
 But, perhaps you ask me what, after all, will be the value 
 of all this to New York, if it should get it? One might give 
 many answers, but I prefer rather to ask: What is the 
 value of light to the sun, of poetry to the poet? Only that 
 light reveals the nature of the sun, and poetry the nature of the 
 poet. This city will surely be a nobler and a better place to 
 dwell in, the more it can draw to itself, and make happy and 
 useful within its borders, the men who question nature for her 
 secrets and reveal them for the service and advancement of 
 mankind. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. CHARLES F. COX, 
 
 ON THE • 
 
 ADVANTAGES OF THE ALLIANCE TO THE SCIEN- 
 TIFIC SOCIETIES. 
 
 The hopeful words which have been spoken by President 
 Low surely leave no room for doubt that the alliance of the 
 scientific societies of New York is destined to accomplish good 
 in at least one direction. But the arrangement of topics upon 
 our programme indicates that this is only part of the result 
 expected from the movement which we have met to promote, 
 although, in the light of the convincing presentation of the 
 matter which we have just heard, we may indeed look upon it 
 
IO 
 
 as the major part of the work we have before us. For myself, I 
 shall regard the union of the organizations which we represent as 
 already justified, if we are able to fulfill, in even moderate measure, 
 the prophecy which has been so confidently made for us. Ac- 
 cording to the encouraging horoscope which President Low has 
 cast, it is to be our good fortune to exert a beneficent influence 
 upon the development of the great metropolis in which we 
 dwell, and, at the same time, by the very enlargement of our 
 aims, to give a new impetus to scientific progress. But this is 
 not bespeaking for us a simple and an easy task. We need, 
 at the outset, to recognize the fact that we have embarked in 
 an undertaking calling for an unusual amount of energy, earnest- 
 ness, persistency and faith. But these qualities are not to be 
 brought into existence merely by banding ourselves together. 
 Men do not create capital by forming business partnerships. 
 They make up their firms because they have already a surplus 
 of means and wish to increase them by putting them to the 
 largest possible use. So, if these societies are to make them- 
 selves felt in the efficient manner predicted by President Low, 
 they will do so because they are themselves animated by a vital 
 force more than sufficient to keep their own internal functions 
 in operation. If it had not been believed that they had reached 
 this point in their development, this Alliance would never have 
 been formed. 
 
 According to the late Dr. Drysdale, the fundamental cri- 
 terion of vitality is in the reaction of ultimate anatomical units 
 against their environment. On this principle we propose to 
 test the energy of these organizations by bringing them into 
 closer contact w 7 ith the restless, eager, busy world about them, 
 confident that, even if the extrinsic effects produced turn out 
 to be but barely appreciable, there will still prove to be in- 
 trinsic results more than compensating for the efforts put forth. 
 At least the cause of science will be honored by our devotion, 
 and the pursuit of pure truth will be exalted and set before the 
 people as an example of the things which moth and rust do not 
 corrupt as something, therefore, in this age of business and 
 bustle which is rather to be chosen than great riches. 
 
 If Dr. Drysdale's criterion will stand the experimental test 
 
1 1 
 
 to which we shall thus put it, we shall find that our endeavors 
 will inevitably produce within our societies a correlative devel- 
 opment of vigor and productiveness by which they will 
 rise to higher and higher possibilities and reach out after 
 nobler and nobler purposes. Each determined attempt we 
 make to broaden the boundaries of learning will at least deepen 
 our own appreciation of knowledge. Each serious plea we 
 put forth for a higher standard of education will lengthen the 
 rule by which we measure our own achievement. And thus, 
 as Emerson says, " every act rewards itself." 
 
 Therefore I place above all other advantages which the 
 scientific societies of New York will derive from this alliance, 
 the stimulating and reenergizing effect which will be wrought 
 in them by the demand made upon them for an increased out- 
 put of effort for the public good. I verily believe that in pro- 
 portion to the new duties conscientiously assumed will be the 
 increase of capacity, not only for their performance, but also 
 for self-development. So long as our societies are merely self- 
 contained they possess only what we used to designate, in a 
 paradoxical way, as latent energy. In their separate existences 
 they are like the disconnected cells of a storage battery ; the 
 elements of power are there and arrangement of the parts 
 is theoretically admirable and interesting, but there is little 
 activity, and what there is is merely the inefficient result of 
 " short-circuiting." To get work of any great value we must 
 bring the cells together in a close bond of intercommunication 
 and then focus their combined strength upon something worth 
 doing ; we must set them a task large enough and important 
 enough to draw upon their innermost resources and to stir 
 every constituent particle to its widest range of movement. 
 Thus harnessed to a definite purpose, the battery will evolve 
 propulsive force in proportion to the call made upon it to over- 
 come inertia and friction. 
 
 This reference to the necessity for linking the several cells 
 together, so that they may contribute to a single working cur- 
 rent, leads to the consideration of another advantage which these 
 societies are to derive from this alliance. This is the reinforce- 
 ment and encouragement they and their members will receive 
 
12 
 
 from contact with one another, through sympathy, advice and 
 
 example. In these days of rigid specialization, when the con- 
 stantly expanding domain of science has become by force of 
 circumstances cut up into more or less independent states and 
 territories, confederation, for aid and defence, has become as 
 much of a necessity as it was to our early colonists after they 
 had once attained to local permanency and vested interests. 
 Science has taken possession of a vast world of previously un- 
 investigated phenomena since Columbus first crossed the 
 Atlantic, and it requires absorbing labor in many scattered 
 regions to fell the dense forests of ignorance and fill up the low- 
 places of superstition. Investigators of Nature's laws are not 
 now beset by the same sort of enemies as those who harassed 
 the truth-seekers of Columbus's time, but you men of science 
 have none the less your foes. Strange to say, the most power- 
 ful of these are your opponents unconsciously. They are the 
 average mass of men about you, wholly devoted to self-seeking 
 and swallowed up in the struggle for material aggrandizement. 
 They measure knowledge by commercial standards and have 
 put a market value even upon truth. Your science, in theii* 
 eyes, is worth only what it will bring when offered in the form 
 of dynamos, telephones, electric lights, dye-stuffs, mining 
 machinery, and other merchantable wares. These are the real 
 materialists — the worshipers of the pound weight and the foot 
 rule. It is they who are responsible for the current sarcasm 
 aimed at "theorists and doctrinaires," though they are not 
 wholly a product of our time. Henry Crabb Robinson tells us, 
 in his extraordinary diary, that when the great Humboldt re- 
 turned to Europe from his honorable and successful expedition 
 to South America, and was presented to the first Napoleon, 
 the haughty warrior received the modest explorer and discov- 
 erer with the remark: " You are a lover of botany?" " Yes," 
 answered Humboldt, proud of the service to which he had de- 
 voted his life. " So is my wife," curtly rejoined the conceited 
 Emperor, dismissing at once the humble man of science and 
 his belittling pursuit. Somewhat in the same vein, though with 
 a very different application, is an experience which befell me in 
 my days of youthful enthusiasm when, upon a first visit to 
 
13 
 
 Washington, some kind friend favored me with an introduction 
 to the late Prof. Baird. I carried my letter to the Smithsonian 
 Institution with high expectations of the pleasure to be de- 
 rived from the interview I was seeking. The note was re- 
 sponded to promptly by Prof. Baird, who came from his labora- 
 tory into the museum to meet me. His greeting was much 
 like Napoleon's, and I suppose I may say truthfully that, until 
 the completion of the colloquy which I am about to relate, I 
 felt fully as important as Humboldt did during his presentation 
 at the French Court. " So you are fond of natural history?" 
 the Professor inquired of me. " I think am," I diffidently 
 replied. " The reason I ask," he continued, " is because women 
 and children and weak-minded persons are usually those who 
 are fond of natural history." It did not occur to me then to 
 wonder in which of these classes the Professor himself claimed 
 membership, but I remember now that his face bore a peculiar 
 expression which I think might have been interpreted to mean, 
 he who devotes himself to the study of nature needs to beware 
 of the jibes of those who can not understand the pursuit of 
 truth for truth's own sake. 
 
 Although this warning is not as needful as it used to be, 
 and although it is likely to be still less necessary as time goes 
 on, you disciples of pure science should fortify yourselves in 
 every way possible against these contemners of the impractical. 
 But, of course, there is no safety in mere seclusion. We live in 
 an era of ceaseless activity, in which the principle of natural 
 selection operates quickly to eliminate those who refuse to 
 struggle. This is also an age of cooperation and consolidation, 
 and we shall find it advantageous to follow in the path of 
 worldly wisdom to the extent of adopting a mild form of 
 communism. I have no doubt it will prove to be a case of 
 protective mimicry, and it may even turn out to be the means 
 of our preservation as societies, to put into a common stock 
 for the general good not only whatever of knowledge, ability 
 and energy we possess, but also all the enthusiasm, devotion 
 and hopefulness with which we happen to be endowed. Thus 
 shall we best help one another to stem the discouraging cur- 
 rent of utilitarianism which is ever dragging capable men away 
 
from the firm anchorage they might find in meditation, study 
 and investigation. 
 
 But while I plead for what Carlyle calls the Everlasting Yea, 
 " wherein whoso walks and works, it is well with him," I see 
 that we cannot wholly escape the necessity for considerations 
 of self-interest and self-preservation. But the profits we reckon 
 up are not the profits of dollars and cents. The saving we 
 expect to effect is not that of material substance, but rather 
 the economy of time and thought. Scattered as we are over 
 the broad field of research, we require facility of intercom- 
 munication for the sake of acquaintance with one another's 
 achievements, so that what one man has done need not be 
 done after him. Life is too brief to be spent in duplicating 
 work already accomplished, and never were the sciences so 
 dependent upon one another as they are to-day. In fact, all 
 investigation seems to be converging upon the philosophy of 
 the molecule and the atom. The anthropologist and the 
 ethnologist have to call in the biologist and the histologist to 
 help trace human action to its mysterious beginnings in the 
 living cell. The biologist must apply to the chemist for an 
 analysis of his so-called " physical basis of life," and not only 
 have the departments of inorganic and organic chemistry 
 gradually merged into each other, but their combined resources 
 are now turned toward the synthetical production of not alone 
 organic substances, but even living matter. So would the 
 chemist turn biologist. On the other hand, the physicist is 
 extending his boundaries into the domain of chemistry and 
 will before long claim the whole region, on the ground that all 
 chemical action can be reduced to atomic motions and attrac- 
 tions. Geology, we all know, is as much a matter of zoology 
 and botany as it is of petrology, and both geology and 
 mineralogy long ago discovered their foundation in chemistry 
 and physics. Conversely, the zoologists and the botanists are 
 compelled to be geologists and geographers, while all sooner 
 or later get round again to ethnology and archaeology. Botany, 
 particular^ in its latest development in the direction of fun- 
 gology and bacteriology, has become inextricably tangled up 
 with chemistry, and even with physiology, medicine and path- 
 
i5 
 
 ology. The astronomer, too, finds himself forced into close 
 relationship with both physics and mathematics, and as for the 
 mathematicians, they have about exhausted the possibilities of 
 pure number and have cast in their lot with those who deal 
 with masses and forces. Indeed, we may look upon them as 
 the nexus between the purely physical and the purely rational, 
 or perhaps some would prefer to say the z>-rational, since they 
 have driven us nearly crazy with their unthinkable abstractions 
 concerning one-dimensional, two-dimensional, and four-dimen- 
 sional space. 
 
 All these examples merely illustrate the interdependence 
 of the different departments of modern science and the neces- 
 sity that exists for the economy of mental labor. It is no 
 longer possible for the various branches of learning to exist in 
 scattered and isolated centres. Such an arrangement is in it- 
 self unscientific, because it is both inefficient and wasteful. 
 What we propose to do through this Alliance is to furnish the 
 scientific societies of New York a common ground to stand 
 upon, and eventually something that we may rightfully call 
 ■" rapid transit " for thought and knowledge. We shall hope 
 to accomplish this not simply by supplying one organization 
 with information of what is done in another, and so preventing 
 the profitless threshing of old straw, but mainly by bringing to 
 light those subjects upon which a union of forces will produce 
 the best results. For the immediate present, we shall prob- 
 ably find the most promising field for concentrated effort in 
 the presentation of the claims of science to the consideration 
 of the better educated portion of the community, with a view 
 to enlisting sympathy and assistance in the work of establish- 
 ing it upon a basis comparable with that of any other of the 
 elevating and refining agencies upon which our people bestow 
 an appreciative patronage. Religion, organized benevolence, 
 the fine arts, literature, general education, and even technical 
 training, receive generous and well-merited support and en- 
 couragement. We learn with pride and pleasure of the prom- 
 ising movements for a stately cathedral and noble college halls 
 to crown the heights above Central Park; it is with deepest 
 gratification that we behold the erection of the beautiful and ap- 
 
16 
 
 propriate buildings which a broad-minded liberality has just be- 
 stowed upon the United Charities and other humane associations, 
 upon the new Fine Arts Society, and upon the whole mass of 
 music lovers in our midst ; and it is with hearty rejoicing that 
 we hear of each addition to the valuable collections of our great 
 public libraries, and of every new contribution to the superb 
 treasures of our worthy Museum of Art. And in this list of 
 our city's refining agencies let us not forget to include the 
 splendid institution to whose hospitality we are indebted to- 
 night — under whose roof it is our privilege to take the first 
 public step in the important project to which we have com- 
 mitted ourselves and our societies. It, too, has been a recipi- 
 ent of the people's favor and approval, though it has repaid 
 ten times over all that has been bestowed upon it, and stands 
 forth to-day a prominent example of the profitableness of the 
 investments which the community is making in institutions for 
 popular education. This result is all the more satisfactory be- 
 cause this is essentially a commercial community, accustomed, 
 as I have already said, to appraise even knowledge according 
 to the return it makes upon the capital expended in its acqui- 
 sition. But at last this very " practical " city is beginning to 
 realize that all profit is not necessarily in kind — that an outlay 
 of money may produce a purely moral and intellectual income 
 of great value ; and the recent manifestations of public spirit 
 which I have cited are evidence that we are in the midst of a 
 local renaissance from which our societies cannot fail to receive 
 great benefit. As I have shown, much has been, or is being 
 done for almost every sort of philanthropic enterprise; but as 
 yet pure science, the science of research, has failed to share in 
 this revival of liberality. Illustrative science we see tolerably 
 well provided for in this finely equipped museum, but this 
 objective side of science should be supplementary to the more 
 subjective side which we represent, and the two phases of one 
 division of learning should go together and receive each its 
 proportionate degree of patronage and support. Although 
 our turn may come last, it surely will come, and at no very 
 distant day. With a view to the outcome which we trust we 
 already behold materializing, this Alliance has not been formed 
 
i7 
 
 a moment too soon. I trust that it is apparent from this 
 gathering to-night that we are prepared to give an impressive 
 account of ourselves and to sustain the claim of this organiza- 
 tion to be considered one of the important uplifting forces in 
 this crowded centre of life and activity. To just what uses we 
 propose to devote the means which we confidently expect to 
 receive, will be told you by the speakers who are to follow. 
 They will set forth our hopes for a much-needed endowment 
 of original research and publication ; our plans for the foun- 
 dation of a distinctively scientific library, now wholly lack- 
 ing; our eager readiness to assume a part in popular educa- 
 tional work, still incomplete and capable of extension; and 
 our desire and aspiration for the possession of an edifice in 
 which all these societies shall be properly and adequately 
 housed; a building which shall stand as another permanent 
 reminder to this excitably energetic people that knowledge is, 
 after all, the most trustworthy source of power ; which shall be 
 to this nervous and restless community a new source of calm- 
 ing and tranquilizing influence. These objects we shall cer- 
 tainly accomplish in due time if w r e persevere with firm faith 
 and steadfast purpose, and, having accomplished them, we shall 
 find that these societies have derived advantages from this 
 Alliance just in proportion to the sincerity and self-devotion 
 with which they have sought to confer advantages upon the 
 magnificent city which it is our pride to call our home and, 
 through it, upon the general cause of science throughout the 
 world. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. ADDISON BROWN, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 NEED OF ENDOWMENT FOR SCIENTIFIC RE- 
 SEARCH AND PUBLICATION. 
 
 Twenty years ago Prof. Tyndall delivered in New York and 
 in other cities of this country a series of lectures upon light. 
 The last of the series was an impressive plea for a more 
 thorough prosecution of original research in pure science; and 
 incidentally, for the need of endowments to maintain it. I was 
 fortunate in having the opportunity to listen to that remarkable 
 course of lectures and to that plea for science. Its impression has 
 never left me. The impression was the deeper, because Tyn- 
 dall set upon it the seal of self-denial. Some $30,000, nearly 
 the entire net proceeds of his lectures in the United States — 
 money for which he undoubtedly had abundant use in his own 
 affairs, or at least in the prosecution of researches in his own 
 country, and which by all precedent and the example of other 
 lecturers he would have taken with him — all this he has given 
 to the science of this country, endowing therewith, in 1885, 
 three scholarships for the prosecution of original research in 
 physics, one under the direction of Columbia College, one under 
 Harvard, and a third at the University of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The truths uttered and the example set by this self-denying 
 master have already many times borne fruit. The late Presi- 
 dent Barnard, of Columbia College, who was a warm supporter 
 of Prof. Tyndall when here, bequeathed to Columbia upon his 
 decease a few years since, the sum of ten thousand dollars for 
 the endowment of another fellowship, for the encouragement of 
 scientific research, upon substantially the same terms as those 
 of the Tyndall Scholarships. In other parts of the country 
 there have been some other endowments for similar purposes. 
 In the last year Columbia has also received one hundred 
 thousand dollars, the munificent bequest of Mr. Da Costa, for 
 tin: establishment of the department of biology. Although 
 this bequest is not primarily for the prosecution of original 
 
research, it is not restricted by hampering conditions, and will 
 to some extent, it is hoped, admit of a direct and continuous 
 support of the highest and most advanced studies. 
 
 The appeal made by Tyndall has been often renewed by 
 scientific men ; by the heads of universities ; by the presidents 
 of scientific associations, here and abroad; and by none, per- 
 haps, more eloquently than by Dr. Edwin Ray Lancaster, in 
 his address before the biological section of the British Associa- 
 tion at Southport, in 1883. 
 
 What shall we say to the call and the examples of such 
 men ? Was the gift of Tyndall based only upon an idle fancy ? 
 Or was it the result of a clear perception of a profound truth, 
 viz: America's need of that money as a stimulus and support 
 to more scientific research ; the call on him being felt to be the 
 more imperious, because the need of it was so plain to him, 
 while obscure to others ; and making his act, therefore, a noble 
 instance of self-renunciation in an unappreciated cause ? 
 
 " To keep society as regards science in healthy play," he 
 says, " three classes of workers are necessary : " 
 
 1. " The investigator of natural truth, whose vocation it is 
 to pursue that truth and extend the field of discovery for 
 truth's own sake, without reference to practical ends ; 
 
 2. " The teacher, to diffuse this knowledge * * * 
 
 3. " The applier of these principles and truths to make them 
 available to the needs, the comforts or the luxuries of life * * 
 
 " These three classes ought to co-exist and interact. The 
 popular notions of science * * * often relate, not to 
 science strictly so called, but to the application of science." 
 
 The great discoveries of scientific truth, he continues, are 
 " not made by practical men, and they never will be made by 
 them ; because their minds are beset by ideas which, though 
 of the highest value in one point of view, are not those which 
 stimulate the original discoverer." 
 
 In a chance conversation, a few weeks since, I received a con- 
 firmation of these words, so direct and unexpected, that it may 
 bear citation. I was talking with an electrical expert who had 
 made several very interesting and important inventions. I 
 asked him of how much importance he conceived that the 
 
20 
 
 scientific men of the closet, the original investigators so-called, 
 had been in working out the great inventions of electricity 
 during the last fifty years, — the telegraph cables, telephones, 
 the electric lighting, and the electric motors ; and whether 
 these achievements were not in reality due, mainly, to the 
 practical men, the inventors, who knew what they were after, 
 rather than to the men of science who rarely applied their 
 work to practical use ? 
 
 " Not at all," he said, " the scientific men are of the utmost 
 importance ; everything that has been done has proceeded 
 upon the basis of what they have previously discovered, and 
 upon the principles and laws which they have laid down. 
 Nowadays we never work at random. Look at that electric 
 light ! Of the energy expended in producing it, only 7 per 
 cent, appears as light; the rest, 93 per cent., is wasted, mainly 
 in heat. We are all now trying to prevent this enormous 
 waste. I want to reverse that proportion ; but if I can reduce 
 the waste to only 33 per cent, a patent of my invention will be 
 worth millions of dollars for its economy in production. In 
 seeking this we do not work at random. I go to my labora- 
 tory ; study the applications of the principles, facts, and laws 
 which the great scientists like Faraday, Thompson and Max- 
 well have worked out, and endeavor to find such devices as 
 shall secure my aim." 
 
 This is but an expression, in another form, of what Tyndall 
 said twenty years ago : 
 
 " Behind all our practical applications, there is a region of 
 intellectual action to which practical men have rarely con- 
 tributed, but from which they draw all their supplies. Cut 
 them off from that region, and they become eventually help- 
 less." 
 
 What is true in one department of natural science, is, I 
 apprehend, equally true in all. 
 
 The practical men do not work at random, but upon the 
 basis of what scientific research and publication have previously 
 put within their grasp. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that not only the advancement of 
 knowledge itself, but all possibility of any continuous advance 
 
21 
 
 in those great improvements which are to mitigate the sorrows, 
 and promote the health, the conveniences and the comforts of 
 men, is vitally dependent upon the progress of scientific re- 
 search. In recent years how marvelous have these improve- 
 ments been ! Besides those that are most common and familiar 
 to all, what miracles almost have been achieved through the 
 photograph, the spectroscope, the microscope; by the dis- 
 covery of the sources of fermentation and of putrefaction ; by 
 the discovery of anesthetics and the application of antiseptic 
 methods in surgery, and in the treatment of other lesions. 
 These latter discoveries alone have ameliorated beyond expres- 
 sion the sufferings of man; they save more lives than war and 
 pestilence destroy, surpassing even in that regard the safety 
 lamp of Sir Humphrey Davy — an invention which, at the time 
 it was made, was said to have exceeded every previous dis- 
 covery as a means of saving human life, except, possibly, 
 inocculation for smallpox. 
 
 This vital relation between the advancement of knowledge 
 and the welfare of man furnishes an all-sufficient reason for the 
 continuous and never-ending prosecution of original research. 
 Of necessity the original work of discovery must always lead; 
 that must always precede the practical applications. The 
 necessity for such research must, therefore, continue, so long 
 as science and human society endure. As there is no limit to 
 the advance of knowledge, so there can be no limit to the 
 benefactions it is capable of conferring upon mankind. The 
 more rapid the advance, the more speedy the enjoyment of its 
 fruits. In this relation alone, the need of ample provision for 
 scientific progress is one that addresses itself equally to the na- 
 tion, to the state, to philanthropists, and to all who would ad- 
 vance the welfare of man, on the broadest and most enduring 
 lines. 
 
 How shall such research be maintained and extended? The 
 investigator of pure science does not work for profit. His dis- 
 coveries are not marketable. The law allows no patent upon 
 a principle of nature or the discovery of a new truth. Newton 
 could not patent the law of gravitation, nor Volta the galvanism 
 of the voltaic pile; nor Ehrenberg and Schwann, the discovery 
 
22 
 
 of the widespread influence of bacteria ; nor Faraday, nor 
 Henry, electro-magnetism ; nor Joule, his correlation of forces ; 
 nor Jackson, his anesthetics ; nor Lister, his antiseptic treat- 
 ment ; nor Koch nor Pasteur, their discoveries of the bacilli, 
 the destruction of which may lead to the cure or amelioration 
 of terrible diseases. To the practical men and to the inventors, 
 on the other hand, who apply to the specific wants of men the 
 truths and principles which the scientists have made known to 
 them, the law, in the form of a patent, gives a monopoly of 
 from fourteen to twenty-one years. They thus obtain, as a 
 rule, a reasonable, and, in some cases, even an excessive, 
 pecuniary reward. In this country alone nearly 500,000 
 patents have been issued ; they are increasing at the rate of 
 about 25,000 per year. In the extreme multiplication of 
 patents .affecting a large part of everything we use, the whole 
 world, it might almost, be said, is paying tribute to the inven- 
 tors and practical men ; while to the original discoverers who 
 have made so much of all this possible, there is no promise of 
 pecuniary reward. 
 
 This is not said by way of complaint. In the nature of 
 things, it is scarcely avoidable. The aims, the motives, the 
 methods and the genius of the two classes of minds, are and 
 ever must be widely distinct. Original discoverers cannot be 
 turned aside from their special work to become mechanics and 
 inventors, without infinite loss. Prof. Henry had one form of 
 the electric telegraph in actual use some years before Morse 
 conceived it.* But how great would have been the loss to 
 science, without any corresponding gain, had Prof. Henry in 
 1830 turned away from pure science, to do the subsequent 
 work of Morse in adapting the telegraph to common and valu- 
 able use ! 
 
 Research in pure science can never be made a self-supporting 
 
 pursuit. It can never, therefore, be carried forward broadly, 
 
 and continuously, and effectively, except through men sus- 
 
 1 by sonic form of stipend or endowment. Occasionally, 
 
 it is true, men of independent fortune, like Harvey and Darwin 
 
 . Ionian Report, 1878, pp. 159, 262. 
 
23 
 
 and Lyell and Agassiz, have devoted themselves to original 
 research upon their own means, and have accomplished most 
 important results. But these instances are rare. Many other 
 persons, too, with aptitudes and tastes for research, though not 
 following a scientific career, have carried on private researches 
 in the intervals of leisure, stolen from the exacting demands of 
 professional or business life ; and these have, in the aggregate, 
 added no small amount to the common stock of knowledge. 
 
 It is no disparagement, however, of these subordinate 
 workers to say, that nearly all the great discoveries, and nearly 
 all the great advances along the lines of knowledge, have been 
 achieved by men who in the main have devoted their lives to 
 the work, and have been supported through institutions or en- 
 dowments which made this devotion possible. Government 
 appointments, professorial chairs, or salaried positions in scien- 
 tific institutions of some kind, have been and must continue to 
 be, our chief dependence. And it is manifest that these can 
 only be maintained by Government aid, or by the bounty of 
 private individuals. The former is mainly the European sys- 
 tem ; the latter, in the main, is ours. There, universities are 
 founded by the government; here, chiefly by the people. 
 
 In Germany there are twenty-one universities maintained by 
 the government. In each of these, as Dr. Lancaster states, 
 there are five independent establishments in the Department of 
 Biology alone, viz : In physiology, anatomy, pathology, zoology 
 and botany. At the head of each of these establishments there 
 is a professor, with two paid assistants, making altogether 
 about 300 for biological research in Germany ; and he esti- 
 mates about one-quarter of that number in the same depart- 
 ment in England. In all the sciences, therefore, there would 
 probably be found in Germany from 800 to 1 ,000 persons of 
 high scientific attainments, supported by the government in 
 the universities, who are regularly and systematically engaged 
 in the discovery of new scientific truth. For it is there made 
 both the object and the duty of the professors of natural science, 
 to carry on original investigations by work in the laboratory. 
 Their positions are obtained through previous distinction in 
 such investigations ; and it is for this work that their small but 
 fixed stipend is paid by the government. 
 
24 
 
 In the College de France, also maintained by the govern- 
 ment, there is the same requirement, though with a larger 
 salary to the professors, and with the added duty imposed on 
 them to deliver to the students about forty lectures yearly upon 
 the subjects of the professors' researches; while in Germany the 
 professors also receive from each student who attends their 
 lectures, a moderate fee, which serves to increase their meagre 
 stipend, as well as to stimulate their activity and usefulness. 
 Under this system, Germany has become the greatest school 
 of science, and the resort of the whole world. 
 
 In this country the opposite system prevails. The colleges 
 and universities are mainly private foundations, dependent on 
 private gifts and endowments. The colleges are unwisely 
 multiplied. All are more or less cramped for money. This 
 limits the number of professors and assistants appointed for in- 
 struction, and crowds them with routine work. The result is 
 that in all but a few colleges, and in these until comparatively 
 recently, the duties of instruction have left to the professors 
 but little time or opportunity for the prosecution of original 
 investigations ; and these with but poor equipment and inade- 
 quate means. 
 
 In not one of all our colleges and universities, so far as I 
 have been able to ascertain, is there a single professorship en- 
 dowed or founded, even in part, for the avowed object of origi- 
 nal scientific research. Instruction, not discovery, is the only 
 avowed object. It is to the great credit of American profes- 
 and teachers that, with so much routine work on their 
 hands, and so little leisure for research, they should have ac- 
 complished by purely voluntary studies so much as is shown 
 in their contributions to our scientific publications. 
 
 To what is said above, perhaps a virtual exception should be 
 
 made as respects our astronomical observatories, in which, the 
 
 labors of instruction being less, original work has been, perhaps, 
 
 and lias been accomplished with most signal success. 
 
 nt this may possibly apply to our medical schools 
 
 And in other departments, generally, wherever time and 
 
 opportunity have been afforded, much original work has been 
 
 done by our proTessors ; some of it of the first class. This is 
 
25 
 
 attested, not to mention living instances, by the work of Prof. 
 Henry at Princeton, Dr. Torrey at Columbia, Dr. Silliman at 
 Yale, Dr. Gray at Harvard, and many others that might be 
 named. In a number of the States, also, and at Washington, 
 there have been maintained by the State or Nation a number 
 of scientific men, in connection with certain State or National 
 interests, who have accomplished most important results ; of 
 these, Dr. James Hall, of this State, is a conspicuous instance. 
 At Harvard and at other colleges some noble opportunities 
 for special study have been also provided in their scientific 
 schools and museums ; notably in the Zoological Museum, 
 the Jefferson Physical Laboratory, and the Peabody Museum 
 of Archaeology at Cambridge, and also in the Department of 
 Hygiene at the University of Pennsylvania. But in most of 
 these the great complaint is the lack of necessary endowments 
 to make possible the active advanced work in original discovery 
 for which those institutions are designed. In the Peabody 
 Museum there was in 1891 a gift of $10,000 by Mrs. Hemenway 
 to establish a post-graduate Fellowship ; and also a gift of like 
 amount by Mr. Wolcott, for the general support of the museum's 
 work. New York also has within a few years past seen spring 
 up almost as by magic, through the efforts of a single leading 
 spirit, seconded by other public spirited men and women, and 
 by municipal aid, a Museum of Natural History that bids fair 
 to stand in the front rank of scientific opportunities ; but the 
 endowments of fellowships and professors necessary to make 
 its opportunities available in active research, are as yet wanting. 
 
 England holds a position midway between the United States 
 and Germany. Her scientific men lament her deficiencies. 
 They are striving to increase their means for scientific work, 
 and are doing so yearly. 
 
 If experience teaches anything, it is that no broad and gen- 
 eral development of scientific work of the first class is possible, 
 except either through independent establishments for special 
 work; or else by the university system, in which professors in 
 science and their assistants are first selected on account of their 
 previous distinction in original research, and are then appointed 
 to continue that work, and in the teaching of students, to trans- 
 
26 
 
 mit to them the zeal of discovery and the true methods of 
 advance. 
 
 It matters little whether the support of the university or of 
 special institutions for research comes from the government 
 or from private endowment, provided the provision is adequate 
 and constant. The difficulty with us has been, and still is, that 
 funds are insufficient, the means and equipment inadequate, 
 and the time allowed to the professors for research insufficient. 
 There has been too much of the schoolmaster, and too little of 
 the real professor. Too great absorption of the professor's 
 time in the work of instruction is injurious to both teacher and 
 pupil. The most stimulating of teachers is he who by daily 
 experiment is in vital touch with Nature ; he who brings from 
 the fires of the laboratory the warmth, the illumination and the 
 inspiration of his own researches. 
 
 This is now well recognized ; and, so far as their means will 
 permit, the leading colleges are by degrees relieving their pro- 
 fessors of the work of elementary instruction, so that they may 
 tne better prosecute original researches, and at the same time 
 become best qualified for the highest work of instruction. 
 This system will, doubtless, demand watchfulness and discrimi- 
 nation. To prevent abuses, regulation and responsibility majr 
 have to be imposed. But it involves the appointment of addi- 
 tional instructors. It requires added means. And this is in- 
 dispensable as a part of the transition of our leading colleges- 
 to the university system. It is indispensable, also, if we are 
 to have in this country any considerable systematic prosecu- 
 tion of original research. We must use existing instrumentali- 
 ties and existing institutions. And all experience shows that 
 ide of the few government positions, and in the absence of 
 ial institutions for research, the professorial chairs are best 
 adapted to such investigations. No greater service could be 
 icience than to make such endowments as should in- 
 systematic and continuous research by the professors as a 
 part of the new university system. 
 
 Endowments for the same object, and operating in the same 
 
 line, might also take a different form, viz.: the endowment of 
 
 sorial fellowships, each, say, of $1,000 annual in- 
 
27 
 
 come; to be controlled and awarded by some independent 
 scientific body (such as this Alliance might afford) for distinc- 
 tion in active scientific investigations, either within the country 
 or within the State. I know of no more quickening impulse 
 to original scientific research than such as would be given to 
 it by those means. 
 
 How backward we have been in this country, through the 
 lack of proper endowments, in making use of the best existing 
 opportunities for research, may be illustrated by a single 
 instance. 
 
 Some twenty years ago a school was established at Naples 
 for the prosecution of marine biological research. It is most 
 thoroughly equipped, and, being a general resort, is the most 
 advantageous for study of any in the world. It is maintained 
 by a charge of $500 per year upon each table occupied ; each 
 occupant being entitled to all the advantages of the institution. 
 Of these tables, the German States for several years have taken 
 thirteen; Italy, eight; Austria, Russia, Spain and England, 
 each three; Switzerland, Belgium and Holland, each one; the 
 United States, until 1891, none, except one table supported 
 by Williams College for two years, and one by the University 
 of Pennsylvania for one year. Prior to that time about fifteen 
 other American students in all had obtained places at the 
 tables taken and paid for by other nations. In 1890 this ar- 
 rangement was prohibited by the administration of the institu- 
 tion ; and the right to a table in 1891 was secured to Americans, 
 only through the private benefaction of Maj. Alex. Henry 
 Davis, of Syracuse. For the year 1892 the use of a table has 
 been secured through a subscription started by the American 
 Association for the advancement of science, towards which the 
 Association itself granted out of its scanty funds one hundred 
 dollars, and was the means, I believe, of procuring the rest.* 
 
 We have not, however, been wholly without some such 
 means of study in this country, through the marine biological 
 laboratories established some years ago at Newport and at 
 Wood's Holl, by Prof. Alex. Agassiz. The former has been now 
 enlarged so as to accommodate eight advanced students, besides 
 
 *See Proc. Am. Assn., 1891, Vol. 40, p. 449-451. 
 
28 
 
 the Professor and his assistant.* The Johns Hopkins Univer- 
 sity, also, has supplied some opportunities of this kind by its 
 summer school, formerly at Beaufort ; later, at Jamaica ; but 
 at present, as I understand, it is without any permanent loca- 
 tion. 
 
 Our neighbor, the Brooklyn Institute, has organized similar 
 investigations, on a minor scale, during the summer months at 
 different places on Long Island. But what is needed for the 
 most effective work, is suitable endownents for professors and 
 advanced students, in connection with an adequate Biological 
 Laboratory, such as the Newport one enlarged might afford, 
 equal in means and equipment to that at Naples, or at least 
 to that recently completed, largely through private enterprise, 
 at Plymouth, England. f 
 
 II. 
 
 Immediately connected with our colleges and universities is 
 another field, in which additional endownments are greatly 
 needed, viz: for fellowships in science for post-graduate studies. 
 
 Upon the post-graduate workers, the future of science, and 
 the recruits for future teachers and professors, must necessarily 
 depend. In that view the importance of post-graduate en- 
 dowments in science can scarcely be magnified. The great 
 majority of the young men from whom all the new recruits 
 must be drawn, have little or no pecuniary means. After 
 
 •Report Harvard Col., 1891, p. 182. 
 
 fin his address before the American Association for the Advancement of 
 Science, in 189 1, President Prescott, referring to this general subject, said : 
 
 To * nurture * investigation in science is the largest opportunity be- 
 fore the American people. Research, systematic and wisely directed, requires 
 good organization and strong support, the support of many powers. It must 
 have the support of able and persistent men. It needs the conference of 
 workers, and the dissemination of knowledge in societies like this. It wants the 
 the confidence of the public. It asks and will always obtain the 
 nt, helpful use of the press. It requires distinct provision in colleges, and 
 in the institutions of higher education. It ought to be sustained expressly by the 
 anient, both in the several States and under the United States, and sus- 
 on broad and permanent foundations. Still, it needs private benefac- 
 1, the growth of years. Let it be the demand of all, and let 
 find Utterance everywhere. Proceedings 1891, Vol. 40, p. 440. 
 
29 
 
 graduating, often through many difficulties, they must face the 
 question of their future calling. They must consider what 
 promise of a reasonable and comfortable support a life devoted 
 to science affords. If this risk should not deter them, still 
 there are many with talents of a high order who would be ab- 
 solutely unable to proceed further in the advanced scientific 
 studies necessary to qualify them to enter upon remunerative 
 scientific work, or to obtain situations as professors br assist- 
 ants, except by the aid of substantial endowments for their 
 support, during the three or four years more of necessary as- 
 siduous study. 
 
 In the stress of modern life, and in the allurements towards 
 more certain pecuniary results, nothing but such endowments 
 can avert the withdrawal from scientific pursuits, of many 
 young men of high promise, whose genius and tastes and 
 ambition strongly incline them to science, and who would be 
 secured to it if this temporary support were afforded. 
 
 The endowments of our colleges and universities in aid of 
 post-graduate work in science are much less, I suppose, than 
 is commonly imagined. I find no such support for post- 
 graduate work in science, either at Cornell University, at the 
 University of the City of New York, at Brown University, at 
 Amherst, or even at the Johns Hopkins University. No state- 
 ment of the endowments. of the new Clark University at Wor- 
 cester has as yet been published. Princeton, though having 
 a hundred under-graduate scholarships, has but one post- 
 graduate fellowship for science ; Yale, but two — the Silliman 
 and the Sloane Fellowships. 
 
 Columbia College has two fellowships expressly restricted 
 to science, viz. : The Tyndall Fellowship of $648 annually, 
 and the Barnard Fellowship, before referred to, of about $500 
 annually. Besides these, however, twenty-four general uni- 
 versity fellowships have been established, of $500 each, for post- 
 graduate study, of which eighteen are in present operation. 
 About one-third of these are assigned to science ; making now 
 eight for science at Columbia, with probably two more in 1893 
 or 1894. In architecture, moreover, there are three additional 
 noble post-graduate fellowships at Columbia, the Schermerhorn 
 
30 
 
 of $1,300 annually, and the two McKim Fellowships of $1,000 
 each, to support study in foreign travel. In the Medical De- 
 partment, also, there are five valuable prizes for proficiency. 
 
 The University of Pennsylvania has the Tyndall Fellowship, 
 before referred to ; and, in the Department of Hygiene, an ad- 
 mirable laboratory fitted up by Mr. Henry C. Lea, with a fel- 
 lowship of $10,000 endowed by Mr. Thomas A. Scott, at present 
 applied to original research in bacteriology. 
 
 At Harvard, besides the three Bullard Fellowships of $5,000 
 each, established in 1 891, to promote original research in the 
 medical school, there are two post-graduate fellowships re- 
 stricted to science exclusively ; namely, the Tyndall Fellowship 
 of about $500 annually, and the income of the recently estab- 
 lished Joseph Lovering Fund, the principal of which is now 
 about $8,000. There are also eleven other general fellowships, 
 viz.: The Parker, the Kirkland and the Morgan Fellowships, 
 available for promising graduate students in any branch ; of 
 which about five have been usually assigned to science. These 
 fellowships give an income of from $450 to $700 a year. 
 Harvard has also forty-six scholarships available for graduate 
 students, varying in income from $150 to $300 each, of which 
 about seventeen are assigned to science. During the last year, 
 according to the report of Prof. Pierce, the Dean, there were 
 193 applications for those post-graduate fellowships and scolar- 
 ships, seventy-one of which were in science. Only one-third 
 of the applicants could receive the aid. The Dean adds : 
 
 " The number of appointments is still very insufficient to meet 
 the demands of promising students who wish to enter the 
 graduate school and are unable to do so without assistance."* 
 The tables published by him indicate that a considerable num- 
 ber of those not aided withdrew from science; and that many 
 others who were entered for the first year in the graduate 
 school, would, if not aided, afterwards leave. It is gratifying 
 to observe the further fact, so encouraging also for the young 
 luates who wish, if possible, to enter upon a scientific 
 1 r, that all who had enjoyed these fellowships for the full 
 term of three years, and did not continue their studies fur- 
 ther abroad, at once received honorable positions. 
 Report I [arvard ( !ol 1X91, p. 92. 
 
3i 
 
 From the above synopsis it appears that in all these col- 
 leges (and I know of no other similar fellowships elsewhere) 
 there are only about twenty-six adequately endowed post- 
 graduate fellowships in science. As these should be continued 
 for at least three years, there is provision altogether for only 
 about nine per year — not one-fourth the number required to sup- 
 ply the annual loss in our 150 colleges, to say nothing of the 
 increasing demand, through the growth and improvements in 
 the colleges themselves. As it is from such specially trained 
 students that the great professors of the future must be drawn, 
 the need of much greater endowments for new recruits is ap- 
 parent. 
 
 In England the aids afforded by fellowships in their univer- 
 sities are familiar to all. Sir Isaac Newton, who is to modern 
 science what Shakespeare is in literature, was sustained from 
 his student days successively in a scholarship, a fellowship, and 
 as professor at Trinity College at Cambridge. Besides those 
 aids, The Royal Commissioners of the Exhibition of 1851, 
 instituted last year (1891) " Exhibition Science Scholarships " 
 for advanced students, to which $25,000 yearly is to be ap- 
 plied in sums of $750 each. Last year sixteen appointments 
 were made, to be held for two and probably for three years, by 
 students who show capacity, and " who advance science by 
 experimental work." * 
 
 On this subject a most interesting discussion took place last 
 year in the French Academy of Science. On April 27, 1891, 
 the Secretary read the following extract from the Will of the 
 late M. Cahours, a deceased member of the Academy : 
 
 " I have frequently had the opportunity of observing, in the 
 course of my scientific career, that many young men, distin- 
 guished and endowed with real talent for science, found them- 
 selves obliged to abandon it, because before beginning they 
 had no efficacious help which provided them with the first ne- 
 cessities of life, and allowed them to devote themselves exclu- 
 sively to scientific studies. 
 
 "With the object of encouraging such young workers, who, 
 
 * Per Sir William Thompson, Proceedings, Royal Society, 1891, Vol. 50, p. 
 .225. 
 
32 
 
 for want of sufficient resources find themselves powerless to 
 finish works in course of execution, * * * I bequeath to 
 the Academy of Science * * * 100,000 francs, * * * 
 the interest to be distributed yearly by way of encouragement 
 to any young men who have made themselves known by some 
 interesting works, and more particularly by chemical re- 
 searches ; * * * as far as possible to young men without 
 fortune, not having salaried offices, and who, from want of a 
 sufficient situation, would find themselves without the possi- 
 bility of following up their researches. These pecuniary en- 
 couragements ought to be given for several years to the same 
 young men, if the Commissioner thinks their productions have 
 sufficient value ; * * * to cease when they shall have 
 other sufficiently remunerative positions." 
 
 M. Janssen, then addressing the Academy, said : 
 
 " This affords an example to all who hereafter may desire to 
 encourage the sciences by their liberality. M. Cahours, who 
 knew the urgent necessities of science, had, like most of us, 
 become convinced of the need of introducing a new form of 
 scientific recompenses. 
 
 " Our prizes will always continue to meet a great and noble 
 necessity. Their value, the difficulty of obtaining them', and 
 the eclat they take from the illustriousness of the body that 
 grants them, will always make them the highest and most valu- 
 able of recompenses. 
 
 " Hut the value, also, of the works it is necessary to produce 
 in order to lay claim to them, forbids them to beginners. It is 
 a field only accessible to matured talents. 
 
 " But there are many young men endowed with precious 
 aptitudes, inclined to pure science, but turned very often from 
 this envied career by the difficulties of existence, and taking 
 with regret a direction towards more immediate results. And 
 yet many among them possess talents, which, if well cultivated, 
 might do honor and good to science. * * These difficulties 
 arc increased every day by the marked advance of the exigen- 
 of life. 
 
 "We must find a prompt remedy for this state of things, if 
 
33 
 
 we do not wish to see an end of the recruitment of science. 
 This truth is beginning to be generally felt. The Government 
 has already created institutions, scholarships and encourage- 
 ments, which partly meet the necessity. Some generous 
 donors are also working in this manner. I will mention 
 specially the noble foundation of Mile. Dosne, in accordance 
 with whose instructions a hall-is at this moment being built, 
 where young men, having shown distinguished aptitudes for 
 high administration, for the bar, or for history, will receive for 
 three years all the means of carrying on high and peaceful 
 studies. Let us say, then, plainly, and in speaking thus we 
 only feebly echo the words of the most illustrious members of 
 the Academy, that by following the way so nobly opened by 
 Cahours, the interest and prospocts of science will be most 
 effectually saved. * 
 
 Huxley is said to have once stated that " any country 
 would find it to its interest to spend $100,000 in first finding 
 a Faraday, and then putting him in a position where he could 
 do the greatest amount of work." 
 
 It is the post-graduate endownpients Xhak must find and retain 
 to science the Faradays of the future. 
 
 A notable instance of the need and value of such aid is 
 found in the recently appointed head of a great university, who 
 by such endowments alone, here and abroad, it is said, was en- 
 abled to prosecute his studies for ten years successively, reach- 
 ing thereby the front rank in his chosen Department of 
 Philosophy. 
 
 III. 
 
 Another department in great need of pecuniary support is 
 that of the learned and scientific societies. In these England 
 is preeminent. Our own societies have endeavored to follow, 
 so far as they could, their English models. The English so- 
 cieties have rendered to science invaluable service in three main 
 lines : 
 
 i. In providing ample means for the publication of scientific 
 papers, showing the progress and the results of their scientific 
 work. In this every society has taken part. 
 
 *Nature, May 7, 1891. 
 
34 
 
 2. In the direct maintenance of original research, in which 
 the Royal Institution has been most conspicuous. 
 
 3. In the award of prizes for scientific distinction ; but still 
 more important, in the distribution of pecuniary aid, for the 
 prosecution of special scientific researches. 
 
 (1). Of these, I regard publication as, perhaps, the most im- 
 portant; not only because it puts the world in possession of 
 what has been done by investigators; but because the very fact 
 that there are means of publication, is one of the greatest in- 
 citements to complete and thorough original scientific work. 
 
 Of the English societies, the Royal Society is the oldest, hav- 
 ing been chartered in 1662. It has published 181 volumes of 
 Transactions and about 50 volumes of Proceedings. For 
 these purposes in 1881 the expenditure was between $ 11,000 
 and $12,000. It has property to the value of about thirds of 
 a million of dollars, more than half of which is in trust funds, 
 held for scientific uses. The income on the trust funds in 1891 
 was about $17,500.* In 1828 Dr. Wallaston in giving it 
 $10,000 in 3 per cent consols " to promote scientific researches," 
 charged upon the Society "not to hoard the income parsimoni- 
 ously, but to expend it liberally for the objects named." 
 
 The Royal Institution of Great Britain, was founded in 1779, 
 largely through our countryman, James Thompson, of Rum- 
 ford, Vt, afterwards Count Rumford. In 1888 it had property 
 and invested funds for general purposes to the amount of 
 $350,000, and about $40,000 of invested funds for the mainte- 
 nance of its three professors. In 1887 it expended about two 
 thousand dollars in publications, and it has issued about 
 forty volumes, f 
 
 The Linncean Society, now furnished by the Government with 
 permanent accomodations in Burlington House, free of rent, 
 was founded by Sir James E. Smith in 1788, and is devoted to 
 botany and zoology. Its property amounts to about $32,000, but 
 it has no endowed funds for scientific investigation. For some 
 some years past its receipts, mainly from contributions, have 
 been about $10,000 a year, of which one-half, about $5,000, is 
 
 ♦Proceedings, 1891, Vol. 50, p. 235. 
 t Report 1888, p. 13. 
 
35 
 
 spent on its publications, which now number nearly fifty vol- 
 umes of transactions in quarto, and as many more of its Jour- 
 nal. In 1888 $7,000 dollars were expended in publication. * 
 
 Next in order of time is the British Association for the Ad- 
 vancement of Science, founded in 1831. It is sustained chiefly 
 by yearly contributions. Its invested funds amount to about 
 $62,000. Its income and contributions are about $10,000 an- 
 nually, out of which it appropriates from $6,000 to $7,000 per 
 annum for the encouragement of scientific investigations, and 
 about $1,800 annually for its yearly volume of Proceedings. 
 Its publications now number twenty-five volumes, f 
 
 The Ray Society was founded in 1844. It was named after 
 the Rev. John Ray, who lived from 1628 until 1705. Haller, 
 himself one of the greatest scientists of his time, writing in 
 1 77 1, in the full light of Linnaeus' fame, calls Ray " the greatest 
 botanist within the memory of man." % The society has pub- 
 lished about fifty volumes of scientific works of the highest im- 
 portance. I have not seen any statistics concerning its means 
 or acquisitions ; nor have I found any financial report of the 
 scientific societies of Edinburgh or Dublin. 
 
 (2.) Of these societies, only the Royal Institution directly 
 supports professors for scientific research. It has two labora- 
 tories, one chemical and one physical. These were rebuilt in 
 1872, " in order that original discovery might be more effect- 
 ively carried on." The society was founded for the declared 
 purpose of " promoting scientific and literary research." It 
 has three professors — one in chemistry, one in physics and 
 one in physiology. Davy, Faraday, Tyndall, and others who 
 have spent their lives there, have made its annals immortal. 
 
 (3.) In stimulating research by the appropriation of moneys 
 for specific objects, the Royal Society and the British Associa- 
 tion are the chief agencies. Besides some of its own funds, 
 the Royal Society distributes annually four thousand pounds, 
 or $20,000, granted by the Government " for the advancement 
 of science." This has been done by applying it to numerous 
 
 * Proceedings 1890, pp. 15, 45 [May 4, 1888.] 
 f Proceedings 1 89 1, pp. LXXXVII to C. 76. 
 
 :f Bibliotheca Botanica. 
 
36 
 
 purposes ; in 1891, for fifty-seven different scientific objects, in 
 sums ranging from $25 to $3,000 each ; not confined to natural 
 science alone, but including ethnology and magnetic surveys. 
 Most of the grants were in sums of about $350 or less.* 
 
 The British Association has disbursed annually, for the last 
 forty years, from $6,000 to $7,000 per annum, upon the same 
 system of dividing it up for numerous specific purposes ; usually 
 from thirty to forty objects yearly, the grants being in sums 
 ranging from $25 to $1 ,000. The grants are called for and ex- 
 pended for the specific purpose named, and under the direction 
 of some prominent scientific man. Scientists like Sir William 
 Thompson, and others of like renown, have had the administra- 
 tion of many of these grants. These have, included for the 
 last six years, save in 1890, the appropriation of $500 per year 
 for a table in the Naples Marine Laboratory.! 
 
 We have no single society In this country, save the Smith- 
 sonian, that can rival in importance those that I have named in 
 England. And the Smithsonian is not a society, but an insti- 
 tution, established by one man, and he an Englishman. This 
 institution, based upon the bequest of James Smithson, was 
 founded by Act of Congress of August 10, 1846. I doubt 
 whether in any country or in any age, the bequest of half a 
 million of dollars has ever been followed by such beneficent 
 results, or has ever so profoundly affected the life of science in 
 any country as the Smithsonian Institution has done in America 
 during the last forty-four years of its existence. This has been 
 owing (1) to the wisdom and the profound scientific insight of 
 Prof. Henry, its first secretary and director ; and (2) to the 
 corps of able assistants and successors whom his spirit and 
 policy have inspired. Its publications number twenty-six 
 quarto volumes of Contributions to Knowledge ; forty volumes 
 of Miscellaneous Collections ; and forty-four vojumes of Annual 
 Reports. Its Contributions to Knowledge rival, if they do not 
 excel, in rarity and importance, the publications of any other 
 society during the same period. Its expenditure in publica- 
 tions is about $12,500 a year. Under Prof. Henry a good deal 
 
 •Proceedings, 1891, Vol. 50, p. 242. 
 fProceedings, 1890, p. 90. 
 
37 
 
 was done in research. Under Prof. Langley, the present direc- 
 tor, astro-physical research is carried on. Besides the direct 
 scientific work of the institution, however, its influence has been 
 very great, especially in its relations with the other depart- 
 ments at Washington, and as a medium for the prosecution of 
 other scientific enterprises, under authority of Congress. Many 
 of the appropriations of Congress for scientific expeditions for 
 researches in ethnology, paleontology, chemistry and physics, 
 have been due to the presence and cooperation of the Smith- 
 sonian Institution. For ethnologic researches alone, during 
 the last twelve years, under the administration of the Smith- 
 sonian, Congress has appropriated $400,000; to paleontologic 
 researches within the last three years, $160,000; to chemical 
 and physical research, $68,000; and to astro-physical research, 
 $10,000. Besides these, there have been for many years appro- 
 priations for maintaining the important investigations of the 
 Coast and Geodetic Survey, and of the Weather Bureau in 
 Meteorology ; and for the great scientific work of the Naval 
 Observatory, and of the various scientific divisions of the 
 Agricultural Department and of the Geological Survey. Our 
 Government has been by no means inactive in science. 
 
 The principal American scientific associations, omitting 
 those of comparatively recent origin, are the American Phil- 
 osophical Society of Philadelphia, originally founded in 1744; 
 The American Academy of Arts and Sciences at Boston; The 
 Boston Society of Natural History ; The Academy of Natural 
 Sciences, and The Franklin Institute, at Philadelphia ; the latter 
 founded in 1824 (see Journal, vol. 1, pp. 71, 129); The New 
 York Academy of Sciences (a continuation of the Lyceum of 
 Natural History) ; The National Academy of Science at Wash- 
 ington, founded in 1863; and The American Association for 
 the Advancement of Science. Of these, The Philosophical 
 Society has published 29 volumes of its Transactions ; The 
 American Academy, 26 volumes of Transactions and 9 quarto 
 volumes of Memoirs; The Boston Society of Natural History, 
 25 volumes, at a cost of about $600 per year; The Academy 
 of Natural Science of Philadelphia, 48 volumes of Proceed- 
 ings and 12 quarto volumes of its Journal, at an average cost 
 
3« 
 
 of about $1,000 per year; The Franklin Institute, 133 vol- 
 umes of its Journal ; The New York Academy and its prede- 
 cessor, about 30 volumes of Transactions and Annals ; The 
 National Academy, 3 quarto volumes of Memoirs and some 
 volumes of Proceedings; and The American Association for 
 the Advancement of Science about 40 volumes of Proceedings. 
 
 The latter society had in 1891 a " Research Fund" of $5,254. 
 (Proceedings 1891, p. 441). None of the other societies, so 
 far as I can find, has any fund specially devoted to research, 
 or makes any specific appropriations therefor. The National 
 Academy and The Academy of Philadelphia have each some 
 funds for their support, and the latter also the Jessup Fund for 
 students in Science on which the income is about $5 50 yearly. 
 The Philosophical Society from time to time awards the prize 
 established by John Hyacinth de Magellan in 1786, an oval 
 gold plate, " for the most useful discovery or invention in navi- 
 gation or science." One of the earliest awards of this prize 
 was for painting lightning rods with black lead. 
 
 The American Academy of Arts and Sciences awards a gold 
 and silver medal from a bequest of $5 ,000, made to it by Count 
 Rumford, who in 1796 made a similar bequest to the Royal 
 Society. In 1888 this prize was most worthily awarded to 
 Prof. Michelson, for his researches in light.* 
 
 The Boston Society of Natural History has a general fund, 
 of which the income is about $6,000. It has also a small 
 Walker Prize Fund and a Grand Prize Fund, from which in 
 1884 it awarded a grand prize of $1,000 to James Hall, of 
 Albany, " for his distinguished services to science." It also 
 administers the expenditure of about $2,700 a year for instruc- 
 tion in laboratory work, drawn from the Boston University, 
 and $1,500 from the Lowell Fund for the instruction of 
 teachers.! 
 
 From this comparison of the voluntary associations, it appears 
 that the property, endowed funds, and equipment of the English 
 societies named, are nearly ten-fold greater than the American, 
 and their publications, double; while for direct original re- 
 
 eringf Address, Proc, Vol. 24, p, 380. 
 I Proceedings, Vol. 24, p, 14. 
 
39 
 
 search, our societies maintain no laboratories and no professors, 
 as is done by the Royal Institution. The English societies 
 distribute yearly from $25,000 to $30,000 for from sixty to 
 seventy-five different scientific purposes; while ours make 
 no such appropriations, simply because they have no funds. 
 To supply this deficiency there is need of large endowments. 
 
 The publications of our societies are valuable ; the papers 
 have often been of a high character, rivaling those published 
 abroad. But the funds available for publication are insufficient ; 
 it is always a question of means. There is a press and surplus 
 of valuable scientific matter, which either is not printed at all, 
 or only gets printed by special subscriptions for the purpose. 
 This ought not to be. After valuable original matter has been 
 produced with great pains and without hope of pecuniary re- 
 ward, nothing is more discouraging to future research than 
 that even publication can only be had as a charity. This I 
 know, from repeated personal applications, is the condition of 
 things in New York at this moment. It is not creditable that 
 in a State and country like ours there should be practically 
 nowhere any adequate provision for even the publication of 
 the researches of those who work for nothing but their love 
 of science and its progress. There is very great need of a con- 
 siderable publication fund, in the hands of some scientific body, 
 through which every valuable contribution to science, not 
 otherwise provided for, might be ensured a speedy publication, 
 after it has been found worthy, as in the practice of the Lin- 
 naean Society, first by a critical expert in the particular depart- 
 ment, and then by the Council of Publication.* 
 
 The stimulus, moreover, to scientific research that would be 
 imparted by the distribution of comparatively small sums, such 
 as are given by the Royal Society and by the British Associa- 
 tion, would also be very great; nor is there any reason why 
 the founding of professorships for the express purpose of 
 prosecuting original research in our scientific societies, after the 
 model of the Royal Institution, should not in time be followed 
 by results equally brilliant, and equally beneficial to mankind. 
 
 I have endeavored to point out three main directions in 
 
 *Pres. Carruthers, Proceedings, May, 1890, p. 39. 
 
40 
 
 which there is urgent need in this country of pecuniary en- 
 downments. 
 
 (i). In the relief of professors during the transition of the 
 colleges from the schoolmaster system to the university 
 system, whereby all professors in science shall become actively 
 enlisted in the prosecution of original discovery as a part of 
 their duties. 
 
 (2). In providing for the future recruits in science, by more 
 endowments for post-graduate study. 
 
 (3). By endowments of our scientific associations, both 
 directly to promote original research, and especially also to 
 supply larger means of publication. 
 
 It is gratifying to perceive what beginnings have been 
 recently made in response to the needs of science. Only a 
 short time since, in 1885, Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson of Stam- 
 ford, Conn., gave $25,000 to a Board of Trustees of which Dr. 
 Bowditch, of Boston, is president, for the " advancement of 
 scientific research in its broadest sense." The income is an- 
 nually distributed in sums of from two to five hundred dollars. 
 
 Mr. Hodgkins, of Setauket, Long Island, has recently be- 
 queathed to the Smithsonian Institution $200,000, the income 
 of one-half of which is to be devoted to research into the 
 properties of atmospheric air. 
 
 Columbia College has, during the past year, received from 
 Mr. De Costa's estate, before referred to, $100,000 for biology ; 
 Harvard, the Joseph Lovering Fund, above stated; $10,000 
 from Henry Draper for the photography of stellar spectra ; the 
 endowments in archaeology, above named ; and some smaller 
 gifts for various scientific purposes. The University of Chi- 
 cago and some other institutions have also received important 
 gifts, not to mention those yet to be realized to other colleges 
 from the estate of Mr. Fairweather. 
 
 By the recent bequest of Chas. Lennig, the Academy of 
 Sciences, of Philadelphia, will, in time, receive $20,000; while 
 half a million of dollars will go to the University of Pennsyl- 
 vania in aid of instruction in theoretical and practical mechanics, 
 and $200,000 to maintain scholarships. At this University, 
 also, a superb structure for the " Wistar Institute of Anatomy" 
 
4i 
 
 is now building by Gen. Isaac J. Wistar, at a cost of about 
 $200,000, including endowments designed for original research.* 
 
 Our reliance in this country must be mainly upon private 
 endowments and an intelligent appreciation of the needs of 
 science. The National Government has done, and is doing, 
 much in certain directions. But aside from the dispositions of 
 legislators, it is restricted by the provisions of the Federal 
 Constitution, and by debated questions of constitutional right. 
 State aid is not thus hampered ; but State aid is difficult to 
 obtain, to any adequate degree, on account of the previous 
 habits, prejudices and political training of the people. No 
 doubt this ought not so to be. The State of New York ought, 
 abstractly considered, to maintain one university of the first class 
 equal in every department to any in the world. But the multi- 
 plication of institutions already existing, local jealousies, and 
 aversion to State taxation, make this now probably impracti- 
 cable. 
 
 The remedy is with the people, and through their own vol- 
 untary methods. It is the people who have made our Govern- 
 ment, its institutions, its methods, and the great aggregate, 
 whatsoever it is, such as we see it to-day. Wealth is rapidly 
 accumulating; much of it in the hands of those who, springing 
 from the people, bear the love of the community in their 
 hearts; and when they and the people at large shall come to 
 see that the cause of scientific advance and the discovery of all 
 new truth are in the deepest sense their cause, responses will, 
 I believe, come to every urgent need; until the work of the 
 people, by its own methods, shall, even in science, be able to 
 confront, without shame, the best work of the monarchies of 
 the Old World. 
 
 * Since the above was written an additional million of dollars has been given 
 by Mr. John D. Rockefeller to the University of Chicago, making $3,600,000 
 given by him alone to that institution within less than three years, a munificence 
 hitherto unexampled in private endowments, some portions of which, it is hoped, 
 will be available for the maintenance of original scientific research. 
 
42 
 
 ADDRESS OF PROF. H. CARRINGTON BOLTON, 
 
 ON 
 
 A PLEA FOR A LIBRARY OF SCIENCE IN NEW 
 YORK CITY. 
 
 In science, as in other departments of modern thought and 
 research, progress moves along two distinct lines apparently 
 antagonistic, but, as may be easily shown, they are mutually 
 helpful ; these are a tendency to specialization and a growth in 
 generalization. As each department of physical and natural 
 science develops with prodigious rapidity, and becomes too 
 comprehensive for the grasp of an individual mind, it becomes 
 subdivided into branches dealing with a limited range of subjects, 
 and, as these subdivisions continue to grow, further specializa- 
 tion necessarily ensues. This is a familiar truth, requiring no 
 illustration beyond reference to the existence of seven inde- 
 pendent societies in this Alliance, the younger members of which 
 are limited to single branches of research. Parallel with this 
 development of specialization, there is marked progress in the 
 direction of coordination and inter-dependence. Even in the 
 departments of investigation seemingly far removed from each 
 other, how frequently discoveries and inventions unexpectedly 
 open up common features. A chemist aided by a physicist,, 
 examining in a darkened room the flame-colors of terrestrial 
 substances, suddenly hand over to the astronomer an instru- 
 ment of precision surpassing the combined powers of the tele- 
 scope and the microscope in revealing the secrets of celestial 
 bodies. A solar-physicist, directing his sensitive bolometer to 
 the radiant energy proceeding from a tiny insect, presents to 
 the biologist new and remarkable facts otherwise unattainable. 
 What two sciences seemed less likely to be linked for a man's 
 benefit than acoustics and electricity? To what realm of 
 nature is the microscope limited? To further multiply illustra- 
 tions is needless; a moment's reflection shows theoretical points 
 of contact between every one of the exact sciences which are 
 
43 
 
 realized in practical applications resulting from their coordina- 
 tion. 
 
 This linking of specialization and generalization finds its 
 highest exemplification in a library, particularly in one conse- 
 crated to pure and applied science. One of the objects sought 
 by the promotors of this Alliance of the principal scientific 
 societies of New York City is the assembling under one roof 
 of their scattered collections of books. This does not mean 
 amalgamation in any degree, nor even confederation ; this is 
 practically impossible, for several of the societies are incorpo- 
 rated and cannot surrender rights in their property. The plan, 
 as I understand it, leaves to each society complete control of 
 its own library, and merely provides for cooperation, each sup- 
 plementing that which is lacking in the others. Before con- 
 sidering the advantages which would certainly follow such af- 
 filiation, let us briefly note the statistics of each society, con- 
 sidering them in order of their foundation. 
 
 (i). The New York Academy of Sciences, founded in 1817, has 
 a library of nearly ten thousand volumes and bound pamph- 
 lets, temporarily deposited in the library-building of Columbia 
 College, by courtesy of the Trustees. It is not amalgamated 
 with the great library of the College, having separate rooms 
 and an independent Catalogue. The Collection is almost ex- 
 clusively scientific, and is valuable for its sets of Transactions 
 of learned societies throughout the world, obtained by ex- 
 change for the publications of the Academy. Many of these 
 early serials are not found elsewhere in the city, and some 
 nowhere in the United States. 
 
 The library is, of course, free to members under the by- 
 laws, and to readers in the College library by special arrange- 
 ment. The library is in very good condition, which, however, 
 would be improved by expending a few hundred dollars in 
 binding. The Academy was so unfortunate as to lose its col- 
 lections in natural history by fire in 1866, but the library was 
 stored elsewhere, and has now reached the respectable age of 
 75 years, being the fifth in order of foundation in New York City. 
 
 (2). The Torrey Botanical Chtb y founded in 1 871, has no inde- 
 pendent library, its collection being incorporated with the 
 
44 
 
 library of Columbia College. The University Bulletin for July, 
 1892, records the securing of a fund of $1,000 for the purchase 
 of books for the Botanical Library, a fund contributed by ten 
 persons. While this is creditable it shows how pressing the 
 need is for botanical literature, and the Club might perhaps be 
 persuaded to administer a much larger sum. 
 
 (3). The New York Microscopical Society, founded in 1877, is 
 incorporated under the State laws. It has a library of about 
 1,500 volumes, but it is at present difficult of access to mem- 
 bers owing to cramped and inconvenient quarters; hence it is 
 but little used. 
 
 (4). The Linncean Society of New York, organized in 1878, 
 not incorporated, has the nucleus of a library deposited in the 
 American Museum of Natural History, Central Purk. 
 
 The collection consists chiefly of serials obtained by ex- 
 change, and of government publications. 
 
 (5). The New Yo? r k Mineralogical Club, organized in 1877, 
 not incorporated, has no library. It owns, however, the B. B. 
 Chamberlain Collection of N. Y. Island Minerals, and other lo- 
 cal specimens deposited in the American Museum of Natural 
 History. 
 
 (6). The New York Mathematical Society, organized in 1888, 
 not incorporated, owns a collection of about 300 volumes, now 
 temporarily deposited in the Mathematical Department of 
 Columbia College. 
 
 (7). The New York Section of the American Chemical Society is 
 the youngest child in this family, having been organized in the 
 spring of 1892. The parent society, however, was founded in 
 1878, and has accumulated a library of 1,900 volumes and 500 
 pamphlets, now deposited in the building of the University of 
 the City of New York. It is, of course, open to members and 
 those using the University library. 
 
 These collections, brought together under one roof, would 
 form the nucleus of a valuable scientific library. The weakness 
 of some is due to youth; all, however, reflect the struggle for 
 existence that pure science has sustained in this commercial 
 city. The advantages that would flow from affiliation are so 
 obvious as to make rehearsal almost superfluous. First, how- 
 
45 
 
 ever, is the advantage of economy in administration, and, by 
 avoiding duplication, securing greater results with less expend- 
 iture. Secondly, uniformity in disposition of the books, and 
 improvements in cataloguing. And be it noted, that the utility 
 of a library is in proportion to the perfection of its catalogue ; 
 other things being equal, a small collection being furnished 
 with full author and subject-catalogues is decidedly more valu- 
 able than a library of far greater magnitude which is incom- 
 pletely catalogued. Such an assemblage of books, with the 
 growth that would be stimulated by the new regime, would 
 form the foundation of a great BIBLIOTHECA SCIENTI^E, 
 such as nowhere exists in our New World. Due appreciation 
 of the creditable standing of several libraries in New York and 
 vicinity is consistent with the statement that a scientific library 
 is a great want. For general reference the Astor will long re- 
 main preeminent; Columbia College Library is growing 
 rapidly, and its liberal regulations and fine appointments are a 
 delight to scholars; the Lenox has a noble collection of treas- 
 ures limited to a narrow field; the physicians, lawyers and 
 engineers are forming for themselves specialized collections 
 of great value; the Free Circulating Library and many sub- 
 scription libraries cater to the popular taste ; but where shall 
 investigators in the exact sciences go with an assurance of 
 finding all desirable treatises, serials and special monographs? 
 
 Another advantage of affiliation must be briefly noted. 
 One of the best ways of building up a library symmetrically is 
 to place the selection of books in the hands of workers in the 
 several branches of knowledge; this is recognized in some col- 
 leges, where each member of the Faculty compiles lists of 
 works needed in his special field. In the associated libraries, 
 each Society would naturally foster its immediate interests, and 
 lacunae could be filled by the care of the librarian-in-chief. 
 
 It is, perhaps, premature to consider the question of organi- 
 zation of the Library of the Scientific Alliance, but I would 
 suggest that at first the librarians of the several societies might 
 form a board, and by frequent consultations secure uniformity 
 in methods. Later in the development of the library a libra- 
 rian-in-chief might be appointed to have general oversight of 
 
4 6 
 
 the whole, especially to see that gaps in the literature of science, 
 not filled by the societies themselves, be closed by purchase. 
 For, of course, the Library of the Scientific Alliance must have 
 an endowment, and one worthy of this great metropolis. 
 
 The benefits that a Library of Pure and Applied Science 
 would confer on the City are manifold. It would become the 
 headquarters of those engaged in pure research, as well as of 
 inventors and others seeking data as to the applications of 
 science. To patent-lawyers such a library would be invalu- 
 able. If the Alliance be successful in securing a convenient 
 site and a building of sufficient magnitude, I suggest further 
 that rooms of moderate dimensions be provided for rental to 
 private collectors of books for their personal treasures. Many 
 persons of moderate means find the question of shelf-room a 
 more troublesome one than the acquisition of books, and buy 
 more sparingly for this very reason; they would be glad, how- 
 ever, to place their collections in a fire-proof building, contigu- 
 ous to kindred or supplemental collections, and, maintaining 
 their control of their private libraries, would willingly grant to 
 scholars access to the same for consultion and serious research. 
 Such temporary deposits might eventually become the property 
 of the Alliance, either by gift or testamentary bequest. 
 
 The Alliance is moreover likely to add to its membership 
 other societies pursuing special branches of science, and this 
 growth must be anticipated in planning for the future. 
 
 The associated libraries of the Scientific Alliance, gathered 
 in a suitable building furnished with committee rooms, lecture- 
 hall, etc., would form for those engaged in scientific research a 
 sort of Exchange. Commercial and financial enterprises have 
 established produce exchanges, metal exchanges, stock ex- 
 changes and the like, and why should not Science have its own 
 exchange? Though the commercial aspect is far removed 
 from the thoughts of those advocating this Alliance, I see no 
 reason why the building sheltering the libraries should not be 
 headquarters for those seeking advice from scientific men on 
 industrial problems. 
 
 Comparisons are said to be odious; therefore I refrain from 
 pointing out how much behindhand New York City is com- 
 
47 
 
 pared with Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco in the 
 matter of accommodations for scientists. 
 
 To ascertain the status of science in the existing libraries of 
 New York and vicinity, I sent to 68 of the principal libraries 
 and institutions of learning circulars making inquiry as to the 
 number of volumes in each, the proportion of scientific works, 
 and the number of scientific readers using the library. With 
 few exceptions replies were received with gratifying promptness 
 and accuracy. Eight libraries have not been heard from. The 
 statistics obtained are embodied in the Appendix to this paper, 
 and we give here but a brief summary. 
 
 The sixty libraries reporting have an aggregate of 1,916,000 
 volumes. There are fifteen libraries of over 40,000 volumes 
 each. The proportion of scientific books varies from 5 per 
 cent, to 100 per cent., according to the scope and aim of the in- 
 stitution. In the larger libraries of reference the proportion 
 runs from one-quarter to one-twentieth. As the term science 
 is differently interpreted by librarians, some restricting it to 
 pure science, and others embracing the applications, biography 
 of scientific m'en, and the useful arts, no attempt has been 
 made to estimate the total number of volumes that are prop- 
 erly classed as scientific. As but few libraries report the num- 
 ber of scientific readers, this item remains practically unde- 
 termined. 
 
 In one class of institutions a great weakness was developed 
 by this inquiry ; with a single exception medical colleges re- 
 port "no library;" surely in no other course of study is a 
 knowledge of literature of the subject deemed superfluous. 
 The exception referred to is the Woman's Medical College of 
 the New York Infirmary, which has a collection of 5 56 volumes, 
 forming a small reference library for the students. This was 
 founded in 1887 by the liberality of Sarah M. Hitchcock, and 
 is growing annually by subscriptions and donations. 
 
 In conclusion, allow me to relate a legend : — Long ago, be- 
 fore the age of printing, an Oriental monarch succeeded to 
 to the throne, whose first care, strange as it may seem, was the 
 welfare of his subjects. Feeling the responsibility of his scep- 
 tre, and desirous of gaining knowledge that would enable him 
 
4 8 
 
 to rule justly, he planned to make a collection of the works of 
 most eminent authors, that by their perusal he might learn to 
 govern his people with true wisdom. With this end in view 
 he commanded that rolls and parchments from all provinces 
 of his realm be sent to the royal capital, in which he caused to 
 be constructed a noble treasure-house for their reception and 
 preservation. 
 
 After some years of labor, those in charge of this undertak- 
 ing announced the completion of the Bibliotheca and invited 
 their royal master to inspect it. As he walked through the 
 splendid building and gazed upon the multitude of books 
 crowding the alcoves, he perceived with regret the physical 
 impossibility of examining in person these treasures of learn- 
 ing to acquire that knowledge for which he longed. Im- 
 pressed with his weakness he appointed a Commission of four 
 and twenty wise-men, whose duty it should be to read and di- 
 gest this collection of books, and to condense all the good and 
 useful of their contents into a few volumes. 
 
 Ten long years elapsed, when the Commission of wise-men 
 submitted the results of their arduous labors in the shape of a 
 camel-load of manuscripts. Meanwhile the good prince had 
 begun to feel the advance of time in his failing strength and 
 weakened eyesight, so that the perusal of a camel-load of 
 books now seemed to him more onerous than the task from 
 which he had shrunk ten years before. Accordingly he 
 thanked the Commissioners for their labors, and dismissed 
 them with royal gifts ; and at the same time he commanded 
 seven of the chiefest wise-men in the kingdom to further 
 condense the contents of the camel-load of books into the 
 compass of a single volume. 
 
 Five years rolled by ; the aged monarch meanwhile had 
 been laid on a bed of suffering by a mortal disease, and when 
 the chief of the Seven laid in his palsied hands the thin manu- 
 script containing the sum of human knowledge, the royal eyes 
 were too dim, and the brain too weak, to attempt its study. 
 But, stimulated by an intense desire to learn the truth, the 
 weakened prince suddenly revived his fast failing energy, and, 
 addressing the chief of the wise-men, said: "I command 
 
49 
 
 thee instantly, under penalty of death, to express in one sen- 
 tence the sum of human knowledge as found in this book." 
 
 Leaning over the bedside of the expiring prince, the faith- 
 ful subject whispered into the still sensitive ear these words : 
 " Man is born, he suffers, and dies." 
 
 As you all perceive, this legend is only partially applicable 
 to my theme ; in the present stage of intellectual advancement, 
 we cannot hope to compress an epitome of human knowledge 
 into a single volume; nor is the scheme altogether desirable, 
 for we admit the advantages of specialization. 
 
 But can we not imitate the Oriental monarch to the extent of 
 gathering under one roof the scattered libraries of the So- 
 cieties composing the Scientific Alliance, and by unity in di- 
 versity faciliate the work of those who, like the good prince 
 in the fable, devote themselves unselfishly to the discovery of 
 the truths of Nature and the revelations of Nature's God. 
 
APPENDIX TO PROFESSOR BOLTON'S ADDRESS. 
 
 Statistics of Libraries in New York City and Vicinity, 
 with Special Reference to Science. 
 
 In the following pages the numbers in parentheses have the signif- 
 icance here indicated : 
 
 (i) Date of foundation, organization or incorporation. 
 
 (2) Location of the library. 
 
 (3) Approximate number of volumes. 
 
 (4) Proportion of scientific books. 
 
 (5) Proportion of scientific readers. 
 
 (6) Remarks. 
 
 The libraries are arranged in order of foundation under the re- 
 spective cities: New York, Brooklyn, Hoboken, Jersey City. Clubs 
 are not included, being essentially private libraries. Additional de- 
 tails of the special collections in several of the libraries will be found 
 in Bibliographical Contributions of Harvard College, No. 45. 
 Notes on Special Collections in American Libraries, by William 
 Coolidge Lane and Charles Knowles Bolton, Cambridge, Mass. 
 1892. 
 
 Thanks are due to the Librarians named below for attention to 
 correspondence. 
 
 NEW YORK SOCIETY LIBRARY. 
 Librarian : W. S. Butler. 
 (1) 1700 (as the City Library); 1754 (as the Society Library). 
 (2) No. 67 University Place. (3) About 90,000 volumes. (4) 
 About one-seventh. (5) About one-twelfth. 
 
 COLUMBIA COLLEGE LIBRARY. 
 
 Librarian : George H. Baker. 
 
 ( \) 1754. (2) 150,000 volumes. (4) About 25,000, say one- 
 sixth. ($) No data. 
 
 (()) Is rapidly growing; is open for readers from 9 a. m. to 11 
 p. m., daily. 
 
 (5°) 
 
5i 
 
 LIBRARY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL 
 Librarian : Frank P. Foster. 
 (i) 1796. (2) No. 6 West 1 6th street. (3) 20,000 volumes 
 (4) Nearly all medical. (5) No data. 
 
 NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 Librarian : Charles Isham. 
 (1) 1802. (2) 170 Second Avenue. (3) 85,000 volumes. (4) 
 Comparitively few scientific books. (5) None. 
 
 (6) The collection relates to American History only. 
 
 NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
 Librarian : James F. Kemp. 
 
 (7) Founded 181 7. Incorporated. (2) Deposited temporarily in 
 Columbia College library-building. (3) About 10,000 volumes and 
 bound pamphlets. (4) Almost exclusively scientific, say 95 per 
 cent. (5) Undetermined ; is open to all readers in the College 
 Library. 
 
 (6) Valuable for its sets of Transactions of Learned Societies 
 throughout the world, obtained by exchange. 
 
 FREE LIBRARY OF THE GENERAL SOCIETY OF ME- 
 CHANICS AND TRADESMEN OF THE 
 CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 Librarian : Jacob Schwartz. 
 (1) 1820. (2) No. 18 East 1 6th street. (3) 95,000 volumes. (4) 
 About 6,000 volumes, say one-sixteenth. (5) No data. 
 
 MERCANTILE LIBRARY. 
 Librarian : W. T. Peoples. 
 (1) 1820. (2) Astor Place. (3) 240,561 volumes (July 1, 1892). 
 (4) About ten per cent. (5) Circulation of scientific books about 
 five per cent, of the whole. 
 
 (6) A subscription library, founded for the benefit of merchants' 
 clerks. 
 
 LIBRARY OF THE NEW YORK LAW INSTITUTE. 
 
 Librarian : William H. Winters. 
 (1) 1828. (Incorporated 1830). (2) Post Office building. (3) 
 39,500 volumes. (4) Exclusively law and works of reference. 
 
52 
 
 AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 
 Librarian : John W. Chambers. 
 (i) 1833. (2) No. 111-115 West 38th street. (3) 13, 581 vol- 
 umes. (4) Over two-thirds scientific. (5) Members of the Institute. 
 Strangers welcome to consult the library. 
 
 (6) The library was first formed as a Statistical Library; it contains 
 complete sets of the most important scientific works in English. For 
 the past ten years the purchased books are exclusively scientific. 
 
 THE ASTOR LIBRARY. 
 
 Superintendent : Robbins Little. 
 Librarian : Frederick Saunders. 
 (1) Incorporated 1849. (2) No. 40 Lafayette Place. (3) 240,- 
 000 volumes and 100,000 pamphlets. (4) One third to one quarter. 
 (5) About 50,000 readers per annum. 
 
 (6) The library is rich in transactions, serials, and has full sets of 
 patents. 
 
 AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 Librarian : Geo. C. Hurlbut. 
 (1) Founded 1852. (2) No. 41 West 29th street. (3) 24,000. 
 (4) 1 in 7. (5) No data. 
 
 (6) The real growth of the library dates from 1870. 
 
 COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 Deputy Librarian: H. E. Bliss. 
 (1) Organized 1852. (2) Corner Lexington Avenue and 23d 
 street. (3) About 26, 800 volumes. (4) About 5,000 volumes, say 
 one-fifth. (5) Used by 47 instructors and 1,200 students. 
 (6) New arrangement in progress. 
 
 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. 
 Twenty-third Street Branch. Librarian : R. B. Poole. 
 (1) 1852. (2) No. 52 East 23d street. (3) 40,000 volumes. (4) 
 About one-twentieth. (5) About one-twentieth. 
 
 COOPER UNION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 
 
 AND ART. 
 
 Curator of Library : J. C. Zachos. 
 
 ( \ ) Incorporated 1857. (2) Fourth Avenue and Eighth street. (3) 
 
 31,873 volumes. (4) About 3,000, say one-tenth. (5) This free 
 
53 
 
 library has a daily average attendance of 1,500 readers. The com- 
 plete set of the Reports of the Patent Office was examined by 919 
 readers in 1891. 
 
 (6) The reading room was visited by over 400,000 persons in the 
 year 1891. 
 
 AMERICAN NUMISMATIC AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SO- 
 CIETY. 
 Librarian: Bauman L. Belden. 
 (1) 1858. (2) Academy of Medicine Building, No. 17 W. 43d St. 
 
 (3) About 1,200 bound volumes and 4,000 pamphlets and unbound 
 volumes. (4) About five-sixths. (5) Used by the members of the 
 Society, 140. (6) Probably the largest numismatic library in the 
 country. 
 
 MAIMONIDES LIBRARY. 
 Librarian : Max Cohen. 
 (1) 1858. (2) No. 203 East 57th street. (3) 40,000 volumes. 
 
 (4) About 2,600 scientific books. (5) The circulation of science is 
 about 5 per cent of the total. 
 
 MOTT MEMORIAL LIBRARY and LIBRARY OF THE NEW 
 YORK STATE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 Director : J. W. S. Gouley. 
 (1) 1867. (2) No. 64 Madison Avenue. (3) about 13,000 vol- 
 umes and 5, 000 pamphlets. (4) Almost wholly medical and scien- 
 tific. (5) 764 readers in 1891, chiefly physicians. 
 
 (6) The Mott Memorial Library and the Library of the New York 
 State Medical Association are under one roof and free to all for refer- 
 ence. 
 
 AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. 
 Librarian: F. Collingwood. 
 (1) 1868. (2) 127 East 23d street. (3) 15,000 volumes, in- 
 cluding pamphlets. (4) Seven-eighths. (5) Almost wholly. 
 
 (6) The library was founded through a donation of the late Wm. 
 G. Arthur; it is practically free, being open to all interested in en- 
 gineering. 
 
 COLLEGE OF PHARMACY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 Chairman Library Committee : Charles Rice. 
 (1) No definite date ; the library has grown systematically since 
 
54 
 
 i868. (2) Nos. 209-211 East 23d street. (3) About 4,000 vol- 
 umes and 600 pamphlets. (4) Almost exclusively scientific. (5) 
 Besides members of the College, about 400 persons per annum. 
 
 (6) The library is rich in pharmacy, botany, chemistry and materia 
 medica, containing some works not found elsewhere in New York. 
 
 WASHINGTON HEIGHTS FREE LIBRARY. 
 
 Librarian : Edward Griffin. 
 
 (1) 1868. (2) Corner of 156th street and Amsterdam Avenue. 
 (3) 8,328 volumes. (4) 200 volumes or more. (5) 500 readers 
 per annum. 
 
 LENOX LIBRARY. 
 Assistant Librarian : Wilberforce Eames. 
 
 (1) 1870. (2) Fifth Avenue, between 70th and 71st streets. (3) 
 About 70,000. (4) See (6). (5) No data. 
 
 (6) The Lenox library consists of several special collections on 
 literary and antiquarian subjects. The R. L. Stuart Collection of 
 angling literature includes some works of ichthyology ; the Drexel 
 Musical Collection contains works on acoustics. Besides these 
 there are no books on natural science. 
 
 NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 SOCIETY. 
 
 Librarian : G. H. VanWagenen. 
 
 (1) 1870. (2) 23 West 44th street. (3) 2,500 volumes. (4) 
 Wholly genealogical and biographical. (5) No data. 
 
 YOUNG WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Librarian: Sarah W. Cattell. 
 
 (1) 1870. (2) East 15th street. (3) 19,000 volumes. (4) About 
 400 volumes. (5) Very few. In 1891, of a circulation of 44,577 
 volumes, only 432 were on science. 
 
 LiHRARY OF THE ASSOCIATION OF THE BAR OF THE 
 CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 Librarian: William J. C. Berry. 
 
 (1) 1870. (2) West 29th street. (3) 40,000 volumes. (4) Ex- 
 clusively law books and works of reference. 
 
55 
 
 THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 
 Librarian: Effie A. Southworth. 
 (i) Founded in 187 1. (2) Incorporated with the Botanical 
 Library of Columbia College. 
 
 NEW YORK ACADEMY OF MEDICINE. 
 
 Librarian : John S. Brownne. 
 
 (1) 1874. (The Academy was instituted in 1847). (2) 17-21 
 West 43d street. (3) About 45,000 volumes. (4) About 1,000 not 
 strictly medical. (5) About 7,000 readers yearly. 
 
 (6) The library ranks third in size of the medical libraries of the 
 United States. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 Librarian: L. J. Thompkins. 
 (1) About 1875. (2) Washington Square. (3) About 18,000 
 volumes. (4) About 3,000 volumes science, say one-sixth. (5) 
 Scientific students. 
 
 (6) Reading room is open from 9 a. m. to 9:30 p. m., and is free 
 to all who will comply with our rules. 
 
 EQUITABLE LAW LIBRARY. 
 Librarian : Thomas Campbell. 
 (1) Founded 1876. (2) No. 120 Broadway. (3) 13,500 
 volumes. (4) Wholly on law. 
 
 NEW YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 
 Librarian : Ludwig Riederer. 
 (1) Founded 1877. Incorporated. (2) No. 64 Madison Avenue. 
 (3) About 1,500. (4) Wholly scientific. (5) Undetermined. 
 
 (6) Difficult of access owing to small quarters, and hence little 
 used. 
 
 THE NEW YORK SECTION OF THE AMERICAN CHEMI- 
 CAL SOCIETY. 
 Librarian: C. E.Munsell. 
 (1) Organized 1892. Parent Society founded 1878 and incor- 
 porated. (2) Deposited in the Library of the University of the City 
 of New York. (3) 1,900 volumes and 500 pamphlets. (4) About 
 95 per cent, scientific. (5) About 50 readers per annum. Open to 
 those using the University Library. 
 
S 6 
 
 THE LINNLEAN SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 
 Librarian: Arthur H. Howell. 
 (i) Organized 1878. Not incorporated. (2) American Museum 
 of Natural History, Central Park. (3) Not reported. (6) Consists 
 of exchanges and Government publications. 
 
 AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 Librarian : Anthony Woodward. 
 
 (1) About 1880. (2) Manhattan Square, Eighth Avenue and 
 77th street. (3) About 25,000 volumes and 10,000 pamphlets. (4) 
 95 percent. (5) No data. 
 
 (6) The library embraces the following special collections (do- 
 nated or purchased ) : The Jay Collection on Conchology ; The 
 Brevoort Collection on Ichthyology; D. G. Elliot Collection on 
 Ornithology; S. L. Elliot Collection on General Science; The 
 Edwards Collection on Entomology; The Whitfield Collection on 
 Palaeontology; The Cotheal Collection on Botany and Microscopy. 
 
 NEW YORK FREE CIRCULATING LIBRARY. 
 Librarian : Ellen M. Coe. 
 
 (1) 1880. (2) No. 49 Bond street, with three branches. (3) 
 Nearly 60,000 volumes. (4) About 8,000 volumes, say seven per 
 cent. (5) About seven per cent. 
 
 (6) The scientific books are chiefly popular and elementary; the 
 reading of science is greatly increasing. 
 
 AGUILAR FREE LIBRARY. 
 
 Librarian: Pauline Leipziger. 
 (1) Incorporated 1886. (2) 197 East Broadway, and two 
 branches 721 Lexington Avenue and 624 East 5th st. (3) 18,000. 
 (4) 497. (5) Five per cent. 
 
 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, RAILROAD 
 
 BRANCH. 
 Librarian: W. F. Stevens. 
 (1) 1887. (2) 361 Madison Avenue. (3) About 600. (4) 
 About four per cent. (5) About 150. 
 
 (()) Rich in Railroad literature, which is not included in the an- 
 swer to (4). 
 
57 
 
 THE NEW YORK MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 Librarian: D. A. Murray. 
 
 (i) Organized 1888. Not incorporated. (2) Mathematical De- 
 partment of Columbia College. (3) About 300 volumes. (4) All 
 scientific, say 100 per cent. (5) and (6) No data. 
 
 WOMAN'S MEDICAL COLLEGE OF THE NEW YORK IN- 
 FIRMARY. 
 Librarian: Ellen K. Leute. 
 (1) 1887. (2) 321 East 15th street. (3) 556 volumes. (4) All 
 medical. 
 
 (6) Founded by Sarah M. Hitchcock. 
 
 THE BENJAMIN AND TOWNSEND LIBRARY. 
 Librarian: F. E. Falkenberg. 
 
 (1) 1888. (2) On Bellevue Hospital Grounds, First Avenne be- 
 tween 1 6th and 27th streets. (3) 2,000 volumes. (4) 20 volumes. 
 (5)2. 
 
 COLLEGE SETTLEMENT LIBRARY. 
 Libraria?i : Amy P. Hall. 
 
 (1) 1889. (2) No. 95 Rivington street. (3) 2,000 volumes. 
 
 (6) The Library is used mostly by children in uneducated fami- 
 lies, and the books mostly read are histories, biographies and fiction. 
 The proportion of scientific works is small and they are chiefly ele- 
 mentary. 
 
 AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. 
 Librarian : E. C. Griffin. 
 
 (1) 1890. (2) 12 West 31st street. (3) 4,000 volumes. (4) All 
 scientific. (5) Wholly scientific. 
 
 (6) The library is free to the public, but no books can be removed 
 from the building. 
 
 AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS. 
 
 Secretary : Ralph W. Pope. 
 
 (1) 1890. (2) No. 12 West 31st street. (3) The library oc- 
 cupies space jointly with that of the American Society of Mechanical 
 Engineers. 
 
58 
 Brooklyn Libraries. 
 
 BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 
 
 Librarian: Franklin W. Hooper. 
 
 (i) 1823. (2) Fulton and Bond streets. (3) 13,500 volumes. 
 (4) 4,200, say one-third. (5) 1,200 readers. 
 
 (6) Special collections of value : 600 works on entomology ; 1, 100 
 geographical publications. 
 
 THE LAW LIBRARY IN BROOKLYN, and THE LAW 
 LIBRARY OF THE SECOND JUDICIAL DISTRICT. 
 
 Librarian: S. C. Betts. 
 
 (1) 1850. (2) County Court House. (3) Over 14,000 volumes. 
 
 (4) Wholly on law. 
 
 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Librarian : S. H. Berry. 
 
 (1) 1854. (2) 502 Fulton street. (3) 12,000 volumes. (4) 
 580 volumes. 
 
 BROOKLYN LIBRARY. 
 
 Librarian: W. A. Bardwell. 
 
 (1) 1857. (2) r97 Montague street, Brooklyn Heights. (3) 
 115,000 volumes. (4) About 17,000 volumes, say one-seventh. 
 
 (5) No data. 
 
 LONG ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 Librarian : Emma Toedteberg. 
 
 (1) 1863. (2) Corner Pierrepont and Clinton streets, Brooklyn. 
 
 (3) 47,000. (4) Very small. (5) Almost none. 
 
 (6) The library is especially devoted to local history and genealogy. 
 
 ADELPHI ACADEMY. 
 
 Librarian : Mabel A. Farr. 
 
 (1) 1869. (2) Clifton Place, Brooklyn. (3) 3,000 volumes. 
 
 (4) About one-twentieth. (5) About 20. 
 
 (6) Confined to Instructors and pupils of the Academy, 170 in 
 number. 
 
59 
 
 MEDICAL SOCIETY OF KING'S COUNTY. 
 Librarian : William Browning. 
 (i) 1874. (2) 356 Bridge street, Brooklyn. (3) 5,500 volumes. 
 (4) Wholly on medicine and allied sciences. (5) Members of the 
 Society, 500. 
 
 (6) Public and free for consultation. A new building is in pro- 
 gress. The Hoagland Laboratory library complements medically 
 the above and is free to members by card. 
 
 FREE LENDING LIBRARY OF THE UNION FOR CHRIST- 
 IAN WORK. 
 Librarian : Fanny Hull. 
 (1) 1882. (2) 67-69 Schermerhorn street. (3) 22,000 volumes, 
 (4) 2,306 volumes. (5) 150 scientific readers. 
 
 PRATT INSTITUTE. 
 t Librarian: M. W. Plummer. 
 
 (1) 1888. (2) 215 Ryerson street, Brooklyn. (3) 35,000 vol- 
 umes. (4) About one-seventeenth (not including useful arts and 
 biography). (5) No data. 
 
 THE HOAGLAND LABORATORY. 
 
 Librarian : George T. Kemp. 
 
 (1) 1888. (2) Corner Pacific and Henry streets. (3) 1544. 
 (4) 100 per cent. 
 
 (5 and 6) The library is rich in foreign serials on bacteriology, 
 pathology, histology, physiology and experimental therapeutics. 
 
 Hoboken Libraries. 
 
 STEVENS INSTITUTE TECHNOLOGY. 
 Librarian: A. Riesenberger. 
 (1) 1871. (2) Corner Hudson and 5th streets, Hoboken. (3) 
 About 7,500 volumes. (4) Exclusivelv scientific. (5) Consulted 
 by alumni and undergraduates, say 600 persons. 
 
 FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY, HOBOKEN, N. J. 
 Librarian : Thomas F. Hatfield. 
 (1) 1890. (2) Second National Bank Building. (3) 7,343 vol- 
 umes. (4) 540 volumes, say one-thirteenth. (5) No data. 
 
6o 
 
 Jersey City Libraries. 
 
 FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY, JERSEY CITY, N. J. 
 Librarian : George Watson Cole. 
 
 (i) 1889. (2) Corner Washington and York streets. (3) 25,312 
 volumes (July 1, 1892). (4) 1,405, say one-eighteenth. (5) Out 
 of a circulation of 294,796 volumes, 7,417 were scientific. 
 
 (6) Books on electricity and engineering are more largely called 
 for than other branches of science. 
 
 NOTE. — The following institutions of learning report no libraries: 
 Belle vue Medical College. 
 
 Medical Department of the University of the City of New York. 
 College of Physicians and Surgeons. 
 Long Island College Hospital. 
 From eight additional libraries not herein named, no replies were received to 
 duplicate circulars of inquiry. From one library the circular letter was returned 
 through the post office marked "removed, present address unknown." 
 University Club, September, 1892. 
 
6i 
 
 ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR N. L. BRITTON, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 KIND OF BUILDING REQUIRED BY THE SCIEN- 
 TIFIC ALLIANCE. 
 
 The idea of a suitable building to house the scientific asso- 
 ciations of this city is not new. It has been discussed in one 
 form or another for many years, and was a favorite plan of Dr. 
 Newberry during his long and invaluable services as President 
 of the New York Academy of Sciences. Once or twice he 
 appeared to be on the verge of accomplishing the object, and 
 the failure of the attempts was a great disappointment to him. 
 The need of such a structure really began at the time of the 
 loss, through financial complications in 1844, of the old Lyceum 
 of Natural History Building, which stood on Broadway near 
 Prince street, and the subsequent distruction of the Lyceum's 
 collections by fire. This most calamitous conflagration, be- 
 sides destroying a very large amount of valuable scientific 
 material, some of which can never be replaced, and rendering 
 the Academy of Sciences — then the only scientific organiza- 
 tion in the city — homeless, gave a blow to the progress of 
 Science here from which recovery has never quite been made, 
 and was the cause of the loss of local interest in scientific sub- 
 jects, while their study was being vigorously prosecuted in the 
 neighboring cities of Philadelphia and Boston. 
 
 The establishment of the School of Mines of Columbia Col- 
 lege, in 1864, and of the grand Institution of which we are to- 
 night the welcome guests, in 1869, and the phenomenally rapid 
 and successful developement of both, have given during recent 
 years an impetus to Science which bids fair to place New 
 York in its proper position as not only the commercial, literary 
 and artistic, but also the scientific centre of North America. 
 The possibilities for research and instruction opened up by the 
 recent establishment of the new Aquarium at Castle Garden, 
 the organization of the new Faculty of Pure Science in Col- 
 
62 
 
 umbia College, and the bright prospect for the early foundation 
 of a well-equipped Botanic Garden in Bronx Park, are indica- 
 tions, among others, which point to our rapidly approaching 
 scientific preeminence. 
 
 During this period the scientific societies have been slowly 
 but surely increasing in strength and influence. While ap- 
 parently a slight feature in the intellect of the city, they are 
 really the principal bonds of union between those who pur- 
 sue the lines of scientific thought, and the factors which give 
 the greatest encouragement for scientific work, by virtue of the 
 opportunities they afford for the presentation and publication 
 of the results of research and discovery; for the true man 
 of Science differs from other men in this, that if he discovers 
 any facts which appear to add anything to the sum-total of 
 human knowledge, or believes that he can explain already 
 known facts in a more philosophical manner than they have 
 hitherto been explained, his first impulse is to give his results 
 and ideas to the world for what they may be worth towards 
 the solution of the problems of Nature, instead of secreting 
 them in the hope that they may be of some particular value to 
 himself. For this, if for nothing else, these organizations de- 
 serve all the encouragement that can be extended to them. 
 Think for a moment of a city of the present day without 
 scientific associations. It would be regarded the world over 
 as a desert place in the realm of intellect. 
 
 The character of the building which is needed for the suc- 
 cessful prosecution of the work the societies forming the Scien- 
 tific Alliance of New York desire to accomplish may be out- 
 lined in a few sentences; 
 
 i. Provisions for the shelving and ready consultation 
 of their libraries which now, collectively, comprise about 
 20,000 books and pamphlets, and are being augmented more 
 rapidly than ever before by the steady stream of publications 
 issued by similar organizations all over the world received 
 in exchange for the serials and journals published here. 
 A single large room, built with alcoves, in order to afford a 
 method of keeping the several libraries distinct, would, we con- 
 ceive, be the most satisfactory arrangement, or it might be 
 
63 
 
 deemed more convenient and economical to keep the books in 
 a single series and those of each society designated by dis- 
 tinctive book-plates, gilding and cataloging. We believe that 
 in determining the size of this room, provision should be made 
 for the shelving of not less than 300,000 volumes, for in addi- 
 tion to the accumulations alluded to, it is certain that contri- 
 butions would continually be made to this library by some of 
 the members. 
 
 2. A lecture-room constructed to seat not less than 1,000 
 persons, in which a constant series of lecture-courses on scien- 
 tific topics should be offered to the people of New York, free 
 of all charges. 
 
 3. A small room as an office for each society, place for 
 committee and special meetings at which the attendance 
 would not be large, space for the deposition of their archives 
 and other papers of value. So far as we can now foresee, 
 about ten such rooms would be required, there being seven or- 
 ganizations now in the Alliance and others that may be 
 admitted. The probability of new scientific associations be- 
 ing founded is not great. Provision for such already exists in 
 the permission for the establishment of Sections in the 
 Academy of Sciences. 
 
 4. A number of rooms constructed to seat about 100 per- 
 sons each, for the ordinary meetings of the societies. Economy 
 of space could here probably be effected by the common use 
 of the same room by two or more societies, as not more than 
 two of them would be likely to desire to meet at the same time, 
 a large number of persons being members of two or three of 
 the organizations. 
 
 5. Small rooms fitted up for Photographic and Microscopic 
 Laboratories, and for the storage of apparatus and other 
 material. 
 
 6. A general meeting-room for members of the societies and 
 their friends, which should be open at all times as a kind of 
 social, scientific centre, similar to the Cosmos Club at Wash- 
 ington which has been such a great success. 
 
 The realization of such a scheme calls for a fire-proof build- 
 ing about 100 by 120 feet square, four stories high on the 
 
64 
 
 front, with the large lecture-room behind, the Library and 
 Club-room on the ground-floor front and the meeting-rooms, of- 
 fices etc., above. It should be located in a central part of the 
 city, and its maintenance should be provided for without ex- 
 pense to the societies, which need all the income they have or 
 can obtain for research and publication. 
 
 It is needless for me to state that a very large sum of money 
 would be required for such a structure. But we hope, and not 
 without considerable encouragement, that in one way or an- 
 other the means will be forthcoming. Such a building, or a 
 slight modification of it, could be used to advantage by other 
 organizations whose work was not incongruous with the objects 
 that the Scientific Alliance wishes to attain, and it may be that 
 we shall receive support from such. The societies devoted to 
 Art, Music and Charity are already capitally housed by the 
 generous liberality of New York's wealth. May we not confi- 
 dently believe that the same liberality will, directly or indi- 
 rectly, be successfully invoked in the cause of Science? 
 
Lithomount 
 
 Pamphlet 
 
 Binder 
 
 Gay lord Bros. 
 
 Makers 
 
 Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
 PAT. IAN 21. 1908 
 
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