SCIENCE:

A WEEKLY RECORD OF SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS.

JOHN MICHELS, Editor.

PUBLISHED AT

229 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. P. O. Box 3838.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1880.

THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. We cordially congratulate the managers of the American ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, on the very thorough success which has attended its twenty-ninth annual meeting, held last week at Boston.

We have in this issue devoted nearly the whole of our space to chronicling its proceedings, and we draw special attention to the masterly address of the retiring President, Professor George F. Barker, which we present in full.

The address of welcome delivered by the venerable Professor William B. Rogers, L. L. D., will also be read with interest; he traces the history of the Asso ciation from its cradle, when it was called the Association of American Naturalists and Geologists, to its high position at this moment, when, as hopefully said, it may be even fairly on its way to overtake the BRITISH ASSOCIATION, which has a roll of membership of 3,500 persons, and an income of $12,500, and at the same time 1,000 life members.

The success of the present meeting, and the addition of nearly six hundred new members, would seem to warrant the most brilliant anticipations for the future of the Association; and if its members follow the excellent advice of Professor Rogers, and do whatever is in their power to "quicken scientific thought, to accumulate scientific facts and investigate scientific laws," and generally to advance science, the result must elevate this Association to a position second to no other in the civilized world.

We are also reminded by Professor Rogers that while the chief function of the Association is to advance the progress of science; the term advancement necessarily implies diffusion, it would, therefore, appear an appropriate moment to speak of the value of this Journal in this connection. In addition to our report in this issue the addresses of Professor

Hall, of Washington, and Professor Agassiz will be published in full. Of the two hundred and eighty papers read before the Association, some will be published by us verbatim, commencing next week with that of Mr. Alexander Graham Bell on his new instrument, the Photophone, illustrated with twelve drawings, placed at our disposal by Mr. Bell; and of the other papers, we hope to give extracts of the most important.

If, then, the advancement of science necessarily implies its diffusion, we may, with justice, claim for this journal some credit in the great work, as Professor Rogers said, in sowing the seeds of science as widely as possible through the world, waking up in all quarters those latent spirits, whose inborn talent and tendencies will hereafter blossom and fructify in scientific results.

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCE

MENT OF SCIENCE.

Boston, Mass., on the 25th of last month, under the presiThe twenty-ninth meeting of this Association met at dency of Professor Lewis H. Morgan, of Rochester, N. Y.

Professor George F. Barker having called the meeting to order, and introduced the President elect, the proceedings commenced by an address of welcome from Professor William B. Rogers, L. L. D., President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After a few preliminary remarks, Professor Rogers continued as follows:

The American Association for the Advancement of Science has never yet held a meeting in this city of Franklin, and I may say, also, the city of Bowditch, not to mention the long line of other scientific worthies, prominent among whom is our great instructor, our adopted citizen, Louis Agassiz. It seems a fitting place for such an association to convene. Its spirit, its institutions, its history, its habits and sympathies, all favor such a reunion between its citizens and the advocates and votaries of science. It was my good fortune, if it is a good fortune of any man to be able to date back his life for a long period of years, to have been familiar with the cradle of this institution in the form in which it first presented itself as the Association of American Naturalists and Geologists. This, however, was not by any means the earliest congress of science assembled in the world. The origination of this thought of a parliamentary annual meeting of scientific men seems properly to belong to a great German philosopher and speculator (?), who as early as 1822 organized the German Association for the Advancement of Science. For eight or nine years this example was not followed, but in 1831 Brewster, aided by Brougham, established the great British Association for the Advancement of Science, which we are to regard as the parent institution from which we have sprung. This British association, meeting in the ancient city of York in 1831, had its annual assemblings for a series of years in all the great capitals and some of the secondary cities in Great Britain. Faithfully administering to the needs and stimulating the energies of scientific inquiry, and publishing its annual solid quarto, which is a library representing the progress of physical and natural science of that time comparable to any that can be presented on the shelves of any collection of books in the world. Now this British association is holding to-day its fiftieth annual meeting; and now, in the afternoon of its assembling, I can imagine clearly in my mind's eye some of those great dignitaries of science that are there assembled. I can think of Sir Joseph Hooker, of Sir William Thomson, of Huxley, of Tyndal, of Balfour Stewart, and of all the great worthies that illustrate physical, mathematical and natural science for the last generation; and as I look back on the records preceding

the present year from the commencement of the association in Great Britain till this time, I find the chair of the presidency of that institution. as well as all the official characters connected with it, men who are or have been eminent for their promotion of scientific truths. I trust to-day before we shall have closed our assembling there will be transmitted by the cable a vote of greeting from the American Association of Science assembled here to the British association now assembled at Swansea.

Soon after this there came our American Association of Materialists and Geologists. I look around me and I think of the history of that active band of scientific workers, when all our State surveys were in their earlier states, when our geology, palcontology, our natural history in fact, in general was in a comparatively unexplored condition, and I feel saddened that I am the only member of the presidents of that early institution except one who has been, so far as intellectual laws are concerned, entirely removed from all association with scientific men. In the year 1847, during my presidency of this smaller institution, the plan was organized for a more extended and comprehensive form of social organization for the advancement of science; and in the year 1848, under the presidency of Mr. Redfield of New York, the first meeting of this enlarged association as it now exists was held in the city of Philadelphia. Since that time, consecutively year by year, this Association has assembled, save only during that dark period when, through most sad necessities, unfortunate circumstances and dreadful commissions, this association was compelled to hold its peace. But since 1865 the Association, with renewed vigor, has been prosecuting its work, and now we are assembled for the twenty-eighth time at an annual meeting to carry on this active labor of scientific instruction.

Now, what are the functions of such an Association? Its title tells. It is an association for the advancement of science, and it is expected and required of all those who become its members that they shall do whatever is in their power to quicken scientific thought, to accumulate scientific facts, to investigate scientific laws, or, in other words, to advance the progress of science throughout the world. But this term advancement necessarily implies diffusion, and while it is an association for the advancement of science it is no less an association for its diffusion, and this justifies in the highest degree the comparatively popular character of the meetings of the American Association. How can we best advance science but by sowing the seeds of science as widely as possible through the world, wakening up in all quarters where the association assembles those latent spirits, those unborn talents and tendencies which will hereafter blossom and fructify in scientific results. Thus it is, then, gentlemen, that we have our association assemblies here, and while I would not compare it as yet in point of numbers, in point of strength with the parent association in Great Britain, I see here to-day and hear from all quarters amongst those who are connected with the working operations of this meeting the enormous increase which is promised this association in its future growth. Let us think for a moment. For the last twenty years the British Association has had an average number on its rolls of members of all classes of 3,500; it has had an average attendance of nearly 2,500; it has had an average income from its members of $12,500, having at the same time 1,000 life members, and being able, practically and actively, to promote scientific research by the bestowal of grants for different departments of inquiry of a sum amounting of from $5,000 to $10,000 a year. Now, gentlemen of the Association and citizens of Boston, here is something for us to emulate. Here is a direction of progress in which we can be sustained by the strong and hearty approval, nay, the applause, of all scholarly and scientific men throughout the world. And, from what I have learned to-day, I do not doubt that the American Association of Science is fairly in the way to overtake the great association which is now assembled at Swansea, in regard to its numbers and its resources. And, as to the character of the works that are presented, of course in all such exercises the materials that are gathered together are of various qualities as well as shapes and dimensions. Let us now make it our special work to exclude from our annual reports all detailed publications which are not of a character actually to add to the stock of human knowledge, whether

that knowledge be simply the gathering together of facts by careful processes of discern ment, or the development of laws by careful mathematical investigation And, therefore, let it be our work, as I trust it will be, and has been already, in fact, suggested by our secretary, that these prolonged discussions, which, however valuable in the main they may be or not of the quality and character to belong to the transactions of a great body like this, shall be presented in small type and in abstract in the latter part of the volume.

I thank my friends for the patience with which they have listened to one who does not like to call himself an old man, but who still finds something of the sentiment of the war-worn soldier who likes always, if he have a kindly audience, to shoulder his crutch and fight his battles o'er again. [Applause.] If I have taken too much of your time I beg your pardon. As I have spoken in behalf of this committee of the city of Boston, let me conclude with my personal welcome in behalf of this institution, over which I have the honor to preside, and to say to you that the corporation and officers of the Institute of Technology are not only glad but they are proud to welcome the American Association for the Advancement of Science into this hall and to all the accommodations and comforts which it can offer.

The Mayor of Boston, the Hon. Frederick O. Prince, then addressed a few words of welcome, and was followed by His Excellency Governor Long, who delivered an additional address for the same purpose.

The response of President Morgan, on behalf of the Association, was as follows:

MR. CHAIRMAN:-The Association has listened with much pleasure to your address of welcome to the city of Boston. In no other city of our land are better appreciated the unity of the sciences and the brotherhood of scientific men. These are central ideas of this Association, and when we meet among a people whose hospitality is vitalized by intelligent sympathy, a powerful impulse is given to the work which it was designed to promote. I venture to predict, sir, that this meeting will become memorable in our history. It may seem singular that this session of the Association should be the first one held in the good city of Boston, during the long series of twenty-nine annual meetings. It has, however, met at Cambridge, which in the public eye is a part of Boston. We cannot and we ought not to separate Cambridge, with its noble university and its distinguished body of teachers, from Boston, in which the roots of Cambridge are planted. They are "one and inseparable" in association as in fame. Thus we are enabled to say that this Association is indebted to Boston for a peerless cluster of presidents: The illustrious and lamented Agassiz, to whom American science is so deeply indebted ; the learned and gentle Wyman, whose loss we still mourn; these have ceased from among us, and their departure has rounded and completed their fame. Rogers, Peirce, Gould, Gray, Lovering yet remain with us, and, therefore, we cannot on this occasion speak of them as their distinction deserves. "Seri in cælum redeatis."

Mr. Mayor: The American Association for the Advancement of Science is popular in its character, as it should be. Investigators in all departments of science are cordially welcomed to its membership. By this free intercourse of persons engaged in scientific pursuits, results of the highest importance are constantly attained. When the meetings of this Association become indifferent to the communities among which they are held, its usefulness will be near its end. There is a direct connection between the work upon which its members are engaged and the material prosperity of the country, in which all alike have an interest. Scientific investigations ascertain and establish principles which inventive genius then utilizes for the common benefit. We cannot have a great nation without a great development of the industrial arts, and this, in its turn, depends upon the results of scientific discovery as necessary antecedents. Material development, therefore, is intimately related to progress in science.

Your Excellency, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts:-Without intending to depart from the proprieties of the occasion, it may be proper to say, that