Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 15.djvu/863

Rh have learned to venerate, and by fostering that feeling of respect for other branches of science, that knowledge of and interest in their progress, which chiefly mark the liberality of scientific study.

"2. The Association provides funds which, though small in amount, are great in worth, from the mode of their distribution; and serve in a limited degree as an encouragement, though not an endowment, of research.

"The third most important aim of our Association is, 'to obtain a more general attention to the objects and methods of science, and the removal of any disadvantages of a public kind which impede its progress.' It is for this reason that the Association travels from one to another of the great centers of population and intellectual activity of the kingdom, local scientific societies and local museums are generated and regenerated in its path, local industries are for a time raised to a higher level than that of money-getting, and every artisan may learn how his own craft depends upon knowledge of the facts of nature, and how he forms part of the great system of applied science which is subduing the earth and all its powers to the use of man. We wish to make science popular, not by deceiving idlers into the belief that any thorough knowledge can be easy, but by exciting interest in its objects, and appreciation of its methods. In the popular evening lectures you will hear those who are best qualified to speak upon their several subjects, not preaching with the dry austerity of a pedant, but bringing their own enthusiasm to kindle a contagious fire in those who hear them."

Of course the prime object of these bodies is the promotion of science by means of original investigation and the development of new views; but it is not for a moment to be overlooked that these objects can only be efficiently secured by appropriate means. Experimental investigations and systematic observations on the varied phenomena that solicit inquiry are only to be made by outlays of time, labor, and money. The scattered students of original science work generally alone, and with. such facilities as they may be able to command; but it is one legitimate object of combination to enlarge the opportunities of research, and give help and encouragement to isolated inquirers. Occasions, moreover, are constantly arising in which investigations become so comprehensive and methodical that they can not be carried on by individual resources, and outside aid is indispensable. It has been an important part of the policy of the British Association to furnish means for carrying on various investigations of this kind, the results of which are reported at its annual sessions; and, from the outset, one of. its objects has been to raise money for such purposes. Funds thus appropriated, as Dr. Pye-Smith remarked, serve as an encouragement to research without becoming a formal endowment. The Association marks out or approves a course of inquiry, and then gives substantial assistance in carrying it on to parties especially qualified for the work; and thus the utmost equivalent for the money expended is certain to be secured. This admirable feature of the British Association ought to be initiated and developed by our own society, and to this end we venture to think there should be more systematic effort to secure voluntary contributions. The American Association has not abounded in worldly wisdom to anything like the degree that its nationality would justify. Absorption in pure scientific work seems to have been unfavorable to the practical business element. This has limited the usefulness and efficiency of the organization, for money is as much the sinew of science as of war. It is to be hoped that in future increasing attention will be given to this