Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 29.djvu/52

42 the equatorial and tropical regions, nor in the south of Europe as much as in the north and center.

Nationality is not intrinsically a factor in science. Nevertheless, some nations have in their geographical situation, their extent, language, customs, or other incidental circumstances, features which are more or less favorable to science than corresponding features in other nations. The rank in representation in the academies has fluctuated variously between England, France, and Germany during the two centuries, while the smaller nations, like Holland, Switzerland, and the Scandinavian states, have, in proportion to their population, more than held their own in the competition with them. Switzerland seems to hold an extraordinary and constant superiority. Some of the reasons for this have been already explained. Another reason is to be found in the fact, which is brought out in the investigation, that a small country is on the whole more favorable to science than a large one.

If public institutions could really furnish incitements to scientific researches and promote their success, large countries would have a manifest advantage. In other words, there should regularly be more illustrious savants to the million souls in a great nation than in a small one. The facts as revealed by statistics are of contrary import, and it is not impossible to divine why this is so. There are in a small country, so far as concerns science, two advantages which may afford ample offsets to the lucrative places and honorary distinctions of large countries. One of the advantages is the relatively smaller importance of all public functions. In a small country, the careers of the army, the magistracy, and the administration can offer only moderate temptations to youth who feel themselves capable. If they aspire to a European reputation, science is the best means within their reach by which to obtain it. The public comprehends this, and, as it desires the value of the country to be measured by some other standard than that of the extent of its territory, it gives a moral support to men who seek to distinguish themselves in affairs purely intellectual. And this support of opinion, which is quite sensible in very small states, like Denmark and the Swiss cantons, comprehends also the advantage that men of merit prefer to remain in their country; and they preserve there their good influence and their wholesome traditions, instead of removing to the capitals of great states.

Furthermore, small countries touch upon other states at all points, or are, we might say, all frontiers. One can not live in one of them without making frequent comparisons with the institutions, laws, and usages of adjacent countries. This alone is a cause of intellectual activity, and profits to the cultivation of science. The vicinity of national boundaries has also the excellent effect of rendering a complete tyranny impossible. It is very easy for persecuted persons to escape from a country of small extent and live at peace in an adjoining state. This has often been seen in Switzerland, and was observed in Germany