justification, but the absolute necessity of an Association with a large membership—it should be at least ten thousand—drawn from the intelligent people of the whole country.
5. The social intercourse and personal contact of scientific societies and meetings are among their most important functions. Men in isolation become selfish and incompetent. Even a great genius does not work in solitude, and certainly the ordinary man requires the interest and enthusiasm that is only evoked in the give and take of personal acquaintance and conversation. Eating together, drinking together, smoking together, may have physiological drawbacks, but the psychological stimulus has warranted the origin and survival of the practices. Those studying similar problems, and those working in diverse directions; the university professor, the school teacher and the government officer; those who call their science pure and those who seek to make it useful; the beginners and the old benchers, all should be thrown together, ready to learn and help, to agree and differ. Each should be prepared to profit much, and if need be to sacrifice a little for the common good. The meetings of the Association do, of necessity, accomplish a great deal in bringing men together, but perhaps not all that could be desired. The cultivation of personal acquaintance between professional men of science and the amateur and outsider is also important, but more difficult to manage. The social features of the British Association seem to be more successful than our own. A thousand or more of the leading citizens of the place become temporary members for each meeting, and freely offer entertainments of one sort or another. The social conditions are, of course, different in America, but it seems that the entertainments and excursions might be made more pleasant and profitable in the future.
6. Of all the important functions of a national scientific association, the most essential is the general organization of science. The science of the country absolutely requires a central legislative body. Such bodies exist in other nations, having varying degrees of usefulness, and there is more need of an active and efficient representation of scientific interests in the United States than in any other country. London, Paris and the other European capitals, with their societies, clubs, etc., bring together all the scientific men of the country, whereas here they are widely scattered, and will become still more so as the East loses its intellectual precedence. Washington will doubtless be our chief center for scientific research, but under our system of State governments and with our privately endowed institutions, it is not likely that it will occupy the position of European capitals. The great development of scientific work under the national government, the numerous smaller centers under the State governments at their capitals and universities, the municipalities with their increasing
