mony with the known laws of the entire organic world? This, and nothing less than this, is what Dr. Bastian inculcates and demands.—Popular Science Review.
| SCIENCE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. |
By Prof. C. GILBERT WHEELER.
MUCH is being done in the Argentine Republic of South America, not only for the advancement of general education, but for the extension of science. The foreign still preponderate over the native workers, yet there is a creditable showing of contributions to science on the part of the indigenous talent of the country. With its universities and colleges, its observatory, Meteorological Bureau, Academy of Science, Argentine Scientific Society, museum, and scientific journals, with its rich and yet little-studied flora and fauna, recent and fossil, the Argentine Republic has large and promising facilities for training scientific investigators, and for vigorous progress in the elements of a higher civilization.
The republic now has, in addition to the considerable number of foreign eminent men of science domiciled within her borders, a few natives, mostly younger men, who are devoting themselves to scientific pursuits. A still larger number are becoming interested in the subject, sufficiently so, at least, to give much time to the collection of specimens, making of experiments, "or the recording of observations, besides often expending in connection therewith not inconsiderable sums of money. There is Moreno, the young, bold, and successful explorer of Patagonia; Ramorino, the student of the phenomena exhibited by the famous Rocking-Stone at Tandil; and, as to the supply of careful meteorological observers, our eminent countryman, Dr. B. A. Gould, of the National Observatory and Director of the Meteorological Office, says:
"There seem to be persons enough who are able and willing to undertake the necessary labor of making systematic observations, troublesome as it is, with no other stimulus than their desire to serve science and their country. In three cases I have found gentlemen who have carried on observations of the sort during past years (up to eighteen), unaided and unencouraged. These have cordially offered me all their data, gratified at seeing their labors appreciated last. I think this young nation, so long struggling with foreign enemies and internal dissensions, has reason to be proud of the number, relatively large, even though intrinsically small, who are ready to work for her welfare and honor, without hope of personal glory or emolument."
Buenos Ayres, "the Athens of South America," has a scientific society denominated "La Sociedad Científica Argentina," with ninety-four active members, mostly natives, although the president is a
