The highest aim of the physicist

BY
PROFESSOR HENRY A. ROWLAND
SCIENCE
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: S. NEWCOMB, Mathematics; R. S. WOODWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics; R. H. THURSTON, Engineering; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry; J. LE CONTE, Geology; W. M. DAVIS, Physiography; HENRY F. OSBORN, Paleontology; W. K. BROOKS, C. HART MERRIAM, Zoology; S. H. SCUDDER, Entomology; C. E. BESSEY, N. L. BRITTON, Botany; C. S. MINOT, Embryology, Histology; H. P. BOWDITCH, Physiology; J. S. BILLINGS, Hygiene; J. MCKEEN CATTELL, Psychology; J. W. POWELL, Anthropology.
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1899
GENTLEMEN AND FELLOW PHYSICISTS OF AMERICA: We meet to day on an occasion which marks an epoch in the history of physics in America; may the future show that it also marks an epoch in the history of the science which this Society is organized to cultivate! For we meet here in the interest of a science which above all sciences deals with the foundation of the Universe, with the constitution of matter from which everything in the Universe is made and with the ether of space by which alone the various portions of matter forming the Universe affect each other even at such distances as we may never expect to traverse, whatever the progress of our science in the future.
We, who have devoted our lives to the solution of problems connected with physics, now meet together to help each other and to forward the interests of the subject which we love. A subject which appeals most strongly to the better instincts of our nature and the problems of which tax our minds to the limit of their capacity and suggest the grandest and noblest ideas of which they are capable.
In a country where the doctrine of the equal rights of man has been distorted to mean the equality of man in other respects, we form a small and unique body of men, a new variety of the human race as one of our greatest scientists calls it, whose views of what constitutes the greatest achievement in life are very different from those around us. In this respect we form an aristocracy, not of wealth, not of pedigree, but of intellect and of ideals, holding him in the highest respect who adds the most to our knowledge or who strives after it as the highest good.